Modelling the Collapsing University

Abstract

Although university’s contribution to the democratic society has been studied adequately, the establishment of its internal democratic institutions has not. Issues of autonomy and accountability exist whereas, today’s Postmodernism introduces further uncertainty. After constructing a framework for measuring democracy within a university using democracy indicators selected from international organizations, we attempt to interrelate these indicators to its democratic characteristics, raising the question: “To what extent could these characteristics be eroded before the university collapses?” Interviews with European academics were conducted and the influence of forces external to the university were studied using the Central European University in Hungary as a case study. The findings show that increased state control undermines institutional autonomy and so does imposing unnecessary restrictions. Protecting democracy and academic freedom, civil rights, and supporting an open society are of paramount importance, otherwise the university collapses. A model that captures such catastrophic state changes is finally proposed.

Keywords

• Democratic University
• Civil Society
• Collapse
• Crisis
• Governance