The future of higher education is in question as universities struggle to remain relevant to the present and future needs of society. The context in which learning occurs is rapidly changing and those engaged and interested in the place and position of university education need to figure out to adapt. This book embodies a vision for higher education where graduate attributes and proficiencies are at the core of the academic project, where degree programs move beyond disciplinary content and where students are encouraged to be Citizen Scholars. Through a series of cross-disciplinary and contextual cases, the contributors to this book articulate how this vision can be achieved in our pedagogical environments, future proofing higher education.

In 1998, the Master’s programme Euroculture started with the aim to offer, amid the many existing programmes that focused on European institutional developments, a European studies curriculum that puts the interplay of culture, society and politics in Europe at the heart of the curriculum. Among other topics, the programme focused on how Europe and European integration could be contextualised and what these concepts meant to European citizens. In June 2018, Euroculture celebrated its twentieth anniversary with a conference to discuss not only the changes within the MA Euroculture itself, but also to reflect upon the changes in the field of European studies over the last two decades writ large. This volume brings together the main findings of this conference. Since its start, Euroculture has engaged with European studies by providing a space for cooperation between more mainstream-oriented research on the one hand and a variety of sociological, historiographical, post-structuralist, and post-colonial perspectives on Europe on the other. This has enabled Euroculture to contextualise the emergence and development of European institutions historically and in relation to broader socio-political and cultural processes. Its methodology, that treats theoretical and analytical work, classroom teaching and engaged practice as integral parts of critical inquiry, has significantly contributed to its ability to continuously enhance scholarly discussions. The volume is divided into two parts, which are intrinsically linked. The first part contains reflections on the field of European studies and on concepts, analytical perspectives and methodologies that have emerged through interdisciplinary dialogues in Euroculture/European studies. The second part contains contributions that reflect upon the Euroculture programme itself, discussing both changes and continuities in the curriculum and didactic methods, outlining possible venues for further developing the educational and research programme that is firmly embedded in a network of partners that have been closely cooperating over a span of no less than two decades.

This book reinvigorates the philosophical treatment of the nature, purpose, and meaning of thought in today’s universities. The wider discussion about higher education has moved from a philosophical discourse to a discourse on social welfare and service, economics, and political agendas. This book reconnects philosophy with the central academic concepts of thought, reason, and critique and their associated academic practices of thinking and reasoning. Thought in this context should not be considered as a merely mental or cognitive construction, still less a cloistered college, but a fully developed individual and social engagement of critical reflection and discussion with the current pressing disciplinary, political, and philosophical issues. The editors hold that the element of thought, and the ability to think in a deep and groundbreaking way is, still, the essence of the university. But what does it mean to think in the university today? And in what ways is thought related not only to the epistemological and ontological issues of philosophical debate, but also to the social and political dimensions of our globalised age? In many countries, the state is imposing limitations on universities, dismissing or threatening academics who speak out critically. With this volume, the editors ask questions such as: What is the value of thought? What is the university’s proper relationship to thought? To give the notion of thought a thorough philosophical treatment, the book is divided into in three parts. The focus moves from an epistemological perspective in Part I, to a focus on existence and values in higher education in Part II, and then to a societal-oriented focus on the university in Part III. All three parts, in their own ways, debate the notion of thought in higher education and the university as a thinking form of being.

