Public policy and universities

This 60-minute webinar will address key issues about the university in contemporary society, as raised in the new book by Andrew Gunn and Michael Mintrom, Public Policy and Universities: The Interplay of Knowledge and Power (Cambridge University Press, 2022). Reviewing the teaching, research, and emerging engagement missions of the university, Gunn and Mintrom show how states seek to control and guide the practices of universities, even as their proportionate contributions to university revenues have declined. These actions result from growing global economic completion among states, where knowledge is the fundamental economic input. As universities have sought to attain greater autonomy from states, this has often led to more complex state-university relationships. For example, efforts to enhance university revenues via international student fees have opened new debates about aspects of immigration and national security. Meanwhile, events like the COVID-19 pandemic have underscored the massive and unique contributions that universities can make to the effective functioning of contemporary societies. This interplay of knowledge and power gives us much to think about and discuss.