What is the University for: Balancing Instrumental Value with Other Forms of Value in the Contemporary University

In this paper, we ask what is the university for? Currently, universities worldwide are facing a legitimacy crisis, contesting and threatening what the purpose of the university is. Higher education institutions are under pressure to serve economical goals both nationally and globally, hindering a more robust sense of purpose. We explore how a focus on ‘value’ could help to re-establish a vision of a university with purpose by looking at what has influenced our thinking on value, what it is, whose values are valued and what values are ignored. Furthermore, we suggest that a shared public interest in what the university is for has been lost to the agendas (and values) of instrumentalism and neoliberalism. We argue for a need to balance the instrumental with other forms of reason to support what we call, a pluralistic public, that allows for diversity and heterogeneity. This means embracing other-centered publics within the university that are ethically grounded in equity and equality, both in the world and within our own communities. While this dual focus may be difficult at times to maintain, it is a dual focus that, as members of university community and communities, we must strive for.