Doing University

As we return to work after the first wave of the #StrikeforUSS , University staff are calling for a wider conversation about what universities are and why they exist. High profile figures are joining many more junior colleagues in highlighting that the current strikes are symptomatic of much deeper problems and suggest a need for deep rooted change. (See for example the open letter from Prof John Foot to the Bristol VC Hugh Brady, or the blog of Prof Stephen Toope, Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge).

In this context, a wave of online activism is seeking to reclaim the University from the corporate / managerialist culture that currently drives our institutions, rallying as #WeAreTheUniversity. Already, concrete outcomes are beginning to emerge from this movement, as may be seen at the'Volunteer University' (@VolUniversity) in Exeter, or discussion in Oxford taking place under the umbrella of 'The Practice of a University' (@oxfordcus). It was this latter title which has prompted my first (and possibly last) blog, which are my musings on the ‘Practice of a University’.

My thoughts on The Practice of a University: Implications for the future university and implicatons for strike action

I was a philosophy graduate who somehow became a nurse (as there were few jobs for philosophers in 1990), and then ‘somehow’ (again) ended up in academia. I say this up front to make clear that I am not a philosopher (in the sense that I am not an academic within a philosophy department), but my interests do tend to gravitate towards the philosophical within my own field. (NB. If any ‘proper’ philosophers out there want to help or correct me with any of this then please let me know. That said, it could be tricky as I guess for you this may count as 'work' and so you may not be able to join in during ASOS).

I have long thought and taught that my own discipline is a ‘Practice’ in the sense of that term used by Alastair MacIntyre in his classic “After Virtue”(1981). The question which has pre-occupied me this week is whether a University is such a practice, and if so what the implications may be.

MacIntyre defines a practice as follows:

“By a practice I am going to mean any coherent and complex form of socially established cooperative human activity through which goods internal to that form of activity are realized in the course of trying to achieve those standards of excellence which are appropriate to, and partially definitive of, that form of activity, with the result that human powers to achieve excellence, and human conceptions of the ends and goods involved, are systematically extended”.

Alasdair MacIntyre, After Virtue, 2nd ed. Notre Dame University Press, 1997, p. 187*

*Please note that as I am on ASOS I am not providing any further references.

Taking elements of this definition one by one:

“Socially established co-operative human activity”

Too often we spend all, or the majority of, our normal working lives working within our own teams or within our own disciplines. The joyful collegiality we experienced on the picket lines has been, in large part, a recognition that other people from widely disparate backgrounds and with widely varying roles (NB #NotJustLecturers), are all engaged in fundamentally the same enterprise as we are. We are all ‘Doing University’, and 'Doing University' is an inherently social activity.

The social nature of a practice has wide (and quite widely recognised) implications. These include the need for interdisciplinary collegiality, the need for social spaces in universities. The need for this to be a 'coherent' form of activity also holds particular challenges , particularly the need to articulate a coherent vision of of what ‘Doing University’ may be in a way that is inclusive of the work of ALL staff.

“Goods internal to that form of activity are realized”

This is a tricky one because this poses us particular challenges during industrial action. A defining feature of a practice is that practitioners experience 'goods' or rewards for achieving excellence. In other words, our work is intrinsically rewarding and this is because we are good at it (though more on this later).

This may be partly why it is difficult to persuade academics to see their work as labour, and consequently why they are reluctant to withdraw that labour in strike action. As our industrial action continues we need to acknowledge this to ourselves because to take strike action or to engage in action short of a strike we deprive ourselves of the intrinsic rewards of our work. Although we know (and protest) the financial penalties of taking action, and we genuinely regret that the action must have a negative impact on students, we more rarely acknowledge that withdrawal of our labour must also hurt us.

"Standards of excellence which are appropriate to, and partially definitive of, that form of activity"

This, I think, is the most challenging elements of visioning the University as Practice. We have our own, socially determined and negotiated, standards of excellence and these standards are intrinsic to what we do. Put very crudely, we know 'good' when we see it - whether this is 'good' teaching; 'good' learning support; 'good' research; or simply 'good' colleagues.

This is, I think, an articulation of why we resist (and if we want the University to be a Practice, why we must continue to resist) the imposition of metrics that impose external standards of excellence. Externally imposed metrics such as PEF, TEF, and (the almighty) NSS do not capture the values of excellence that we all collectively negotiate and understand. I am sure that many academics will recognise the 'work' that is imposed as they try to reconcile their own ideas of the 'good' research proposal, with the standards of excellence that are externally imposed through the demands of funding bodies or the need to demonstrate 'impact'.

In conclusion, to conceptualise he University as a Practice requires that:

• We recognise & value the social nature of what we do

• We recognise that to give our best we need to take pride & satisfaction in our work

• We are able to define and control the standards against which our work is judged

'Doing University' is by definition to do it well. It draws on our own collective understanding of what excellence means, and our own intrinsic rewards for doing our work well. That is why we are the university.