Writing Centres in South Africa, and globally, are now well established academic support centres within many universities. Historically tasked with supporting students as they grapple with the demands of academic writing, many centres are now moving beyond their own walls to work with academic tutors, lecturers and departments to rethink the ways in which knowledge is transformed into different kinds of disciplinary writing. This move raises pertinent questions for writing centre directors, tutors/consultants, and for the universities that house them: how does a centre, tasked with supporting more general academic literacy development through writing pedagogies, initiate students into a range of particularised discourse communities? How do writing centre staff and disciplinary lecturers negotiate their shared, and separate, concerns for student learning through collaborative writing development projects? How do writing centres work with assignments and forms of literacy that challenge them to reconfigure their own pedagogical practices and expand their conceptions of writing support? How do writing centres maintain their core focus as they move flexibly beyond their own spaces to understand the nature of disciplinary writing? This collection of essays reflects on the ways in which writing centres in South Africa are working in and across disciplines. Institutional constraints and challenges that arise from these collaborations are addressed and opportunities for transforming teaching and learning spaces are explored. The chapters speak to the global move in higher education to reconsider how knowledge is made, who makes it, and how support and development opportunities for students and lecturers should be created and sustained across the disciplines. This volume contributes to the body of knowledge in the growing field of the scholarship of teaching and learning in higher education in South Africa. It builds on the work of the first collection of such essays: Changing Spaces: Writing Centres and Access to Higher Education (Eds. A. Archer and R. Richards, 2011, SUN PReSS) to understand why working within the disciplines is so critical for writing development in a South Africanÿcontext.

This volume wholeheartedly engages with the current climate in higher education and provides not only a thorough analysis of the foundational elements constituting higher education but also a critical discussion of possible connections to societal and cultural domains and policy debates. Today, higher education institutions and programs are beset with multiple, and often conflicting, pressures and demands. Higher education is regarded by societies in general, and at the political level in particular, as a pathway to securing continued economic growth and ensuring cultural growth in surrounding societal contexts. Future academics are expected to become experts within their disciplines and at the same time to acquire and develop generic competences and transferable skills directly translatable into job market and professional contexts. These conflicting and fragmented policy approaches to higher education leaves academic leaders, teacher, researchers, and students with an incoherent curriculum and a confused and eroded academic identity and societal outlook. Much literature within higher education research that engages with similar topics are dominated by a backwards-looking and heavy critique of current political and educational conditions for the university and higher education. This volume suggests a new tack that is defined by openness and optimism towards possibilities for a transformative higher education curriculum – that at the same time stays firmly rooted within the foundational academic soil. By drawing on, and contributing to, the emerging research field the philosophy and theory of higher education, the book combines critique with a constructive and future-oriented approach and outlook on higher education. Further, it combines and links philosophical discussions on the idea of the future university with societal responsibility and a curricular and formational awareness.

For hundreds of years, knowledge has been central in understanding the university. Over recent decades, however, it is the economic value of knowledge that has come to the fore. Now, in a post-truth world, knowledge is also treated with suspicion and has become a vehicle for ideologies. Knowledge and the University combats all these ways of thinking. Its central claim is that knowledge is of value because of its connection with life. Knowledge is of life, from life, in life and for life. With an engaging philosophical discussion, and with a consideration of the evolution of higher education institutions, this book: Examines ways in which research, teaching and learning are bound up with life; Looks to breathe new life into the university itself; Widens the idea of the knowledge ecology to embrace the whole world; Suggests new roles for the university towards culture and the public sphere. Knowledge and the University is a radical text that looks to engender nothing less than a new spirit of the university. It offers a fascinating read for policy makers, institutional leaders, academics and all interested in the future of universities.

How can you design more inclusive learning experiences and environments? How can you overcome some of the challenges of designing and implementing more inclusive learning? You will find the answers to these questions and much more in this dynamic new text. Asserting that good teaching is inclusive teaching, it demonstrates how university modules and courses can be designed so that each student, regardless of their complex diversity, is valued equally. Drawing from the contributions of over 80 experts and colleagues alongside her own extensive experience, Rossi explores how to embed inclusivity at the point of course design and how to set up, run, assess and evaluate inclusive learning environments and experiences. Following a unique ‘roots to shoots’ journey through an inclusive learning design tree, chapters focus on five dimensions: Values Context Content Assessment Evaluation An accessible and practical guide for higher education course design, this book is a must read for higher education educators looking to be more inclusive in the way they design and offer learning experiences. For further reading, please visit inclusivelearningdesign.com where you’ll find extended contributor bios, more case studies, key concepts and background, an 'inclusive learning design' checklist and glossary.