Academic selfdetermination and radicalcritical breaks in knowledge

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Academic self-determination and radical-critical
breaks in knowledge

• Simon Marginson
• Centre for the Study of Higher Education
• University of Melbourne, Australia
• ASHE International Forum Symposium University
  autonomy and academic freedom in space and time
• 7 November 2007

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International comparisons between higher
education in different countries can be puzzling

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Sometimes the data are not completely clear
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In fact, there are some real methodological
dilemmas here. This stuff can be very frustrating!
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For example, when we standardize the data on
education from diverse national systems, each
with its own distinctive character, so as to
enable common comparisons to be made
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each national education system might start to
look similar to the others, its distinctive
features less apparent, and the differing
contexts of each nations performance become lost
from view.
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In fact data that are crucial to understanding
the educational outcomes in particular nations
can fall through the cracks
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and, being no longer at the surface of our
understanding and accessible to common sense
observation
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can escape the attention of even the most
sharp-sighted policy makers
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whose commitment to improving the education
system cannot be questioned.
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On the other hand, when the differences between
each national education system are emphasized, we
can underestimate the elements systems have in
common. And of course, when every case is treated
as unique, comparison between them becomes
impossible.
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Yet when we try to bring in too many
heterogeneous elements into the comparison at
once we can get into a complete tangle!
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Even so international comparisons can help us
to see our own educational situation more
clearly (or they would if we lived in Canada
and it was a sunny day)
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Comparative data help modern scholars to keep up
with the latest developments,
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and they help governments to craft new policies
carefully considered policies, that from time
to time follow the sensible initiatives that have
been adopted by other education systems
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leading to investment in education infrastructure
designed on the basis of worlds best practice
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and innovative programs of lasting value!
And above all -
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international comparisons can be fun!
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University autonomy and academic freedom core
issues

• The analytical issue What are the core
  analytical elements constituting forms of
  autonomy and freedom in the higher education
  context?
• The policy issue What is essential to the
  practices of university autonomy and academic
  freedoms across the world?

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Core elements of self-determining academic
freedom/ free creativity (in ascending order
of importance)

• Freedom as control
• ( freedom from coercion, negative freedom)
• Effective freedom
• ( freedom as power, positive freedom)
• Agency freedom

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freedom as control over ones own choices (
freedom from coercion, negative freedom)
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effective freedom ( freedom as power, positive
freedom)
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agency freedom
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• For more extensive discussion of these themes see
  
• MARGINSON, S. Academic creativity under New
  Public Management foundations for an
  investigation, Educational Theory forthcoming
• Thanks to
• My colleagues in the ASHE International Forum
  and at CSHE in Melbourne
• Google Images and Nikon
• e-mail s.marginson_at_unimelb.edu.au
• this and other research and policy papers at
• http//www.cshe.unimelb.edu.au/people/staff_pages/
  Marginson/Marginson.html