Knowledge and its Enemies: Towards a New Case for Higher Learning ...

Conceptual Approach

As outlined previously, a growing body of higher education policy literature seeks to explain the changing relations between the university and the state but often without sufficient regard to advances in political theory. Moreover, the concerns raised cut across rather than engage with issues in critical theory and philosophy, such as those relating to the nexus between knowledge and power. There are good reasons why each of these areas of scholarly endeavour concerning policy, politics, and knowledge is pursued in relative isolation because each alone represents a moveable feast. It is therefore critical, in order to undertake a fundamental rethink of the purpose of higher learning, to develop a clear conceptual framework and set of definitions within which these disparate discourses can be negotiated.

A thorough rethink in this general area is useful considering the changing nature of knowledge. Whitehead once quipped, ‘Knowledge does not keep any better than fish’ (1932, 147). As the university's basic stock in trade, knowledge not only undergoes constant change but, unlike fish, the very concept itself is also subject to revision. This confounds attempts to properly define ‘the university’ and what it does. Bureaucratic and legal definitions mostly relate to the right of accreditation given by the state to award degrees; this usually acknowledges that universities are institutions carrying out ‘teaching and learning’ and engaged with ‘advanced knowledge’. This includes the ‘creation of new knowledge’ (DEST 2005, online) though debate exists over the extent a university needs to conduct research, as opposed to being involved in teaching and scholarship. This is prompted by the internationalisation of higher education and the need for cross accreditation.

In this context, one proposed definition of the university is: ‘A university is a complex higher education organisation that is formally authorised to offer and confer advanced degrees in three or more academic disciplines of study’ (Denman 2005, 19). Denman noted that embedded in the term ‘advanced’ is the notion of ‘research’ and ‘scholarship’. Such definitions acknowledge that the university creates new knowledge,