Withering Academia?

18 Pages Posted: 20 Oct 2010

Date Written: October 19, 2010

Abstract

Strong forces lead to a withering of academia as it exists today. The major causal forces are the rankings mania, increased division of labor in research, intense publication pressure, academic fraud, dilution of the concept of “university,” and inadequate organizational forms for modern research. Academia, in a broader sense understood as “the locus of seeking truth and learning through methodological inquiry,” will subsist in different forms. The conclusion is therefore pessimistic with respect to the academic system as it presently exists but not to scholarly endeavour as such. However, the transformation predicted is expected to be fundamental.

Keywords: academia, universities, research, rankings, publications, fraud

JEL Classification: A10, I23, L30, Z00

Suggested Citation

Frey, Bruno S., Withering Academia? (October 19, 2010). CESifo Working Paper Series No. 3209, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1694448 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1694448

Bruno S. Frey (Contact Author)

CREMA ( email )

Südstrasse 11
Zurich, CH 8008
Switzerland
+41 44 380 00 78 (Phone)

University of Basel ( email )

Peter Merian-Weg 6
Basel, 4002
Switzerland

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