Course slides can be found here at http:www' valt'helsinki'fi blogshist index'htm

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Course slides can be found hereathttp//www.v
alt.helsinki.fi/blogs/hist/index.htm
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Universities in Transition?

• Juha Tuunainen
• Helsinki Institute of Science and Technology
  Studies (HIST)
• University of Helsinki

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Contents

• pre-history of the modern university
• two major transformations
• 1) the 1st academic revolution emergence of the
  Humboldtian university (the early 19th century)
• 2) the 2nd academic revolution development of
  an entrepreneurial university (the late 20th
  century)?
• various types of contemporary universities
• references to and case studies from the
  University of Helsinki
• conclusion and discussion

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University Institution Early History

• institutions of higher learning first existed in
  China, India, Turkey, Morocco and Egypt
• the oldest operative universities Bologna 1088-,
  Paris 1150-, Oxford 1167-, Cambridge 1209- etc.
• universities as teaching institutions education
  of professionals in the law, medicine and
  theology
• teachers were paid by the students, the church or
  the crown (the state)
• every student had to take the same courses, study
  method reading and commenting on texts, lectures
• BA liberal arts (arithmetic, geometry,
  astronomy, music theory, grammar, logic,
  rhetoric)
• MA/PhD theology, law or medicine, no research
  required

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On the Road to the Modern Science and University

• the Renaissance (the 14th-17th centuries)
  changes in many fields, such as arts (realistic
  perspective), science (observation), religion
  (the Reformation)
• the scientific revolution (the 16th-17th
  centuries) importance of empirical evidence,
  mathematics and development scientific
  instruments (telescope, microscope)
• establishment of learned societies (the 17th
  century), science remained outside of the
  university
• from the preservation and transmission of
  accepted knowledge to the discovery of new
  knowledge

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Social Background of the Humboldtian University
in Prussia

• nationalism and the rise of the modern
  nation-state new basis for political and
  cultural identity
• earlier multi-ethnic empires and small
  sub-national states, loyalties to local
  communities
• new situation Napoleonic Wars (1803-15) ruined
  the whole of Europe, incl. Prussia ? loss of
  territory, universities were closed
• modernization of Prussia school reform, free
  trade, liberation of peasants, making jews full
  citizens and municipal self-administration
• Humboldt establishment of the University of
  Berlin in 1810 to recreate the national culture

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Humboldt University in Berlin and Wilhelm von
Humboldt (1767-1835)
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A New Idea of a University...

• new mission from transmission of received
  knowledge to a knowledge-producing institution
• creation of an autonomous setting for
  intellectual activities freedom of teaching and
  learning
• development of a character of a person which can
  not be defined in terms of a particular social
  position
• (Allgemeine) Bildung continual development and
  recreation of human capabilities, knowledge and
  values through personal learning and research
• unity of research and teaching community of
  professors and students in the quest for
  knowledge
• strenghthening of the national and cultural
  identity
• a model for university reforms in many countries

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...Its Manifestation in Finland in the Beginning
of 19th Century...

• crisis War of Finland (1808-09) btw Russia and
  Sweden Finland ? grand duchy of Russia
• reform of the Academy of Turku according to the
  Berlin model, its transfer to Helsinki in 1828
• new knowledge and moral education considered
  important for the countrys future
• administrative autonomy, freedom of teaching and
  research plus national missions (education of
  civil servants, building of national culture,
  esp. folklore)
• universitys connection to the chruch
  discontinued professors had no more positions in
  the church, education of the clergy (priests)
  proceeded

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...and Later Global Developments

• ongoing technical development
  industrialization, expansion of public
  administration
• growing scientific specialization new
  disciplines (vs. general knowledge)
• from elite to mass education increasing number
  of students and teachers ? social equality
  mobility, changing needs in labour markets (vs.
  unity of teaching, research and personality
  formation)
• knowledge society strenghthened research
  function and RD funding base ? economic growth
• autonomy at stake centralized political control
  of higher education systems
• Humboldtian model alive at least in rhetorics

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• Paul Bairoch (1982) International
  Industrialization Levels from 1750 to 1980.
  Journal of European Economic History 11, 2,
  269-334.

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Explosion of Scientific Specialization The Total
Number of Scientific Journals

• Source Derek J. de Solla Price (1963) Little
  Science, Big Science.

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The Number of Students per 100 000 Inhabitants in
Finland and in Europe

• Source Arto Nevala (1999) Korkeakoulutuksen
  kasvu, lohkoutuminen ja eriarvoisuus Suomessa.
  SHS, Helsinki, p. 102.

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Expansion of University Education PhDs Taken in
Sociology (US)
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Modern University as a Complex Organization

• multiple missions
• 1) basic and applied academic research
• 2) expanded under- and postgraduate education
• 3) vocational training, open univ. education,
  LLL
• 4) technology transfer (licensing, spin-off
  firms, university-industry research relations)
• 5) social service (expert tasks, cultural
  influence...)
• bureaucracy accountability pressures, management
  by results, reform programs of various kinds
• increased effectiveness more students,
  publications etc. with higher level of quality
• ?built-in tensions between different missions of
  university

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Contemporary Variety of Universities

• religious university related with a church
• free university freedom from government / church
• technical university focus on technical sciences
• state / national university state subsidized,
  national mission emphasized
• private university no government control /
  funding
• open / virtual university part-time / distant
  learning
• university of applied sciences (polytechnic,
  college)
• research university prominence given to research
• teaching university higher education emphasized
• entrepreneurial university focus on the
  commercial use of research results

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The Emergence of an Entrepreneurial University (1)
Tri-lateral networks and hybrid organizations
Academia

• interaction and overlap between institutional
  spheres of university, industry and government

State
Industry

• internal transformation of each institution
  organizations adopt each others roles

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The Emergence of an Entrepreneurial University (2)

• entrepreneurial university commercial activities
  become basic functions of every department
• this transformation is a global trend
• tensions between different functions of
  university exist but are reconciled
• market / market-like administrative mechanisms
  competitive external grants, performance-based
  steering, managerialism
• Stanford University and MIT as prime examples
  consultation (one-fifth rule), patenting
  (Stanford-split), research contracts with
  industry, American RD Corporation (seed funding)

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The Ethos of Science in Transition?

