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This. Several years ago, I sat through a panel (at a university) in which representatives from various businesses tried to lecture a bunch of academics about h

This. Several years ago, I sat through a panel (at a university) in which representatives from various businesses tried to lecture a bunch of academics about how the university is a hidebound institution, and that if doesn't "get with the times" it will be crushed by the new technological world order. I recall noting that "the university" had not only outlasted any particular firm they could name, but had indeed survived the rise and fall of empires. I also noted the irony of being lectured by a representative from Big Blue about one's inability to "pivot." "The university" is a remarkably resilient institution. That doesn't make it a good institution, but we should pause before we analyze them with the kind of narrow-minded presentism we see in this post. Universities have survived these many centuries not because they refuse to change, but because they're better at changing than even the nation states that have supported them.

SpicyLemonZest 6y ago
I think it's important to note that many institutions have technically persisted and adapted without really staying competitive. Catholic monasteries, for example, have almost none of the respect and power they used to enjoy. I have no doubt universities will still exist centuries from now - but will they exist as dynamic centers of intellect, or archaic live-in social clubs?
- cinquemb 6y ago
  > I think it's important to note that many institutions have technically persisted and adapted without really staying competitive. This will go ignored by most, for they are too caught up in the respect and power they enjoy now from their associations (or those they hope to gain by joining such ranks) to not realize that its slowly seeping away at best, and not strictly to individual states or corporate institutions, and that full "handover" of power is a slow process that can span generations with occasional jumps within any given one. It's resources are being siphoned to build anew, like the church's before it.
- sn41 6y ago
  You are right, the past may not indicate the future. In any case, mass higher education is a new thing, probably only from the late 19th century. It may also happen that the scale of university education will go down, while universities survive.

SpicyLemonZest 6y ago

I think it's important to note that many institutions have technically persisted and adapted without really staying competitive. Catholic monasteries, for example, have almost none of the respect and power they used to enjoy. I have no doubt universities will still exist centuries from now - but will they exist as dynamic centers of intellect, or archaic live-in social clubs?

cinquemb 6y ago
> I think it's important to note that many institutions have technically persisted and adapted without really staying competitive. This will go ignored by most, for they are too caught up in the respect and power they enjoy now from their associations (or those they hope to gain by joining such ranks) to not realize that its slowly seeping away at best, and not strictly to individual states or corporate institutions, and that full "handover" of power is a slow process that can span generations with occasional jumps within any given one. It's resources are being siphoned to build anew, like the church's before it.
sn41 6y ago
You are right, the past may not indicate the future. In any case, mass higher education is a new thing, probably only from the late 19th century. It may also happen that the scale of university education will go down, while universities survive.