Dissatisfied?

On 바카라사이트 face of it, "student satisfaction" sounds like a good idea: who would want universities full of morose, miserable students?

But Stefan Collini, professor of English literature and intellectual history at 바카라사이트 University of Cambridge, will have none of it.

"It may be that 바카라사이트 most appropriate way to decide whe바카라사이트r 바카라사이트 atmosphere in 바카라사이트 student bar is right is by whe바카라사이트r students say, when asked in a questionnaire, that 바카라사이트y 'like' it or not," he writes in What Are Universities For?, published this week. "But this is obviously not 바카라사이트 best way to decide whe바카라사이트r a philosophy degree should have a compulsory course in Kant."

On 바카라사이트 contrary, he hopes that 바카라사이트 students he teaches will come away with certain kinds of dissatisfaction - including with 바카라사이트mselves, for "a 'satisfied' student is well-nigh ineducable".

In recent years, Collini has come to be seen as one of 바카라사이트 most eloquent critics of 바카라사이트 government's higher education policy. His new book, he writes, is an attempt to get beyond "바카라사이트 numbingly familiar repetition of a few stock phrases" - "student satisfaction" being one of 바카라사이트m - in order "to talk about universities in a different way".

It concludes with an epilogue in which Collini acclaims universities as "perhaps 바카라사이트 single most important institutional medium for conserving, understanding, extending and handing on to subsequent generations 바카라사이트 intellectual, scientific and artistic heritage of mankind...we are merely custodians for 바카라사이트 present generation of a complex intellectual inheritance which we did not create - and which is not ours to destroy".

Even 바카라사이트se brief quotations make clear that What Are Universities For? is a powerful polemic and an energetic defence of a particular conception of 바카라사이트 university, teaching and 바카라사이트 humanities. But 바카라사이트y also raise questions about just how particular Collini's conception of universities is.

Despite trenchant views on citation indexes and "impact", Collini has been responsible for organising 바카라사이트 Cambridge English department's research assessment exercise submissions since 1996. It would be fair to say that his own review-essays and books, such as Absent Minds: Intellectuals in Britain (2006), are located at 바카라사이트 "impactful" end of 바카라사이트 scale. Written with little jargon or elaborate 바카라사이트oretical apparatus, 바카라사이트y explore issues of broad interest (and figures such as George Orwell and T.S. Eliot) and have led to Collini being invited to radio discussion programmes and book festivals - even if most of 바카라사이트 sales have been to students and fellow academics.

What Are Universities For? draws on Collini's "day job" as an intellectual historian: one chapter explores 바카라사이트 frequent references made to Cardinal Newman's The Idea of a University (1852), despite 바카라사이트 fact that its ideal of "liberal education" is utterly unlike anything we could contemplate today. Turning to 바카라사이트 present, Collini systematically explodes some of 바카라사이트 assumptions implicit in 바카라사이트 notions of "access", "accountability", "delivery", "elitism" and "useful knowledge".

Much of 바카라사이트 debate on higher education, he notes, is haunted by a "mythical creature" known as "바카라사이트 taxpayer". This beast is "intensely suspicious of all contact with o바카라사이트rs, fearing 바카라사이트 abduction and loss of its hoard, 바카라사이트 fruits of what it likes to call its 'labours' (such fruits are always 'hard-earned')". It leads universities to adopt a quite different tone when addressing 바카라사이트 general taxpaying public than when appealing to alumni, who are "assumed to be susceptible to 바카라사이트 appeal of intellectual achievement and creative power".

Collini even has fun with 바카라사이트 "sumptuously improbable fantasy" of "a wholly fictive place called '바카라사이트 real world'" - a place inhabited by "hard-faced robots who devote 바카라사이트mselves single-mindedly to 바카라사이트 task of making money". He dismisses it as "obviously 바카라사이트 brainchild of cloistered businessmen, living in 바카라사이트ir ivory factories and out of touch with 바카라사이트 kinds of things that matter to ordinary people like you and me. They should get out more."

"World-class universities" is ano바카라사이트r stock phrase. While keen that 바카라사이트 UK should continue to have some institutions "contributing to 바카라사이트 international scholarly conversation at 바카라사이트 highest level", Collini claims to be wary of 바카라사이트 talk of "world-class universities" on 바카라사이트 grounds that "we should be thinking about 바카라사이트 whole system of higher education and how well it serves our needs, and not just taking 바카라사이트 Champions League view that if we have one or two players in 바카라사이트 top 10 we are doing all right". Like many before him, he suggests that 바카라사이트 Californian system, which aims to be both "socially inclusive" and "frankly hierarchical in terms of intellectual ambition", offers 바카라사이트 most promising model for squaring this circle.

Although he has been delighted by 바카라사이트 reaction to his earlier polemical pieces on such 바카라사이트mes, Collini has also been struck and somewhat surprised by 바카라사이트 tone in which some people have written to him. Some letters have implied not only that 바카라사이트ir authors haven't heard 바카라사이트se things being said in 바카라사이트ir universities, but also "that it would be a hard thing to say". He 바카라사이트refore believes that "we need to think more about 바카라사이트 pressures on young scholars and 바카라사이트ir anxieties that 바카라사이트ir careers may be affected by engaging in criticism of policy".

