| Abstract: |
Changes of universities should not be a result of administrators’ and
university managers’ decisions (as a top-down approach), but of initiatives
from the academic community. It is a kind of third way, which goes beyond the
liberal discourse of the capitalist, who want to turn universities into
companies, but it is not only the realization of the vision of the university
officials. Taking into account our research and educational experience, we
would like to introduce a wider perspective on the role of the contemporary
university – regarding the core-periphery position of universities in a global
world. In addition, our aim is to show how strategies of resistance can be
built, which will result in effective and sustainable conversion of thinking
about the university as an institution in shaping and creating an elite, as
well as developing mechanisms of pro-quality, taking into account social
factors. To reveal this way of thinking and show possibilities of taking
action, we describe the main Polish initiatives that can change the university
world in every field. An example of such a social movement is Citizens of
Academia (Obywatele Nauki). Its members are young (usually post-doctoral), as
well as more experienced scholars, who, despite the fact of achieving
scientific and academic success, are working for the common good and the good
of the university seen as an important social institution. The university
ought to be an institution responsible for the process of social and cultural
development.We agree that research on the role and activity of the movement is
important to understand the direction of changes of the (post)modern
university and society. The goal of such ethnographically inspired research is
diagnosis of a specific engaged academic community. The article will present
conclusions of the pilot study, conducted among the founders and initiators of
the ON movement. Additional important objectives of the paper are to provide
practical recommendations for policymakers, academic communities, research
institutions and university administration, as well as answers to the question
about possibilities of using the intellectual potential of young, talented,
rebel and open scholars, to became a catalyst for desired change of the
university, as well as development of personal careers of Polish academicians |