Higher Imagination

Higher education (HE) must change. Dialogue can be a source of the ideas and inspiration needed by the sector and its institutions to achieve change. This book contributes to the debate about the future of HE and presents a set of practical actions which can enable HE to define, and then deliver on, its mission across education, research, and social impact.

Universities face crises on many fronts, not least the erosion of confidence from staff, students, and policymakers. Yet the conditions in which they operate - in systems which are highly regulated quasi-markets - are unlikely to change for the better any time soon. Therefore, universities need to work within the constraints provided, using the freedoms they are afforded to shape their education and research, the better to serve their beneficiaries as public-purpose organisations seeking social impact. And they need new and positive solutions to the problems they face.

Higher Imagination: A Future for Universities provides new insights for leading the contemporary university to achieve successful outcomes for stakeholders. Drawing on experience of the marketised systems in the UK and Australia, the book offers solutions to the seemingly intractable problems facing universities. Carefully balancing the social heart with the need for financial security and organisational efficiency, the solutions proposed keep the mission of the public university alive while growing universities' impact.