Innovation, Profit and the Common Good in Higher Education: The New Alchemy [Hardcover]

University ethics is everyone's business, and big business is what the university is all about whether in the US, Europe or the rest of the world. How this has come about is less important than that it has, and is being taken very seriously by global and national forces. The important issue confronting higher education is its assumed role in guaranteeing economic prosperity. Governments are no longer content to let research leak out serendipitously into the economy. The Post-Industrial Society, Information Society, Knowledge Economy and Smart Economy require nothing less than commercially directed research producing innovatory products. The public interest is reduced to economic measures. The political, social and moral implications of changing practices in the university are rarely acknowledged in the rise of the New Alchemy. This book examines the resulting ambiguities and questionable evidence in favour of current polices.Author Preface Series Editor Preface Prolegomenon Shopping in the Aula Maxima Atlantic Mouse Becomes Celtic Tiger Science and Universities: Shilling for a Living? Firing up the New Alchemy  The Furnace of Innovation and Profit Secrets  The Future of the Future University References

'John Harpur raises very important issues in relation to Irish public policy. He deserves credit for being a rare insider in Ireland to address inconvenient truths to little emperors. His book is well researched and international in its scope.'

- Michael Hennigan, Found and Editor of Finfacts, Finfacts

'..this is a wide-ranging and interesting text that approaches the well-trodden territory of 'what are universities for?' and 'have they been hijacked for spurious economic benefit?' in a more scholarly way than is often the case.'

- British Journal of Education Studies

'Too often research into higher education policy issues oscillates from description to prescription with very little anallãe