Values In Higher Education

What is the point of Higher Education? What value does it have for the individual or the nation? The myth that you need a degree to ‘succeed’ has been punctured in practice by politicians, business people, sportspersons and many more. So why does the government want fifty percent of the 18 to 30 year olds to be in Higher Education? Is there perhaps something more lasting and profound that the university has to contribute to the individual and to society, which makes Higher Education a good that we should strive for? If so is this to do with the long-term material well being of society or even the very nature of that society? Dearing suggests that we might care to think in terms of the university as ‘shaping society’. But to what end might society be shaped? Who decides what is ‘civilized’, what are the underlying values and how might they be arrived at in a postmodern society? To mark the centenary of the University of Leeds Values in Higher Education brings together some of the foremost thinkers of the day to address these questions in theory and practice. These writers put down benchmarks for the debate on Values in Higher Education in the 21st century: Zygmunt Bauman Melvyn Bragg Thomas Bender Gwen Collins John Cowan Miriam David Bob Fryer Nigel Humphrys Tom Mcleish Chris Megone Hilde Eileen Nafstad Peter Scott Sue Vickerman Rowan Williams Alan Wilson