Multiple transformations and current crisis: Higher education in the U.S. and Europe

Since World War II, research institutions and institutions of higher education in the United States and in Europe have been transformed in significant ways, but changes induced by the current administration in the U.S. may be the most fundamental yet. Their outcomes will have an immense impact on academia in many countries around the world.

In his historical keynote, Mitchell G. Ash will take a relational approach, examining both the interactions between higher education, science, and politics, on the one hand, and the complex, asymmetrical relationship between the American and European systems, including both Western and Eastern Europe, on the other. He observes two fundamental continuities: First, European universities have historically been and continue to be closely tied to the state, a connection that limits both the possibilities for reform and the visions of reformers. In contrast, the global prominence of American universities is rooted in their diverse sources of public and private support. Second, while academic freedom is claimed as a right on both continents, its definition and limits (particularly concerning who should possess this right) have been subjects of ongoing debate.

Does the current crisis in higher education and science in the United States signify just another transformation in a series of changes, or does it portend the end of American predominance in this field? 

Lecture 

• Prof. Dr. Mitchell G. Ash, University of Vienna, Austria 
• Chair: PD Dr. Axel Jansen, Deputy Director, German Historical Institute, Washington D.C.