The Soul of a University ― Why Excellence Is Not Enough

At a moment when higher education faces attack from multiple fronts, it can be helpful to step back and address a central question: What is the role of a university in society? In this innovative book, Chris Brink offers a timely reminder that a university should have a social purpose in addition to striving for academic excellence. The current obsession with rankings, he argues, has altered our idea of higher education, and the current focus on status has perpetuated inequality and limited social mobility. How can we re-establish universities’ social purpose? The solution, Brink tells us, lies in considering not only what universities are good at, but what they are good for. Bringing Plato and Aristotle together with historical and contemporary academic vignettes, The Soul of a University shows how universities can—and should—respond to societal challenges and promote positive social change.

Chris Brink was vice-chancellor of Newcastle University from 2007 to 2016