The text below is the opening page of a short and powerful guide on how universities can empower their students make a difference. I was really impressed by its argument and its 12 reasons why universities should address their purpose. Universities can help people step out of their comfort zone to make a difference. Its author is Titus Alexander who wrote Practical Politics: Lessons in Power and Democracy, a textbook for learning and teaching the practice of politics. He founded Democracy Matters, the UK Alliance for Learning Practical Politics in 2009, and is an Honorary Fellow of the Sir Bernard Crick Centre for Understanding Politics at Sheffield University.
Academics Ivory Tower by Frits Ahlefeldt
Universities say “We’re changing lives. Creating a better world”.
Learn skills “essential for future leaders and decision makers”.
We “equip students to be critical investigators and ‘change makers’”.
But do they equip students to be change makers?
From the evidence in this paper: not nearly enough.
Humanity is in a race against time. In 2003 Professor Sir Martin Rees published Our Final Century, A Scientist’s Warning: How Terror, Error and Environmental Disaster Threaten Humankind’s Future. Since then our knowledge of problems has grown exponentially. Our ability to deal with problems may have declined.
Disease, a nuclear armed dictator, or the climate crisis could wipe out vast numbers of people. At a local level people struggle with countless problems, from domestic violence, high rents and mental illness to poverty and lack of opportunity or social care. Universities analyse these problems and even develop solutions. But they do not teach people advocacy and campaigning skills to become effective change makers and put solutions into practice.
Universities do teach practical business, now their biggest subject area. They help academics exploit the commercial potential of research.
But courses on how to lobby and improve public policy, social conditions and our environment are still rare.
The challenge for universities is to close the gap between understanding problems and developing the political abilities needed to solve them.
Some university leaders and academic boards will say this is not their problem. Most will say they need more research and money to investigate it.
The pioneers are challenging conventional thinking and equipping people to become effective change makers within existing courses and resources.
We have a shared responsibility for humanity by using knowledge to create a better world. As educators, we can learn and teach how to do it better.
To download a copy of Titus Alexander’s guide: https://www.practicalpolitics.global/can-universities-make-a-difference/
transformativefuturelearning.home.blog 