In collaboration with AIAS, SHAPE hosted a workshop under the theme ‘The societal contract(s) of the university’ on the 25th of September 2024. The point of departure for the workshop was how in many countries, universities are under reform and the societal role of the institution is a topic of debate. With cutbacks, publicly funded universities are increasingly being subjected to governance regimes based on performance measurements and marketization; the ‘value and relevance’ of specific disciplines and ‘academia’ more broadly, raises heated political and public discussions; digitization and AI transforms many disciplines and the labor market for academic candidates etc. In response to such ‘external factors’, university researchers and managers may object that the university is ruined by neoliberalism; that freedom of research is threatened and that ideally the university should be guarded from (too much) societal and political interference. But the university has always existed as part of and contributed to society and has been shaped by the specific societal and cultural milieu it is part of. 

The purpose of this workshop was to engage researchers from different disciplines in presenting and debating how they, from their local and specific position, see the societal contract of the university today. The idea was to surface similarities and differences and from that outset collaborate on patching together a joined vision.

Participants were asked to prepare a brief presentation on how they would define the societal contract of the university seen from their unique perspective and experience, and the participants thereafter explored and/or designed brief future societal contract(s) in groups, after which the contract(s) were informally shared with the rest of the workshop.

Thus, the workshop both focused on broadening our collective understanding of the university, and on collaborating on formulating the societal contract(s) for the university of today and tomorrow. 

Thank you to all who participated!