The Modernisation Agenda and University Irresponsibility Repertoires

Abstract

The recent rise of interest in ideas of the Responsible University needs to be understood as part of a wider rise of interest in responsible behaviour by researchers and innovators, fuelled by a realisation of their powerful positions in knowledge societies. Universities have been transformed in recent decades in ways that have emphasised their private interests, making them increasingly responsible for raising their own revenue to ensure their institutional survival. Universities face continuous dilemmas in deciding which avenues to pursue to ensure their own survival. The rise of universities with these strongly existential private interests may induce behaviour which whilst technically legal breaches societal norms. This chapter asks the research question of ‘under what conditions might university management find themselves breaching public value’, to understand the conditions under which the modern university might behave irresponsibly. The chapter firstly develops a literature framework to propose a set of ‘repertoires of irresponsibility’ in which universities management may find themselves placed in responsibility dilemmas. The chapter then presents three empirical vignettes to identify a set of processes enabling irresponsibility within contemporary higher education. Four factors driving institutional irresponsibility are identified, and these factors are used to propose conceptual and administrative improvements to address these drivers.