Overview

Students are not clients, job seekers, or consumers. Their purpose is the pursuit of knowledge. So why do universities largely restrict inquiry to professors and graduate students? In What Could a University Be? Robert Gibbs imagines a university focused on engaging students in research at all levels and across all faculties, including professional schools. Gibbs proposes a widely applicable model that reverses the traditional top-down flow by teaching students how to conduct research and become knowledge creators rather than passive recipients. His future university embraces different perspectives on what knowledge is and draws its research questions from the society around it. What Could a University Be? will change how readers understand teaching, research, the kinds of thinking in which students should engage, and the role of the university in solving the many challenges of our time.

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Reviews

""I have read many books on the future of universities. Professor Gibbs's effort is by far the most thoughtful, deeply critical, and yet encouraging. Gibbs is a philosopher who also has pertinent practical experience in a 'management' role. He draws on his leadership experience to great effect, with many practical examples and insights. At the same time, his close readings of classical, theological, and philosophical texts are accessible, engaging, and deeply instructive.""-- ""Stephen J. Toope, president and CEO of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, former vice-chancellor of the University of Cambridge, and former president of the University of British Columbia"" ""With originality and insight, Robert Gibbs challenges us to consider why the research university excludes research as a fundamental component of an undergraduate education. The proposal Gibbs offers will change how we think about the nature of higher education, the creation of new knowledge, and the meaning of undergraduate and advanced degrees.""-- ""Claire E. Katz, associate provost for faculty advocacy and professor of philosophy and education, School of Education and Human Development, Texas A&M University""

Author Information

Robert Gibbs is a professor of philosophy and religion and was the inaugural director of the Jackman Humanities Institute at the University of Toronto. He has been a member of the international advisory board of the Consortium of Humanities Centers and Institutes, the Humanities Initiative Steering Committee for the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. His numerous publications include Correlations in Rosenzweig and Levinas and Why Ethics? Signs of Responsibilities. He has lectured widely on higher education, including presenting the J.V. Clyne Lectures at Green College at the University of British Columbia. He lives in Toronto.

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