The European and American university since 1800 : historical and sociological essays

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The European and American university since 1800 : historical and sociological essays

edited by Sheldon Rothblatt and Björn Wittrock

Cambridge University Press, 1993

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Includes index

Description and Table of Contents

Description

Universities are said to be the 'powerhouses' of modern society. They educate leaders and advance our basic knowledge of nature and society. Yet historically they have been vulnerable when meeting the challenges of dynamic industrial democracies or indeed of modern totalitarian states. Today universities are at the centre of society's attention and must therefore balance a great number of contradictory demands and pressures. Can this be done within the structure and ethos of an historic institution called a 'university', or are such institutions now passe and merely part of a bureaucratically managed higher education 'system'? These essays discuss the ways in which universities have coped with complexity since 1800, while retaining their basic 'idea'. Special attention is accorded to the role of the State and the autonomous professions in defining the mission of universities and in their struggle for individuality in the face of mounting pluralistic and bureaucratic pressures.

Table of Contents

  • Notes on the contributors
  • Introduction: universities and 'higher education' Sheldon Rothblatt and Bjoern Wittrock
  • Part I. Fact and Ideals in Liberal Education: 1. The limbs of Osiris: liberal education in the English-speaking world Sheldon Rothblatt
  • 2. In search of Isis: general education in Germany and Sweden Sven-Eric Liedman
  • Part II. The State, the University, and the Professions: 3. The transformation of professional education in the nineteenth century Rolf Torstendahl
  • 4. From practise to school-based professional education: patterns of conflict and accommodation in England, France and the United States Michael Burrage
  • Part III. The Ambiguities of University Research in Sweden and the United States: 5. Universities, research, and the transformation of the state in Sweden Aant Elzinga
  • 6. Research, graduate education, and the ecology of American universities: an interpretative history Roger Geiger
  • Part IV. Complexity: 7. The problem of complexity in modern higher education Burton R. Clark
  • 8. Comparative perspectives on British and American higher education Martin Trow
  • Part V. The Ironies of University History: 9. The modern university: the three transformations Bjoern Wittrock
  • Index.

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