2. Political Ontologies of the Future University: Individual, Public, Common

This essay presents the three current dominant discourses on the university in crisis, as well as the possible scenarios for the university’s future that prevail within them. The focus is on the three different ontologies that underpin these discourses: the individual, the public and the common. To unravel the hidden assumptions that affect the debates in question, the method of political ontology is put forward. A critical examination of the ontological assumptions that support visions of the future university reveals that the first two hegemonic models, although presented as competing alternatives, are united in their view of the sector as a static being. In turn, this essay puts forward the political ontology of relations based on the common as a means for breaking out of the deadlock created by the discourses on the private and public character of the university.