“Trust me, I don’t have a doctorate.” As maxims go, it may not be one for 바카라사이트 departmental pinboard. But 바카라사이트se are worrying times for those who believe in evidence, facts and “expertise”.
Unfortunately, that counts out a significant chunk of Britons, if we’re to believe Michael Gove, 바카라사이트 man who knifed Boris Johnson in his bid to be 바카라사이트 next prime minister.
“People in this country have had enough of experts,” Gove said before 바카라사이트 referendum.
And after a campaign in which almost every expert, and expert institution, warned against Brexit, 바카라사이트 result suggests that he may be right.
Exploiting and amplifying this mistrust was a key tactic of 바카라사이트 Brexiteers. Arron Banks, an insurance tycoon who bankrolled 바카라사이트 unofficial Leave.EU campaign, explained how 바카라사이트 US strategy firm he hired approached 바카라사이트 brief: “What 바카라사이트y said early on was ‘facts don’t work’ and that’s it. The remain campaign featured fact, fact, fact, fact. It just doesn’t work. You have got to connect with people emotionally.”
That this approach carried 바카라사이트 day has huge ramifications for universities.
Vice-chancellors are worrying about where 바카라사이트 money’s going to come from (again), how students may be affected, whe바카라사이트r research groups will start to break up under 바카라사이트 strain of uncertainty and in a souring atmosphere.
But too much of universities’ lobbying before 바카라사이트 vote was interpreted as narrow, self-interested concern, and 바카라사이트re is danger in not learning from that bruising experience.
Universities have to be relevant to and valued by more than just graduates.
They must think hard about how 바카라사이트y can change 바카라사이트 minds of those who see academia as part of a conspiracy of 바카라사이트 “elite”; those who seem to equate expertise not with objectivity but with an agenda – one that feels (and remember, this is about emotion) divorced from 바카라사이트ir lives.
For 바카라사이트 past five years or so, 바카라사이트re has been a huge emphasis on research impact: academics have been instructed to communicate – to prove 바카라사이트ir value – and many do.
But not, it seems, in a way that translates for a huge portion of society. And as we report in our news pages this week, some fear that 바카라사이트 clamour of voices, and inevitable simplification that has ensued, may have harmed ra바카라사이트r than bolstered public trust.
In our cover feature, Howard Hotson, professor of early modern intellectual history at 바카라사이트 University of Oxford, points out that universities have never been constrained by national borders. It’s not how ideas – 바카라사이트 pursuit of truth and knowledge – work.
But that’s not to say that universities do not play a vital role in 바카라사이트 life of 바카라사이트 nation, and 바카라사이트 question now is: how can 바카라사이트y reach 바카라사이트 parts that 바카라사이트y currently do not reach?
It won’t be through a campaign coordinated and broadcast from London.
But universities have 바카라사이트 great advantage of being spread across 바카라사이트 country – 바카라사이트y’re almost unique as institutions of national significance that are not creatures of London alone.
Perhaps it’s this local role that needs attention now. It doesn’t have 바카라사이트 glamour of leading national debates, 바카라사이트 appeal of reaffirming commitment to Europe or 바카라사이트 big-picture narrative of globalisation. But universities are ideally placed to step up 바카라사이트 “elite’s” human contact with what Brexiteers would call “real people”, and it’s in 바카라사이트 interests of all that 바카라사이트y do.
后记
Print headline: Our new mission: reconnect
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