Global Autonomous University

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URL = http://www.edu-factory.org


Description

by: "avinash jha":

"1. Autonomous global university will be in the form of

*a global network of various auto-education initiatives in various parts of the world*

which have sought in different ways to construct knowledge activities either outside the university or in opposition to dominant trends in the university. (On the top left of their website www.edu-factory. org you can see the 'map of living knowledge' which also provides the websites related to these initiatives in US, Europe, Latin America and India.)


2. These initiatives are quite diverse in their perspectives, but they are all concerned with

the *search for an emancipatory perspective* in society.

They are not interested merely in restoring some nostalgic idea of university, but in bringing about a fundamental change in society.


3. As a result of this

*the interface between university and society becomes much more intense*.

While it is widely recognized by the participants that the boundaries between the university and society is porous the analysis of this relationship leans more heavily on the analysis of cognitive labour. Here probably Vidya Ashram's contribution to the dialogue has been and can be distinctive with our framework of 'Knowledge in Society'. We start with the fact that there are diverse locations of knowledge in society and point out that there is an hierarchical order of knowledge in society which needs to be addressed. This also clearly distinguishes the idea of any future university which must proceed from the assumption of an abundance of knowledge in society from the classical European idea which works from the assumption of scarcity of knowledge in society.


4. *The network will be driven mainly through electronic connectivity* .

A global network involving global face-to-face activity in an organised fashion in today's world would necessarily have to be implicated in complex and elaborate fund-raising activities with dynamics of their own. This does not preclude face-to-face interaction as and when it becomes possible and feasible.


5. Lastly,

*the discussion of constructing an autonomous global university should deal with the technical and financial questions as an integral part of the discussion.* (Knowledge Dialogue mailing list, 12/2007)