So clich¨¦d

Every week, 온라인 바카라 provides rich and varied coverage of 바카라사이트 world of universities. This sentence has not been lifted from advertising department copy, but is an entirely genuine comment about 바카라사이트 diverse contents of 바카라사이트 periodical you are now reading.

But 바카라사이트 sting in 바카라사이트 tail of 바카라사이트 sentence is in 바카라사이트 word "diverse" - this diversity reflects both 바카라사이트 intelligence and sophistication of academics, but also 바카라사이트 quicksand of clich¨¦s within and about our profession - a mire through which we have to make our way each day. Navigating 바카라사이트 bog of "robust policies", "dynamic research" and "developing 바카라사이트 enhancement agenda already under way" (all recent examples of current university-speak) adds a new demand to academic life: 바카라사이트 ability to continue to wage what Martin Amis has described as 바카라사이트 "war against clich¨¦".

Many of us are quite prepared to take up this battle: 바카라사이트 management-speak of universities has been widely attacked, and Laurie Taylor exposes its vacuity in this publication every week. So it is not difficult to attack this sitting duck of a target, which, despite its facile assumption of energetic activity (all that robust dynamism), never advances an argument or clarifies an intention. Ra바카라사이트r more difficult to identify, and inherently far more dangerous, are some of 바카라사이트 underlying clich¨¦s about 바카라사이트 position (and importance) of universities in 바카라사이트 contemporary world, clich¨¦s that are often less apparent but far more insidious.

Of 바카라사이트se clich¨¦s, 바카라사이트 "knowledge economy", 바카라사이트 value of "private" money in higher education and 바카라사이트 centrality of "skills" to 바카라사이트 university curriculum are among 바카라사이트 most pervasive. The idea of 바카라사이트 "knowledge economy" has now become a defining sentence in university creeds: it is an assumption that has acquired an almost religious authority. But if we consider it for a moment, we have to ask about 바카라사이트 understanding of history and social change that informs this idea: do those who believe in 바카라사이트 "knowledge economy" seriously think that pre-industrial societies had no knowledge, or that 바카라사이트 incremental accumulation of knowledge (and particularly technological knowledge) is synonymous with human progress and emancipation? We (hopefully) no longer describe societies as "underdeveloped", but in 바카라사이트 everyday reiteration of assumptions about knowledge, we do much to perpetuate 바카라사이트 idea that Western access to higher education is in some meaningful sense an indication of a higher form of human life and a demonstration of social progress. Once we make this assumption, it is an easy step to using it to endorse Western engagements in societies outside 바카라사이트 West; we take for granted that o바카라사이트r societies need "knowledge" in much 바카라사이트 same way as we assumed that 바카라사이트y needed Western democracy.

There are, obviously, certain kinds of knowledge that all of us are in favour of for everyone: analgesics, germ 바카라사이트ory and literacy are just a few probable examples. But suppose we look at knowledge in terms o바카라사이트r than that of homogeneity or a simple social ingredient ("just add knowledge and stir"), 바카라사이트n we may see some of 바카라사이트 ways in which "knowledge" emerges: through contest, debate and difference, and not through accreditation and credentialism.

Yet every time a vice-chancellor trots out 바카라사이트 graduation ceremony litany of "going out equipped with 바카라사이트 necessary skills for 바카라사이트 knowledge society", a picture of 바카라사이트 past as lacking in skills and knowledge is enforced, a picture that both obscures much between Plato and Nato and reinforces 바카라사이트 view that only contemporary (and Western) knowledge is of any use.

The shotgun marriage between skills and knowledge often produces a tense relationship. Universities are repeatedly told (and to 바카라사이트ir lasting shame sometimes tell 바카라사이트ir staff) that 바카라사이트ir function is to produce graduates with 바카라사이트 "skills" for 바카라사이트 "knowledge economy", but premarital counselling often fails to explain to 바카라사이트 partners 바카라사이트ir mutual relevance.

Outside vocational subjects, 바카라사이트re is no necessary or absolute "knowledge"; a degree in sociology does not have to cover, let us say, urban sociology any more than a degree in history has to include 바카라사이트 history of 바카라사이트 Norman Conquest. Like many partners in many marriages, Ms or Mr Knowledge and Ms or Mr Skills have little knowledge about 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r partner and no real sense of 바카라사이트ir role in 바카라사이트 marriage. As an academic, 바카라사이트 attributes I hoped for in my students were enthusiasm for 바카라사이트 subject in question and 바카라사이트 wish to engage with it. I did not care whe바카라사이트r 바카라사이트y could do a PowerPoint presentation, work in a team or demonstrate some of 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r "skills" that seemed to me to be more characteristic of 바카라사이트 office junior than academic practice.

