Are universities indispensable?
The Educationalist. By Alexandra Mihai
Welcome to a new edition of “The Educationalist”! This week I have a challenge for you: think for a moment that universities no longer exist. Yes, try to really convince yourself of this and observe what this thought does to you. What is the feeling you get? What are the first ideas that cross your mind? I know, it sounds dystopian, and I normally don’t like to entertain this kind of thoughts. But this scenario came up during a workshop a few weeks ago, and I was very surprised by my own reaction. I’ll try to write down some of my thoughts and I hope you take me up on this challenge and share your reactions and ideas. While at first sight it sounds pretty gloomy, I found that this thought made me (re)discover the values of universities that I have been taking for granted. And that’s the silver linking!
With universities currently being under threat by political decisions in different places around the world, as well as under considerable financial stress and facing the challenge of positioning themselves against emerging technologies like GenAI, it is probably a good time for this exercise of imagination: what if universities no longer existed? I know that not all of you work in HE institutions, but I think this challenge is also relevant for anyone outside (higher) education, and it may actually yield different reactions due to a certain level of detachment. One more disclaimer: I am aware I am not using a rigorous terminology, in this context by “universities” I actually mean all HE institutions in various forms and shapes, basically the institutionalised forms of HE.
All doom and gloom. Or is it?
My first reaction to this scenario was disbelief. This could no possibly happen. It felt like all of a sudden someone told you that you can’t use your right hand anymore. I simply could not imagine how an institution like the university could stop existing. True, the thought was also very new to me, thus my initial reluctance to even engage with it.
Then came fear. Not only could I not imagine how the world would look like without universities, but I actually felt very uncomfortable with this alternative reality. Very surprised by this strong gut feeling, I tried to understand what was the cause of my fear. Was I afraid that I would lose my job and my career prospects? This fear, rooted in basic survival instincts, is somewhat justified, at least at first sight. Having worked only in HE institutions throughout my career so far, imagining my work in a different context takes some courage and determination but especially some thinking outside the box. Yes, I am aware of all the shortcomings of the HE system, in fact this is one of the objects of my research, but still, my prudent self would rather stick to “the devil I know” rather than venture into the unknown.
Was it the fear of chaos? My mind was already exploring, apprehensively, a world where universities are no longer the gatekeeper of knowledge. The good part: knowledge is more accessible. The scary part: how would we know people are really qualified for their professions (especially in high stakes professions like medicine)? True, a diploma does not necessarily guarantee the qualification, but, I was telling myself, at least there is a system we can rely on. So what I feared here was not the disappearance of the university as an institution, but of the system behind how (higher) education is organised.
Or did I fear that the world would be missing something crucial, something I could not really put my finger on but instinctively felt that would make our lives poorer? Unlike the two fears above, this was still very vague. Almost like sadness or melancholy. Like mourning a loss of something that, though invisible, keeps us together as individuals and as a society.
Once the fear(s) started to subside- the rational me understood this is just a scenario, at least for now-, I started thinking about what is unique to universities and not easily replaceable (I’m not saying impossible). Just like looking for what is uniquely human in the GenAI discussion. And here is what I came up with.
Back to basics
When I think about what I would miss the most in case universities no longer existed (and yes, I still like to think of it as an unlikely scenario), my mind circles around three main ideas. Here they are:
The university as community
This is all about connection, bringing people together, providing opportunities for collaborative learning. It’s about crossing and erasing boundaries between different groups, from within and beyond academia. It’s the social aspect that transcends and underlies teaching, learning and research.
The university as dialogue
This is about transforming knowledge into wisdom through discussion. It’s about critical thinking and engagement with different, sometimes opposing ideas. It’s about learning how to develop an argument and find our voice. It’s about creatively solving problems. It’s about being fully present with ourselves and in our work.
The university as space
A safe space to grow. A space to explore and experience, individually and as a community. A space to come together. A space for resistance, for curiosity, for change.
Winds of change
Even if the university as an institution won’t entirely disappear, or perhaps not in my lifetime, I still think it needs to change, sometimes drastically, to be able to withstand the societal, political, technological, environmental (+ fill in the gap) changes ahead of us.
Here is how I feel we could take those three aspects above further, to ensure universities can thrive despite all the challenges that they are and will be facing in the near future:
Open community
Explicitly placing the community aspect at their core can help keep universities relevant in a rapidly changing social climate. This includes opening up to various target audiences, what we call “non-traditional students” but what I prefer to call learners who have perhaps not had the chance to follow formal university education. Strengthening the links to other sectors outside academia is equally important. This could include involving professionals in various teaching and learning activities, such as mentoring and project work. And how about more connections with schools, helping to address the sometimes huge gap students experience when they come to university? Last but not least, as integral part of cities, universities could bring a huge contribution to the local community; currently, in many cases, the ties between the two are not as strong as they could be.
