Reflections

There are two questions in front of us and they have tensions between them. On the one hand lies the question with which we have just been grappling: ‘What might it mean for the idea of the authentic university really to have substance today?’ On the other hand lies the question (with which, as we saw, Derrida grappled): ‘Can we and if so in what way might we speak today of the responsibility of the university?’ …

Perhaps this circle can be squared; perhaps the university—as it unfolds into the 21st century—can be both authentic and responsible. These two dimensions, of authenticity and responsibility, may be seen in what we may term the ecological university. This is a university that takes seriously both the world’s interconnectedness and the university’s interconnectedness with the world.

(Barnett, 2011, The coming of the ecological university, p. 451)