STS and Universities - III

Abstract

Universities now occupy a strategic place in the so-called knowledge society or information-based political economy, supplying a rapidly growing demand for new kinds of expertise in nearly all areas of modern life, especially in wealthy countries. At the same time, universities are under considerable pressure to adapt to global ideas and practices about neo-liberalism and new public management, along with the quest for ‘excellence’ and ‘innovation’ with respect to teaching, research, and outreach. Consequently, universities increasingly are expected to make themselves accountable and auditable by producing quantitative information on certain activities that enable the formation of metrics, rankings, and other new forms of control, including the management of branding, incomes, and outcomes. What is counted then counts, defining new criteria for evaluating admission, hiring, advancement, worthy subjects of inquiry, and modes of circulating knowledge. STS has considerable potential to study universities as political economic actors, institutions, enterprises, and places of work, study, and the making of knowledge. We invite contributions that address how universities have engaged with these changing political economies of research and higher education. Papers that address how these demands are reshaping the interrelationship between research and teaching, departmental cultures, academic life, and intersectional issues in universities are also welcome.

Chair

• Sharon Traweek, UCLA

Individual Presentations

• 20 Years After the Bologna Declaration: The Social Sciences’ Differing Ways of Co-Producing the European Higher Education Area - Jana Heinz, Technische Universität München

• Blurring the University-Industry Boundaries and Its Impact on the "Ethos of Science" - Modho Govind, Centre for Studies in Science Policy, School of Social Sciences -1,JNU, New Delhi

• Innovation Centers for Innovative Innovation: Universities, Industry, and the Global Hunt for Investable Science - Mark Robinson, Creighton University

• Japanese Universities and Regenerating STS Knowledge for Public Use: Fukushima Disaster and Eugenics-Based Forced Sterilization - Yuki Terazawa, Hofstra University

• The Neoliberal University in the Global South: Lessons from a Failed Chile-US Scientific Collaboration - Mary Leighton, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

Session Organizers

• Knut H Sørensen, NTNU, Dept. of Interdisciplinary Studies of Culture

• Sharon Traweek, UCLA