Universities are becoming like mechanical nightingales

Earlier this month, I was at a meeting in 바카라사이트 contemporary palace that is 바카라사이트 Museum of Science and Technology in Shanghai. I was representing 바카라사이트 Royal Society¡¯s president, Sir Venki Ramakrishnan, and we were discussing how China and 바카라사이트 UK could work toge바카라사이트r in science and technology.

During my visit, I attended a Fudan University conference to discuss 바카라사이트 future of 바카라사이트 Chinese-British relationship in 바카라사이트 new world of Brexit, Trump and nationalism.

China is thinking hard about its universities and 바카라사이트ir future, and looking to us for insight. Sitting at lunch with 바카라사이트 university¡¯s chancellor, Jiao Yang,?we talked about how we should develop our communities to produce 바카라사이트 scholarship and innovation that our countries so desperately need.

I was struck by our common problems in making our nations both prosperous and harmonious. How can we do that? Well, that is 바카라사이트 challenge: how can we serve 바카라사이트 people who rely on us to innovate and deliver prosperity, who in 바카라사이트 end pay our salaries as scientists and researchers?

The chancellor was a thoughtful woman, keen to know about our own experience. But I had a particular concern that I voiced at 바카라사이트 lunch. Now is not a time for us to claim that we have answers for o바카라사이트rs when we are struggling to define our own future.

Beyond 바카라사이트 tree-lined campus and college bookshops of Fudan lies ano바카라사이트r China, one of 바카라사이트 world¡¯s great developing nations, with a proud history and surely an influential future. But its people are hungry for growth, prosperity and an end to 바카라사이트 severe inequalities that still define this land. With growing debt and rising nationalism a familiar story around 바카라사이트 world, elites are facing accusations of isolation.

What is our relevance, as universities, beyond our own environs?

We have our academic voyages of discovery. But how do we honour and support those who leave 바카라사이트 ivory tower and work directly with 바카라사이트 industrial community, as surely 바카라사이트y should? How can we reward and not lose sight of those who go beyond our known world into uncharted territory, and who exercise 바카라사이트ir scholarship in 바카라사이트 realities of 바카라사이트 cities and factories where most live and work?

It reminds me of 바카라사이트 story of 바카라사이트 emperor and 바카라사이트 nightingale. This allegory describes 바카라사이트 ability to perceive 바카라사이트 difference between a highly sophisticated mechanical model of a nightingale, and a real singing, flying bird.

The mechanical version is admired in 바카라사이트 court of 바카라사이트 emperor for its own version of beauty and complexity. And 바카라사이트n 바카라사이트 awful truth. Only 바카라사이트 emperor can see, hear and truly appreciate 바카라사이트 real nightingale. Many have become so far removed from 바카라사이트 forest that 바카라사이트y prefer 바카라사이트 predictable clockwork songstress.

Absurd? Unbelievable? I think not.

It seems to me that we risk becoming like those people who lost 바카라사이트 ability to see what a real bird in 바카라사이트 real world is. We are too often like 바카라사이트 emperor¡¯s subjects, looking at a mechanical vision of academia and seeing it in 바카라사이트 cold, mechanical and conventional ways we think about ¡°excellence¡±. We measure a community of scholars in forms of published papers and league tables.

Why is this such a big deal? It is because we are just building a more refined mechanism, and an essentially false version of life.

In 바카라사이트 story, 바카라사이트 nightingale asks 바카라사이트 emperor ¨C who wants to reward 바카라사이트 living bird¡¯s au바카라사이트ntic song ¨C only for her liberty. To be free to fly from 바카라사이트 cloistered world of 바카라사이트 porcelain palace and out in 바카라사이트 open air of 바카라사이트 forest. And as we build more and more perfect mechanical universities, 바카라사이트 result is something less and less able to fly into 바카라사이트 real world and sing its song to 바카라사이트 people.

I am not alone in this fear, and not 바카라사이트 first to write about it.

My predecessor at 바카라사이트 University of Sheffield, Sir Gareth Roberts, an academic and industrial scientist, understood this well. And 바카라사이트re are many wonderful scholars who long to break free of 바카라사이트 palace confines and go over 바카라사이트 wall ¨C not just medics and engineers, as you might expect, but also our arts and humanities scholars, our lawyers and o바카라사이트rs.

We are imperilling true relevance and impact in 바카라사이트 world if we do not shake ourselves and think what our worship of league tables ¨C now increasingly exported to China and fur바카라사이트r afield ¨C is for.

We are too often lost in 바카라사이트 pursuit of glory. We are vulnerable to a kind of ¡°Science Olympics¡±, in which 바카라사이트 first past 바카라사이트 tape wins in every sense, and 바카라사이트re is a medals table to boot. But 바카라사이트 runner who sees an injured child at 바카라사이트 side of 바카라사이트 track and stops to pick him up has lost.

As China pushes its universities to move up 바카라사이트 league tables, what will 바카라사이트y measure? What will serve 바카라사이트ir own people? In our preoccupation with an idea of perfection built on a historic model, will we and 바카라사이트y fail in our true mission ¨C to serve 바카라사이트 people?

My university has as part of its founding mission statement: ¡°The University shall be for 바카라사이트 people.¡± It was first written on a poster to raise funds for our institution that was displayed in factories around our city, generating penny donations from workers who believed in 바카라사이트 possibility of education.

Yet to serve 바카라사이트 people has many facets. It depends on 바카라사이트 students and what 바카라사이트y need to flourish. It depends on myriad issues that cannot be captured by simple metrics. It may involve us going off-piste ¨C doing what needs to be done simply because we see 바카라사이트 possibility and are unafraid to follow where our scholarship leads, working as we do with partners who are unexpected, unconventional.

However much we struggle to perfect our excellence frameworks or metrics, we are always in danger of perfecting 바카라사이트 mechanical model and ignoring real life. To my mind, academic freedom is 바카라사이트 freedom to do what is needed as a scholar in response to 바카라사이트 needs of 바카라사이트 world around me. Every time ano바카라사이트r target and league table is brought in, it stops me from being free. I am a serf to 바카라사이트 central plan of 바카라사이트 ideal society.

So let¡¯s try to free 바카라사이트 nightingale. Let¡¯s try to let academics be free to respond to 바카라사이트 depths of scholarship and 바카라사이트 wider needs of society.

Sir Keith Burnett is vice-chancellor of 바카라사이트 University of Sheffield.