My speed lecture at DMU's, Research and the COVID-19 crisis - International Day of Education event. See: https://www.dmu.ac.uk/about-dmu/events/events-calendar/2021/january/research-and-the-covid-19-crisis-international-day-of-education.aspx The idea of the University is being challenged at the intersection of crises, including those of finance and epidemiology. As a result, the public value of the University is continually questioned. This talk will uncover how, at the intersection of crises, those who labour in universities might recover their historical agency, and reimagine higher learning.

1. Covid-19 and the
idea of the University
Professor Richard Hall
@hallymk1 // rhall1@dmu.ac.uk

2. What is the purpose of the University, and of intellectual
work*, inside a collective way of living that is becoming more
efficiently unsustainable?
* undertaken by students, professional services’ staff and
academics, but also in society-at-large.

3. Institutional associations shaped in
relation to crises of economic value

4. Yet C-19 represents wider crises of
humane meaning in the University

5. C-19 and a new shock doctrine

6. • The University appears emblematic of the collapse of
the symbolic power of humans to reimagine the
world.
• The apparent inability of the University to address
crises other than in relation to value.
• Inside highly competitive environments, vulnerability
tends to shape a deeper relationship between defeat,
entrapment and depression.
Is another University possible?