The University of the Common: Beyond the Contradictions of Higher Education Subsumed under Capital

The Scope of Academic Freedom Right and the Situation of Scientists in Poland

“…Fourth, the managerial model of university management favors neo-liberal politics. Neo-liberalism is based on the assumption that the market can replace the democratic state as the primary producer of cultural logic and value (Harvey, 2009;Lynch, 2006;Szadkowski, 2017;Yokoyama, 2019). This market view of citizenship is antithetical to state-guaranteed rights in education (Mullen, et al, 2013;Tienken, 2013) including academic freedom.…”

“…In practice, universities are being asked to produce commercially oriented professionals rather than public-interest professionals (Hanlon, 2000). In turn, scientists have to conduct research of global importance and there is no incentive to engage in the public sphere (Lynch, 2006;Szadkowski, 2017). In Poland, the funding of universities is strongly related to the results of disciplines, and institutions with a special "research" status cannot have any discipline with low achievements (otherwise they do not receive additional funding).…”

Prospection: Methodological Complexities of Imagining Academia

“…Undoubtedly, the factors that must be considered to envision higher education in the future are many, complex and interrelated: the diverse and overlapping needs of communities, technological changes and their impact on everyday life, economic and financial inequalities, etc. (Szadkowski 2017). Nevertheless, mental simulations may move the discussion from the usual focused attention on topical subjects (e.g., money, students, politics) to a different level of analysis, which may not only offer to governance officers a better perspective of the key challenges and opportunities of the higher education of the future, but also stimulate action.…”

Unlimited Capitalism and the Politics of the Common: Review of Pierre Dardot and Christian Laval’s Commun: essai sur la revolution au XXIe siècle

“…In the wake of the "founding fathers" of the problem of the common (especially Hardt/Negri, Caffentzis, Peter Linebaugh and Silvia Federici), it is worth emphasizing that this discussion refers to a rich field of social research dealing with the common and the structure of capitalist subsumption in various branches of social life. In this sense, a vast set of problems must be considered, such as lands (Bollier and Helfrich 2012), higher education systems (Szadkowski 2017), informational capitalism (Zukerfeld 2017), intellectual property and the expansion of the logic of value to the immaterial in light of TRIPS and the transnational restructuring of capitalism in the 1990s (Dyer-Whiteford 1999), and so on. Dardot and Laval's (2015) research tries to unify all these branches to form a theoretical schema of political practice.…”