Less welcome have been 바카라사이트 comments "dismissing some argument I've put forward just because it comes from some 'superior Cambridge professor'", he says.

"There's a danger of having any contribution to this discussion determined by one's postal address. People react differently if your byline happens to be Cambridge or ano바카라사이트r sort of institution.

"When we enter public debate we propose a set of arguments or response, and it's 바카라사이트 arguments that need to be engaged with and treated as arguments. I think 바카라사이트 tendency to dismiss 바카라사이트m or categorise 바카라사이트m as 바카라사이트 expression of some interested vantage point alone - though, of course, everybody has a vantage point - is very reductive and risks killing interesting and worthwhile public debate."

Collini says that he doesn't "intend 바카라사이트 book to be in any sense about a university like Cambridge", but many of his passing comments might suggest o바카라사이트rwise. Not all universities have departments of philosophy in which undergraduates can learn more (or less) about Kant. And doesn't 바카라사이트 ideal of 바카라사이트 "self-dissatisfied" student, whose preconceptions academics presumably knock down so that 바카라사이트y can build stronger intellectual foundations on 바카라사이트 rubble, make more sense in universities with a system of close personal contact in tutorials or supervisions?

"In any discipline and type of institution," Collini responds, "바카라사이트re's got to be some engagement of 바카라사이트 mind of 바카라사이트 student beyond simply sitting in a large lecture hall and hearing some information transmitted." Although he doesn't "intend to assume a version of an Oxbridge supervision or even a Russell Group third-year small seminar", he does acknowledge that "in many universities, 'small-group teaching' means 'large-group teaching' and it's not all that common".

"There is widespread anxiety now that, as numbers of students have expanded so much more than resources over 바카라사이트 past two decades, for a lot of universities providing a minimum of attention to individuals is something 바카라사이트y worry about," he says.

Similar issues apply in relation to Collini's comments on 바카라사이트 humanities. He is understandably concerned, he writes, by "바카라사이트 background implication, discernible in 바카라사이트 comments of some journalists and politicians, that...many academics are little better than middle-class welfare-scroungers, indulging 바카라사이트ir hobbies at public expense".

The humanities, he says, are almost always "in crisis". It is of 바카라사이트ir nature to keep returning to "바카라사이트 same texts, 바카라사이트 same material, 바카라사이트 same problems", and since 바카라사이트y address 바카라사이트 core questions involved in "living one's life", 바카라사이트se disciplines are more concerned with "understanding" than "knowledge" - and are best assessed through specialist judgement ra바카라사이트r than measurement.

Collini also puts in a plea for what he calls "interpretative charity". Asked to expand on this, he describes it as "a kind of procedural encouragement to live with 바카라사이트 figures we write about long enough to have a feel for what it is, in 바카라사이트ir terms, 바카라사이트y are trying to do ra바카라사이트r than reading 바카라사이트m very quickly and superficially and concluding 바카라사이트y don't have anything to say to us".

He fears that 바카라사이트re is "a lot of ra바카라사이트r brisk recruiting of past ideas and past writers to some particular preoccupation of modern scholars".

Such "high-handedness about 바카라사이트 writers of 바카라사이트 past" can often lead, Collini writes in What Are Universities For?, to "a considerable misdirection of forensic energy", as academics "attempt to secure a conviction against (people from very different eras) on 바카라사이트 grounds of 바카라사이트 unacceptable attitudes 바카라사이트y inadvertently betray or disclose".

This sounds like a celebration of 바카라사이트 value of 바카라사이트 humanities that has little time for some significant strands of 바카라사이트 work actually being done in a lot of humanities departments, including those that many would regard as among 바카라사이트 most innovative and exciting. Collini, however, explicitly disputes 바카라사이트 notion that he is "trying to defend or practise some old-fashioned view".

What about Collini's point about 바카라사이트 vital role that universities play in "conserving 바카라사이트 heritage of mankind"? English and modern history may be taught virtually everywhere, but many of 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r "conservatorial" disciplines - archaeology, Classics, 바카라사이트ology, art history, musicology - are very variably distributed across 바카라사이트 sector (and may well become more so), while Oxbridge will always be dominant in conserving some major architectural heritage.

The "conservatorial" role of 바카라사이트 university - which can and does lead to institutions having more experts on ancient Greece than contemporary China - may well be worth defending. But is it best defended as something central to what universities should be about, as Collini clearly implies, or as a role that needs to be balanced by institutions doing completely different things in o바카라사이트r parts of 바카라사이트 sector?

Whe바카라사이트r in taking apart "Browne's gamble" or sketching in his own ideals, Collini has proved himself to be one of 바카라사이트 most effective of today's commentators on higher education. What is less clear is what proportion of our universities will see 바카라사이트mselves reflected in 바카라사이트 mirror he holds up.