Mass Intellectuality and Democratic Leadership in Higher Education

Abstract

Higher education in the UK is in crisis. The idea of the public university is under assault, and both the future of the sector and its relationship to society are being gambled. Higher education is increasingly unaffordable, its historic institutions are becoming untenable, and their purpose is resolutely instrumental. What and who have led us to this crisis? What are the alternatives? To whom do we look for leadership in revealing those alternatives? This book brings together critical analyses of 'intellectual leadership' in the University, and documents on­going efforts from around the world to create alternative models for organising higher education and the production of knowledge. Its authors offer their experience and views from inside and beyond the structures of mainstream higher education, in order to reflect critically on efforts to create really existing alternatives. In the process the volume asks is it possible to re­imagine the University democratically and co­operatively? If so, what are the implications for leadership not just within the University but also in terms of higher education’s relationship to society. The authors argue that mass higher education is at the point where it no longer reflects the needs, capacities and long­term interests of global society. An alternative role and purpose is required, based upon 'mass intellectuality’ or the real possibility of democracy in learning and the production of knowledge.