As the Walls of Academia Are Tumbling Down

Universities, particularly those with a strong research orientation, are being challenged by new developments such as the information technology revolution and the ever-greater complexity of social and scientific problems. Society is making fresh demands on universities and in response they are lowering their external walls to collaborate with government and industry. The resulting effects on education, research, and regional economic growth deserve investigation. So do the effects on universities wishing to uphold their academic values once they have left the ivory tower. In order to effectively address the multifaceted challenges of tomorrow, universities must also lower their internal walls and stimulate close collaboration between disciplines in a variety of ways. This book examines the new world facing universities and offers a series of recommendations on how to meet the challenges. Contributors include James J. Duderstadt (University of Michigan), Werner Z. Hirsch (UCLA), Charles F. Kennel (University of California, San Diego), Peter Lorange (IMD), Jacob Nuesch (Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich), Peter Preuss (University of California), Frank H. T. Rhodes (American Philosophical Society), Henry Rosovsky (Harvard University), William J. Schopf (University of California, Los Angeles), Lucy Smith (University of Oslo), Ueli Suter (Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich), Leslie Wagner (Leeds Municipal University), Marie Walshok (University of California, San Diego), Luc E. Weber (University of Geneva), and Harold M. Williams (Getty Trust).