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Supported by Society for Educational Studies: ‘Beyond Impact’ Seminar Series

Pathfoot Building, University of Stirling
22 November 2011, Stirling, Scotland
10.30 am – 4.00 pm

Speakers:
Professor Ronald Barnett, Institute of Education, University of London
Professor Thomas Docherty, University of Warwick
Professor Maarten Simons, Leuven University, Belgium
Dr Cate Watson, University of Stirling

All around the world universities are being called upon to become more useful. There is a strong emphasis on the economic imperative, both in the link between research and technology and in the more general sense in which the university is seen as a motor for the global knowledge economy. Increasingly universities are being stretched to justify their existence beyond even mere economic indicators. In the UK, discussions about the justification of the university centre on the idea of ‘impact’. The assumption here is that if it can be shown that high quality research has a positive and demonstrable impact on sectors of society, the existence of the university – and more importantly the investment of tax payers’ money into the university – can be justified.

The main aim of this seminar is to examine critically the functionalist line of argumentation that seems to have become ‘common sense’ in discussions about the university. This is in order to understand in what ways, to what extent and for what kind of constituencies the university should indeed aim to become (more) useful, and also to gain a sense of the limitations of the discourse of usefulness.

For further information please download the registration form the University of Stirling website. 

The seminar is part of the SES 2011 Seminar Series: ‘Beyond Impact: Connecting research to policy and practice?’ Thanks to their support this event is free of charge. A limited number of places are available, with some doctoral student travel bursaries and overnight stay subsidies offered (see application form).