This document provides an overview of a lecture about the history and purpose of universities. It discusses the origins of universities in medieval Europe and the establishment of early universities like Cambridge, Oxford and the University of London. It then outlines the development of civic universities in the late 19th century in cities like Birmingham, Leeds and Liverpool. The lecture also examines changes in demographics and access to higher education over time. Finally, it explores questions around the purpose of universities and higher education today.

1. A very brief history:
Universities, Solent and the question of
purpose
Tansy Jessop
Lecture to Abe Bailey Scholars
Solent University
8 December 2018

2. Session outline
1. A very brief history: a quiz
2. Solent university
3. First principles: why study at university
4. Pressures and problems of mass higher
education

3. a)Durham
b)Oxford
c)Cambridge

4. a)Edinburgh
b)Glasgow
c)Hogwarts

5. a) St Andrews
b) A cemetery
c) Aberdeen

6. a) Cambridge
b)Trinity College Dublin
c) Edinburgh

7. Out of those ‘Dark Satanic Mills’
The civic universities or red bricks
a) Liverpool
b)Sheffield
c) Leeds
d)Birmingham

8. Jeremy Bentham

9. Types of university at the turn of 20th
century
• Oxbridge: residential, tutorial, character-
forming
• Scottish/London Model: metropolitan,
professorial, meritocratic
• Civic model: (‘Red Brick’): local, practical,
aspirational

11. Birth of modern university in Europe

12. Changes in demography f UK
universities
• Men only
• Anglicans only (UCL 1836 changed that!)
• About 6% of 18-25 year old in 1960s
• Privileged class
• 45% of 18-25 year olds in 2017
• From 7 universities in 1789 to 162 universities
in 2017 in the UK

13. Modern, applied university for the public good
Who am
I?
How do I
know this is
true?
What is truth? Any
evidence to back it
up?
This is costing me a
fortune – do I care
about truth claims?

14. Who are we?
• Mid-sized, applied, modern
university
• Maritime, Arts, Sports
• Teaching-focused
• 12,000 students
• 70% first generation
• Diverse, low income
• Upward trajectory

15. Swirling in a sea of big questions
• Public or private good
• Ideas or employability
• Consumer or producers of knowledge
• Globalisation
• Technology, face to face or combo
• Post-truth? Whose truth?
• Decolonising the curriculum
• Politics or Identity

16. So why study at university?
Go to www.menti.com and use the code 59 62 06
Write down three words or phrases which capture
your thoughts about why anyone would spend
three years of their life studying at university.

17. So why come to university?

18. University or…
• 108,000 Freddos @25p each
• 98 Freddos per day
• 6,293 Big Mac Meals @£4.29
• 5.7 burgers a day

19. Mini-cooper clubman?

20. Why would you come to university?
72 responses about knowledge and ideas
37 about salary and graduate jobs

22. Alienation
Image, "Alienation Nightmare" © 1996 by Sabu

23. Alienation Type A: Vice

24. Motorways to Type A alienation
• M1: Modules
• M2: Markets
• M3: Metrics
• M4: Mass higher education

25. Alienation Type B: Virtue

26. Intellectual development in a nutshell
Model Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 Stage 4
Perry
(n=464
interviews)
Dualism Multiplicity Relativism Commitment
Baxter
Magolda
(n=101
students
plus 10 year
Absolute
Knowledge
Transitional Independent Contextual
self-
authorship

27. From Morning Glory to Petersburg
(The World Book, 1928)
Poem by Adrienne Rich

29. Take two: turn to your neighbour
• Which words or phrases in the poem resonated
for you and why?
• How do theories of intellectual development
relate to your own university experience?

30. Alienation: Type B
• Confused, angry, doubting the firmament,
questioning everything you ever knew?
• Welcome to university! If you are not feeling
any of these thing then you are not in higher
education.

31. From alienation to engagement:
the three R’s

32. Research builds engagement…
• Stimulates intellectual curiosity
• Ill-defined problems make you think
• Students take decisions and make choices
• Student ownership & partnership
• Students generate knowledge through doing research

33. Facts first: knowledge wastage

34. Solent’sRealWorldCurriculumFramework

35. Relationships build engagement…

36. Best predictor of positive
university experience is
strong relationships. At least
one strong relationship with
a tutor and two with
peers….
Chambliss and Takacs 2014

37. It was like ‘Who’s
Holly?’ It’s that
relationship where
you’re just a student.
Because they have to mark so
many that our essay becomes
lost in the sea that they have
to mark.
Here they say ‘Oh yes, I don’t
know who you are. Got too
many to remember, don’t
really care, I’ll mark you on
your assignment’.
YET…

38. The feedback relationship

39. Irretrievable breakdown…
Your essay lacked structure and
your referencing is problematic
Your classes are boring and I
don’t really like you 

40. Looking for a strong relationship?

41. Risks and writing build engagement…
Exploratory
writing: an
antidote?

42. Read more, write more

43. Ending with a poem
Line 1: Your Name
Line 2: Four character traits
Line 3: Lover of… (list three things)
Line 4: Who feels… (three items)
Line 5: Who needs…. (three items)
Line 6: Who fears…. (one item)
Line 7: Who hopes for… (three items)
Line 8: And who finds … (three items)
(Adapted from John Bean, 1996, 110)

44. From alienation…

45. …to the adult equivalent of this

46. References
Arum, R. and Roska, J. 2011. Academically Adrift. Limited Learning on College
Campuses. Chicago. University of Chicago Press.
Baxter Magolda, M. 2001. Making Their Own Way: Narratives for Transforming
Higher Education to Promote Self-Development. Virgina. Stylus.
Bean, J. 1996. Engaging Ideas. San Francisco. Jossey Bass.
Brookfield, S. 1995. Becoming a critically reflective teacher. Chapter 6. Understanding
Classroom dynamics: The Critical Incident Questionnaire. San Francisco. Jossey Bass.
Carr, N. 2010. The Shallows: How the internet is changing the way we read, think and
remember. New York. Newton and Company.
Chambliss, D. and Takacs, C. 2014. How College Works. Harvard University Press.
Collini, S. 2012. What are universities for? London. Penguin Books.
Mann, S. 2001. Alternative Perspectives on the Student Experience: alienation and
engagement. Studies in Higher Education. 26(1) 7-19.
Perry, William 1981. ‘Cognitive and Ethical Growth: The Making of Meaning’. In
Chickering, A. (1981) The Modern American College. San Francisco. Jossey Bass.
Quinlan, K. 2016. How Higher Education Feels. Rotterdam. Sense Publishers.