LECTURE 1
Realising the Ecological University: A Feasible Utopia
Speaker: Professor Ronald Barnett
Emeritus Professor of Higher Education,
University College London (UCL) Institute of Education
In the book The Ecological University: A Feasible Utopia (2018, Routledge), Professor Barnett sets out the very idea of the ecological university. He argued that that idea should be understood in the broadest way, exploiting the potential of the concept of ecology. That earlier book was unable to address the question: What might it mean to realise the ecological university? In this lecture, Professor Barnett will begin to do just that. He will look at the considerations that any university might entertain to advance its interconnections with each one of eight ecosystems. Professor Barnett will also suggest implications for the leadership and management of just such a university.
About the speaker
Professor Ronald Barnett
Ronald Barnett is Emeritus Professor of Higher Education at University College London (UCL) Institute of Education, where he was a Dean (responsible for postgraduate programmes and quality matters) and a Pro-Director (responsible for the corporate strategy). He is a past Chair of the Society for Research into Higher Education, and was awarded the inaugural prize by the European Association for Educational Research for his ‘outstanding contribution to Higher Education Research, Policy and Practice’.
He has been cited in the literature over 25,000 times and has been at the forefront of establishing the philosophy of higher education as a field of study. He has been described as a ‘thought leader’ in higher education and ‘the master scholar of the university’.
Discussion Panel
Professor Anatoly Oleksiyenko, Professor, EdUHK
Dr Jisun Jung, Assistant Professor, HKU
Dr Tina Gao, Associate Professor, EdUHK
Dr Hayes Tang, Assistant Professor, EdUHK