Welfare reform on the Web (May 2007): Education - UK - higher

The enquiring university: compliance and contestation in higher education

S. Rowland

Maidenhead: Society for Research into Higher Education & Open University, 2006

The book explores the ways in which teaching, research and learning are related to each other and to a wider social context, one in which ideas about the nature of the university and knowledge are changing. It develops a concept of enquiry which can play a central role in how we are to understand academic work. It is a concept which values the academic tradition of a love for the subject, while at the same time encouraging exploration across disciplinary and other cultural boundaries. While such a notion of enquiry may seem to be under threat from many of the recent developments in higher education, this book indicates ways in which the appropriate spaces can be opened up to enhance a spirit of enquiry amongst academic staff and their students.