Challenges and opportunities of the university in a global context, by Jaume Pagès
Universities for the best or for everyone?
“The challenge facing us is in fact between the elitist university, the university whose aim is to educate the elite in society, and the university of the masses, the university whose aim to educate the population as a whole. I think that this is the challenge facing us and that the universities are facing”
“The traditional university and the most prestigious universities in the world have always been elitist universities because they came from a society that was essentially led by elites.”
“How can we fund a higher university education system that covers such a high percentage of the population? This is a challenge that we are experiencing in our countries and that has no immediate and easy answer.”
“We're reaching levels of participation in the university system that exceed 50% or that come near. Some countries have already passed this. It's not the same thing to maintain an education system that educates this percentage of the population as it is to maintain an education system that educates only 5% of the population”
“What should the system propose? Educate elites and this way select the best to get there – these best ones measured in some way that cannot sometimes be explained how it's been calculated that they are the best and how they're selected – but well: selecting them in some way and helping them progress? Or educating the wider the population the better?”