The academic condition and its enemies

Abstract

In the name of the certification of ‘quality’ and ‘excellence’, the University of Minho now seems condemned only to carry out procedures which, in education and research, certify routine and conformity, efficiency and utility, thus confirming the hegemony of instrumental reason. It is, however, my purpose in this study to reflect on academic freedom in the university. This issue demands that one should address one’s questions to the nature of the university itself, to the academic profession, as well as to its vocation and mission. What is the university today? What are the forces that traverse it? What blows has it sustained? What are the threats it is exposed to? What are its contradictions? What demands must it comply with? What should its response be?