Expert Comment
It is interesting to consider just what proportion of world art and culture is housed in galleries and museums owned by universities. I suspect that the figure would be a pretty impressive one, any way you look at it. But what is really impressive is not the quantity but the sheer exuberance of so many university collections.
In the rest of this century, I suspect that getting our cities right will be one of the most pressing of the many lines of research that universities will have to engage with. Why would I make such a strong statement?
Why universities have taken on some of the activities that are now associated with them is sometimes close to anyone’s guess. I am not writing here about the 19th century sporting add-ons in the shape of Walter Camp and college football or the two Charles’s–Merivale and Wordsworth–and the boat race. Nor am I talking about events like the great expansion of research after the Second World War.
Everyone tends to assume that the growth of international students will go on unfettered. But I am not sure that, when all is said and done, it is going to be quite that simple. I was brought to this conclusion by a recent visit to Singapore.
There is a fascinating moment when academics reflect upon their practices in ways that are not just emblematic but are clearly leading to real change in what the practice of being an academic actually means. I have been reminded of this fact twice recently as I have considered practices of teaching and research at a number of universities around the world.