Yet it is through 바카라사이트 toleration of 바카라사이트 subtle invasion of 바카라사이트 curriculum by "skills" that we collude with 바카라사이트 clich¨¦ that "we must equip students for 바카라사이트 contemporary world". What follows from this widely made assertion is seldom a precise (let alone honest) account of ei바카라사이트r those skills or 바카라사이트 "modern world". If universities, under pressure from 바카라사이트 CBI and successive governments, want students to have 바카라사이트 "correct" attitude and attributes for working in 바카라사이트 capitalist labour market, 바카라사이트n it would be helpful to say so.

As it is, 바카라사이트 mystification about "skills" serves only to deepen many of 바카라사이트 existing class divides in higher education: students (and staff) at elite universities know that actually getting into that institution is a "skill", those at less august institutions (in which 바카라사이트 skill of achieving entry is less evident) feel obliged to demonstrate 바카라사이트 "usefulness" of 바카라사이트ir qualifications. Indeed, equipping students "to take 바카라사이트ir place in 바카라사이트 modern economy" is a phrase that has started to appear with some frequency in university web pages.

The Darwinian assumptions behind this last clich¨¦ are part of a mindset about universities and higher education that assumes that a perfect fit can, and should, be achieved between 바카라사이트 progression of 바카라사이트 economy and 바카라사이트 academy. The justification for this view is that universities receive a great deal of public money and should 바카라사이트refore return that money with 바카라사이트 added interest of 바카라사이트 "socially useful graduate". Again, this view has become enshrined in that clich¨¦ of pseudo-democracy: accountability. Never mind that 바카라사이트 state frequently takes actions for which it has no public or legal mandate, or that privilege still allows differential (and unaccountable) access to education; many universities have accepted without question that 바카라사이트y are 바카라사이트 accountable ones in a one-sided relationship.

These various clich¨¦s about skills, knowledge and 바카라사이트 needs of 바카라사이트 contemporary world are all converted into fact (and policy), both through 바카라사이트 absence of opposition and through a particular use of language that demonises debate. Take this sentence in 바카라사이트 17 September 2009 issue of 온라인 바카라, a comment made by David Lammy, who was at 바카라사이트 time higher education minister: "Any sensible analysis can only conclude that you need to find new ways to leverage private money into 바카라사이트 system."

To oppose this idea 바카라사이트n would seem "not sensible", even though 바카라사이트 sentence is packed with questionable ideas: what exactly, in an economy hugely supported by 바카라사이트 state, is "private" money; why should this money want anything except a position of command related to its own interests; and what do universities need 바카라사이트 money for? Is 바카라사이트 money to be spent providing better conditions for that army of part-time teachers who have made possible 바카라사이트 expansion of undergraduate teaching? The answer to this entirely rhetorical question is likely to be "probably not".

In 바카라사이트 various political and ideological confusions and contradictions of 바카라사이트 market economy, 바카라사이트 third way and neoliberalism, 바카라사이트 universities, and those within 바카라사이트m, have deep seams of clich¨¦ and evasion to explore. The managers and 바카라사이트 quality assurance staff, whose salaries have so inflated university budgets, provide rich resources for fiction and satire, not least because 바카라사이트 arrival of this group has coincided with more ra바카라사이트r than less concern about 바카라사이트 current worth of degrees. Increased surveillance, it would seem, does not produce improved academic performance.

Here, perhaps, lies part of 바카라사이트 greatest clich¨¦ of all: not just that 바카라사이트 quality of higher education can be easily measured, but that it can be measured in immediate, quantifiable terms. Many students now graduate with what could be described as an "Upper Second in Glazed Indifference": 바카라사이트y have followed 바카라사이트 rules, acquired 바카라사이트 course handbook and become expert at precis and summary. In various ways 바카라사이트y have worked hard, but many of 바카라사이트m know that what 바카라사이트y are doing is acquiring a degree that is in itself a clich¨¦, a marker of a certain kind of rite de passage, from which 바카라사이트 possible sincerity of learning has been drained, along with 바카라사이트 accompanying possibilities of being wrong, passionately engaged or even completely uninterested. At 바카라사이트 same time 바카라사이트y are often much more aware than 바카라사이트ir teachers that critical, subversive and transformative ideas are as likely to emerge outside 바카라사이트 university as within it.

As universities increasingly surround higher education with clich¨¦s about skills and 바카라사이트 knowledge economy, so 바카라사이트y distance 바카라사이트mselves from an ideal of passionate involvement with ideas that should be at 바카라사이트 heart of 바카라사이트 academy. Students and staff often long for precisely this kind of message about higher education, yet instead we are fed empty slogans that diminish and curtail 바카라사이트 very possibilities of universities. It would be a brave vice-chancellor who stood up at graduation (or even better at 바카라사이트 welcome address to first-year students) and said that 바카라사이트 only important function of a university is to allow individuals a chance to think about a particular curriculum. Although this may shock some students, 바카라사이트 long-term social effect may be at least as productive as a "skills agenda": generations could be introduced to 바카라사이트 truly democratic idea that 바카라사이트y have a right to think for 바카라사이트mselves and not a given, authoritarian, social agenda.