Overview

Full Product Details

9781910761069

Table of Contents

Reviews

How did the British university arrive at its present impasse--and with which concepts can we grasp its contradictions? Lee's timely book provides fresh answers to these questions by historicizing the postwar university while subjecting its ideals to a fundamental critique. Drawing from the philosophy of Kojin Karatani, Lee unfolds a powerful, novel theory of the university within which there is no a priori standard by which to judge its success or failure. The result is an erudite study of the post-war British university and the concepts by which we judge higher education. A major contribution to study of the university ideal. -- Joel Wainwright, Professor (Ohio State University), author of Decolonizing Development, Geopiracy, and Climate Leviathan (with Geoff Mann). This eloquently written and engaging account of the trajectory of the British University is an important addition to the literature on the topic. It presents a bold and original treatment of recent history and future implications of higher education that is a must-read for researchers and commentators in the field. While being theoretically complex, it manages to avoid obscurantism, and provides a constructive response to the threats to the public university so evident in contemporary times. The book provides a response that is hopeful but without na vet , and that recuperates fundamental principles of the university without slipping into romanticized golden-ageism. A breath of fresh air in this perennial debate. -- Tristan McCowan, Reader in Education and International Development (Institute of Education, University College London).

How did the British university arrive at its present impasse--and with which concepts can we grasp its contradictions? Lee's timely book provides fresh answers to these questions by historicizing the postwar university while subjecting its ideals to a fundamental critique. Drawing from the philosophy of Kojin Karatani, Lee unfolds a powerful, novel theory of the university within which there is no a priori standard by which to judge its success or failure. The result is an erudite study of the post-war British university and the concepts by which we judge higher education. A major contribution to study of the university ideal. -- Joel Wainwright, Professor (Ohio State University), author of Decolonizing Development, Geopiracy, and Climate Leviathan (with Geoff Mann). This eloquently written and engaging account of the trajectory of the British University is an important addition to the literature on the topic. It presents a bold and original treatment of recent history and future implications of higher education that is a must-read for researchers and commentators in the field. While being theoretically complex, it manages to avoid obscurantism, and provides a constructive response to the threats to the public university so evident in contemporary times. The book provides a response that is hopeful but without naivete, and that recuperates fundamental principles of the university without slipping into romanticized golden-ageism. A breath of fresh air in this perennial debate. -- Tristan McCowan, Reader in Education and International Development (Institute of Education, University College London).

Author Information

Soo Tian Lee, PhD, is an independent researcher and a former sessional lecturer at Birkbeck, University of London.

Tab Content 6

Countries Available