Description

The intention of this module is to introduce students to the contested notion of the public university. By examining the past, present and future of the modern university, students will come to understand the politics of research and tertiary education, and their options for realising their agency in shaping public institutions.

In the course of the module, students will:

• Come to appreciate the decisions made by universities as political in the first instance;
• Develop an understanding of the models of governance that direct university policy, and the various interests that seek to influence them;
• Acquire key research skills via a project that will require that students source and critically engage a variety of materials ranging from policy documents, to prospecti, to activist polemics. In preparation for this task, students will be introduced to the fundamentals of archival research using materials held at Warwick’s Modern Records Centre;
• Be introduced to the variety of ways in which public universities may be democratically interacted with.

Structure

The module will comprise ten two hour workshops combining elements of lecturing, seminar discussion, and group work. There will also be an introduction to archival research at the Warwick Modern Records Centre. Where possible, representatives of relevant institutions will be invited to address students as part of the workshops.

Provisional itinerary:

1. Introduction - what has the university been, what might we want it to be?
   Predominantly focusing on examples from the UK, this session introduces students to the evolution of the modern university over the last fifty years, the political issues that these institutions confront or generate, and the key ways in which institutions are engaged and determined today. The session may also consider modes of course delivery and engagement that these issues produce, such as traditional seminars, distance learning, university alliances, MOOCs, etc.
2. Government and the university I: History
   This session considers the way in which governments seek to influence, structure, and steer university teaching, research and policy. Topics may include:
   a. From the Robbins Report to the Browne Review: education and social politics
   b. Peking University: education and state politics
   c. The Chicago School: education and world politics
3. Government and the university II: England today
   This session uses the case studies of the previous session as a lens through which to view the current intersection of government and higher education in England. Topics may include:
   a. Universities and the economy: the influence of the Department for Business, Innovation, and Skills
   b. Universities and security: the influence of the Home Office
   c. Universities as lobbyists: mission groups (e.g. The Russell Group, Million+, The University Alliance, and The Cathedral Group), their priorities and their influence
4. Governance and the university I: History
   This session considers a variety of models of university governance from the past fifty years. Topics may include:
   a. Public trusts and private companies in the UK university sector
   b. Paris VIII: France’s post-68 university
   c. Collective governance in Copenhagen’s Free University
5. Governance and the university II: England today
   Using The University of Warwick as its primary example, this session uses the case studies of the previous sessions as a lens through which to view the modes of governance within higher education in England. Topics may include:
   a. The function and structure of university governance at The University of Warwick
   b. The role of non-university members within this structure (e.g. corporations, social institutions and political groups)
   c. The relation between university governance and academic departments
6. Official staff and student engagement I: History
   This session looks at officially recognised means of democratically engaging public universities. Topics may include:
   The founding of the NUS and its evolving function
   The Tres Cosas union
   The use of the Warwick Assembly to loosen university ties with Barclays Bank in 1977 over their support of South Africa’s apartheid regime
7. Official staff and student engagement II: England today
   This session builds on the previous workshop to understand official forms of engagement with the university today. Topics may include:
   a. The function and structure of trades unions within universities
   b. The function and structure of students unions in English universities
   c. The function and structure of councils and assemblies within English universities
8. Unofficial student engagement I: History
   This session focuses on ‘grassroots’ attempts to affect university policies from outside of officially recognised organisations. Topics may include:
   a. May 1968 and student uprisings around the world
   b. Anti-apartheid protests at California University
   c. English and Canadian protests against tuition fees
9. Unofficial student engagement II: England today
   This session considers the opportunities and challenges involved in ‘grassroots’ engagements with universities today. Topics may include:
   a. The forming of political student groups
   b. Democratic structures within political student groups
   c. Strategies and techniques used by political student groups
10. Discussion and role play session
    Having spent several weeks considering different means by which universities may be democratically engaged, this final workshop is intended as a plenary session in which students will consider the ethics and the relative pros and cons of available options for seeking to affect change around a number of different concrete scenarios. As such, the session will serve to prepare students the assessed project with which the course concludes.

Taster session - recorded 4/6/2014

 

Module convenors

Stephen Barrell

Chris Maughan (c dot j dot maughan at warwick dot ac dot uk)

When

Thursdays 11.00 am-1.00 pm
2015-16, term 2 (Spring)

Where

Humanities Studio,
Humanities Building

Registration

See instructions on the main Undergraduate Modules page

Assessment

For 15 CATS:

60% - project (3500 words)
35% - reflective journal (100-300 words per week)
5% - weekly multiple choice questions (pre-class preparatory exercise)

For 12 CATS:

50% - project (2500 words)
45% - reflective journal (100-300 words per week)
5% - weekly multiple choice questions (pre-class preparatory exercise)