The coming of the ecological university

Abstract

What is it to be a university? In what does the being of the university reside in the 21st century? To draw on a Heideggerian expression, what is its ‘being possible’? To address such questions seriously, we are drawn to imagine the university as it might unfold and so sketch out feasible utopias for it. But such a project of the imagination requires in the first place a sense as to the past and present trajectory of the university. The dominant ideas—and forms—of the university have to be identified. A further step taken here is that of furnishing conceptual resources that may help us imagine the university into the future. Four imaginaries of the university are then sketched, with allegiance being given especially to the coming of the ecological university.