Re-imagining the University: Developing a Capacity to Care

The contributions the university makes to society are increasingly presented in terms of knowledge and skills enhancement for economic prosperity. This policy context impacts higher education curricula, research priorities of governments and funding bodies, as well as forms of engagement between universities and communities. This chapter argues for re-framing debate about the purpose of the university through a shift in focus from knowledge and skills to possibilities for being, as these relate to higher education, research and engagement with society. These possibilities for being are explored through drawing upon a concept of care for others and things developed by Martin Heidegger and Nel Noddings. A key argument here is that the university has the potential to open and interrogate possibilities for being, at individual and collective levels, in ways that promote attuned responsiveness to questions and issues in our contemporary world. This involves re-thinking the purpose and character of what we do in the university.