Re-Imagining and Re-Legitimising the University - Where Past and Future Imaginaries Meet

In this contribution we explore the recent reforms and transformations of Austrian universities as processes that are in many ways shaped by explicit and implicit normative assumptions about the past, present and futures of universities in national and international contexts. We argue that a reflexive engagement with the prospective and retrospective technopolitical imaginaries is essential for a better understanding of the current tensions in (a) the governance of now-autonomous universities, (b) contemporary experiences of working and living in academia, and (c) the relationship between science and society. Our analysis of these influential imaginaries aims to develop an analytical basis for reflexively re-imagining and re-legitimizing Austrian universities taking into account both their national specificities and the importance of an international orientation.     «

In this contribution we explore the recent reforms and transformations of Austrian universities as processes that are in many ways shaped by explicit and implicit normative assumptions about the past, present and futures of universities in national and international contexts. We argue that a reflexive engagement with the prospective and retrospective technopolitical imaginaries is essential for a better understanding of the current tensions in (a) the governance of now-autonomous universities, (...     »