• ethos values, norms and priciples internalized
  by the scientific community ? growth of knowledge
• Mertons norms of science
• 1) universalism pre-established non-personal
  criteria is used in assessing scientific claims
  (peer review)
• 2) communism the results of science are jointly
  owned by the scientific community, recognition
  given to scientists
• 3) disinterestedness scientists do not use
  their positions in their own advantage
• 4) organized skepticism no claims are made
  until the necessary evidence is at hand (peer
  review)

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Norms of Postacademic Science

• Zimans aim to outline the gradual transition
  from academic to industrial research
• characteristics of postacademic science
• 1) proprietary knowledge is secret, patented
  and chargeable
• 2) local solving of practical problems, no
  knowledge is created for its own sake
• 3) authoritarian researchers work under the
  managerial authority
• 4) commissioned concrete goals of sponsors
  guide research projects
• 5) expert scientist is an expert problem solver

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Humboldtian Influence at the University of
Helsinki

• public university, established in 1640 as a
  professional school of law, medicine and theology
• new statutes of 1828
• 1) core activities are scientific research and
  education of the young to serve the nation
• 2) freedom of teaching preserved
• 3) scientific research emphasised
• these points have been undelined thereafter by
  notable professors and rectors of the university,
  even during the 2000s

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Two Case Studies from the University of Helsinki

• The Applied Plant Biotechnology Group
• The Research Unit for the Multilingual Language
  Technology
• both engaged simultaneously in teaching,
  scientific research and commercialization of
  research results
• different ways of treating the boundary between
  university and business deliberate hybridization
  of activities vs. an attempt to keep them
  separate
• despite the difference, similar problems arose in
  both of the cases ? four areas where norms and
  rules of university activity were contested and
  (re)defined

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Areas of Normative Regulation

• conflicts concerned
• 1) missions of the university
• 2) economic and academic rewards
• 3) communication within scientific community
• 4) connection between public and private
  activities
• ? ongoing cultural contest within the university
  as regards its basic functions
• ? the traditional public university influenced by
  Humboldtian model has not yet vanished

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Conflict 1 Missions of the University

• resolution major missions of the university are
  teaching and research
• Plant Biotech Group teaching undergraduate
  students was defined as the primary duty of the
  professor by the dpt. chairman
• Language Technology Unit judgement made by the
  group members themselves that the commercial
  activity does not really belong to the university

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Conflict 2 Economic and Academic Rewards

• Plant Biotech Group contest over the ownership
  of the groups IPRs between the group members and
  the host university
• resolution the IPRs transferred to the
  university
• Language Technology Unit a) a company owned by
  the professors marketed products without
  indicating that these were developed by
  university researchers, b) researchers were not
  accepted as co-shareholders of the company
• resolution a) nothing could be done afterwards
  to this issue, b) researchers established a
  company of their own

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Conflict 3 Communication within Scientific
Community

• Plant Biotech Group the dpt. chairman asked
  information about the groups spin-off company,
  the group leader did not want to give it
• resolution she did not give the requested
  information and the group decided to leave the
  dpt
• Language Technology Unit secretive atmosphere
  emerged within the unit in result of two
  companies (owned by younger researchers and
  professors, respectively) that both sought to
  commercialize the units research results
• resolution nothing could be done anymore, the
  units research programme ceased

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Conflict 4 Connection between Public and Private
Activities

• Plant Biotech Group administrators concern over
  the possible blending of the groups private and
  public finances
• resolution 1) finances closely monitored and 2)
  boundaries between private and public activities
  established
• Language Technology Unit dual roles of
  professors as academics and entrepreneurs
  regarded as problematical by the units
  researchers and the firms employees
• resolution the professors gave up their
  entrepreneurs roles

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Conclusions

• recreation of norms to support commercialization
  of research results?
• no new norms were found
• 1) teaching and research were defined as basic
  tasks of the university
• 2) results of science should be owned
  collectively
• 3) communication should be open within academ-ic
  community
• 4) public and private activities should be kept
  sep-arate

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Discussion (1)

• convergence between the university, government
  and business is university becoming similar to
  other forms of organization?
• the university is certainly in transition
  evidence e.g., administrative reforms,
  patenting, science parks and business incubators
• simultaneously university pursues to keep up its
  distinctive character as a knowledge producing
  institution, it does not resign to the
  imperatives of the other cultural spheres

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Discussion (2)

• universities facing a serious challenge
  different vested interests are pulling
  universities in different directions
  mission-oriented funding, immediate ecoomic gains
  and entrepreneurial style of management vs.
  curiosity-oriented research and academic
  self-governance
• debate over the norms of science cultural
  contest going on
• second academic revolution?