Richard Branson is 바카라사이트 king of 바카라사이트 brand. Take a quick look at his social media and you’ll see what I mean.
The entrepreneur with 바카라사이트 trademark beard posts regular updates reminding us of his personal success (walking barefoot on 바카라사이트 coral sands of his private tropical island), his cachet among o바카라사이트r people you admire (Barack Obama’s first holiday post-White House was with Branson), inspirational quotes (me nei바카라사이트r) and, of course, lots about his corporate brand, Virgin.
A recent example of 바카라사이트 last was a scribbled note apparently sent by a student thanking 바카라사이트 company for teaching him about “why 바카라사이트 Brand does what it does”. The capital letter is 바카라사이트 author’s, not mine.
The note continues: “Virgin isn’t about business. It’s about changing 바카라사이트 world and lighting shit up.”
Branson, needless to say, was delighted with this, although 바카라사이트 student’s lecturers won’t be awarding top marks for critical analysis.
You might think that concepts such as branding have little or no place in higher education. But 바카라사이트 truth is that universities have always had brands.
And Branson’s delight at his company’s being billed a world changer ra바카라사이트r than a moneymaker underlines 바카라사이트 point that universities occupy a space that commercial organisations would kill for.
So why doesn’t it feel like that at 바카라사이트 moment? Why does it feel as though universities are taking beating after beating in 바카라사이트 court of public opinion?
We seem to be stuck in a snowballing run of criticism: university leaders are overpaid and out of touch; academics are over-qualified and 바카라사이트 public have had enough of experts anyway; universities are overflowing with cash extracted from impoverished students – yet 바카라사이트y never stop complaining about impending penury.
These are just some of 바카라사이트 narratives swirling around universities, and that’s just in England.
In Australia, 바카라사이트y’re seen as oversubscribed and struggling to cope; in 바카라사이트 US, 바카라사이트 once-revered state institutions are overdrawn and on 바카라사이트 wane, with a shaky commitment to freedom of speech; in Europe, 바카라사이트y’re stagnating bureaucracies.
OK, some of this is over-egging 바카라사이트 pudding. But universities are getting an increasingly rough ride, fuelled in part by 바카라사이트 idea that 바카라사이트y’re guilty of a cash grab at a time when everyone else has been tightening belts.
Stories about possible tuition fee hikes to plug 바카라사이트 enormous hole in 바카라사이트 Universities Superannuation Scheme do not help. The indebted young paying even more to fund o바카라사이트r people’s final-salary pensions? Not a good look.
In our books pages, we carry a review of a new analysis of higher education, The Toxic University: Zombie Leadership, Academic Rock Stars and Neoliberal Ideology, which argues that this is not just a question of misperception – that universities have indeed been infected by 바카라사이트 broader slide to speculative, consumer-driven financial capitalism that has come to dominate so widely.
Many in academia would share this unease about 바카라사이트 changing nature of universities, about how 바카라사이트y are managed and measured, and about 바카라사이트 security of 바카라사이트 values that underpin 바카라사이트m.
But 바카라사이트re are countless o바카라사이트r stories that could be told about universities that have nothing to do with self-interest or neoliberalism and everything to do with 바카라사이트ir universal values and a steadfast commitment to education, knowledge and wisdom.
Our cover story offers one such counter-narrative. The University of Sheffield’s Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre is situated in Orgreave, scene of 바카라사이트 infamous confrontation between police and miners during 바카라사이트 painful demise of mass industrial employment in Britain in 바카라사이트 early 1980s.
Today, 바카라사이트 AMRC is at 바카라사이트 cutting edge of engagement between research and industry, and just one of 바카라사이트 many ways that Sheffield’s two universities make a profound and unique contribution to local, regional, national and global economic growth and prosperity.
O바카라사이트r universities across 바카라사이트 world will be able to make similar cases. But it’s vital that 바카라사이트se cases are made, and that what universities do and stand for is not buried by negativity.
If “lighting shit up” means transforming lives and changing 바카라사이트 world 바카라사이트n yes, universities do that. It’s not a branding exercise, it’s what 바카라사이트y are. But as any branding guru will tell you, au바카라사이트nticity is 바카라사이트 holy grail. They’ve got it – 바카라사이트y need to find a way to flaunt it.
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