Beyond knowledge
With knowledge becoming more accessible, universities need to come to terms with the fact they so no longer hold the monopoly. Indeed, they should shift the focus towards a more active approach of collaborative knowledge construction. The skills and competences necessary for processing, interpreting and communicating knowledge take centre stage and need to become a more explicit part of the curriculum. To stay relevant, we need to keep asking ourselves “what do our learners need in order to become active and responsible members of society?” and see where in this process we can really bring added value. You may have noticed I did not choose to ask “what do our students need in order to thrive on the labour market?”. This was an intentional choice, as I personally do not believe that universities should profile themselves as a conveyor belt for the labour market (as many of our students see us right now). On the contrary, I feel that job-related knowledge is perhaps one of the first areas that is and will be best tackled outside university. Where we can add value is in developing the right attitudes and competencies that go beyond factual disciplinary knowledge.
Inclusive space
Universities need to become more intentional in terms of what kind of space thy want to be. With “traditional” formats like lectures, seminars and tutorials losing their appeal (although I definitely don’t think they are obsolete as such), it’s time to rethink our formats and modalities. This applies both to course level- where we can thick about more active, collaborative approaches that do not always fit in our current schedule templates- and to curriculum level- where we need to think beyond a classical degree (Bachelor or Master) and provide also more flexible qualifications, such as micro-credentials and stackable modules/ badges that can appeal to a broader target audience. Technology can really help in this pursuit, when used intentionally, to enrich the learning experience and make it more inclusive. A right mix of synchronous and asynchronous activities can provide space for competence development and knowledge co-construction, despite geographical and time barriers.
So it’s not all doom and gloom, I would conclude. What started like a really scary prospect, made me aware of what I value most in the university environment and therefore what I would like to preserve and enhance (just like in the terrarium below), regardless of the form and shape that universities might take 20, 50 or 100 years from now. After all, a university is not just a building or an institution. It is a state of mind, a collection of values and a space to think and discuss.
Dear Alexandra,
Thank you for this thought-provoking piece as always! Your exercise of imagining a world without universities stirred something deeper in me—not just fear or disorientation, but a sense of urgency and possibility.
While I too instinctively recoiled at the idea of their disappearance, I want to gently challenge and expand the conversation: perhaps the question isn’t whether universities will vanish, but whether they can transcend their current form to truly embody the values they profess—curiosity, justice, inquiry, and care.
You beautifully describe the university as a community, a dialogue, and a space. Yet, many of us—particularly those from the Global South, precarious academic positions, or marginalized identities—often find ourselves excluded from, or exhausted by, the very structures that are meant to include and uplift. The university, for us, can be simultaneously liberating and limiting—a site of both empowerment and erasure. Perhaps the deeper fear is not that the university will cease to exist, but that it may persist in a form that forgets its public purpose.
In this light, your call for open community, beyond knowledge, and inclusive space resonates—but I wonder if we might go further. What would it mean to reimagine universities not just as adaptive institutions, but as healing ecologies—where knowledge is not only constructed, but also reconciled, decolonized, and re-spirited? Where learners are not merely shaped for societal participation, but invited into a world of meaning-making that honours different epistemologies, temporalities, and ways of being?
GenAI, for instance, doesn’t just challenge the university’s epistemic authority—it challenges us to rethink what counts as knowledge, and whose labour, language, or lineage is acknowledged. What if the university became less of a gatekeeper, and more of a gathering—where the intellectual and the emotional, the embodied and the digital, the scientific and the sacred could meet in respectful tension?
I write this not from cynicism, but from hope—hope that the university, like a terrarium as you say, can be tenderly curated to thrive in its own ecosystem, while letting go of what no longer serves. Thank you for opening this space for reflection. I look forward to continuing this vital conversation.
Warm regards,
Avita
Hello from a long-time fan,
This is an interesting post and a topic I've been thinking about. I agree largely with your comments and add the following two points...
1. the magic in universities comes from the combination of knowledge creation/development and knowledge sharing through education. This creates a ideas eco-system where ideas are valued (treasured!) alongside thoughtful and robust analysis, evaluation and synthesis. Either research or teaching on their own is less constructive and more limited.
2. universities and university systems have become mass educators so they must pay attention to what all their graduates are seeking. This takes them beyond a space for intellectual endeavour to include a mission to equip graduates for an uncertain future including their careers.
Australian Universities, where I am, were established with a firm emphasis on building professional careers. That doesn't replace the need for open thought and discovery but it does expand the mission.
Keep up the great work.
Liz Johnson, Australia