Draft Statement of the University Concerns Group

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I. Analysis of the Present Condition of Higher Education

We are witnessing massive changes in both the content and nature of higher education throughout the world. Various reports and studies point to the diversification of institutions of higher education, as well as to the growing diversity of forms of study (modules, units, etc.). In many countries there has been a major shift in the understanding of the university. The traditional model of the university as a community of scholars gathered together in the pursuit of truth and the common good is giving way to the service-station or cafeteria or revolving-door model of higher education.

The new global economy and the needs and expectations of the growing population of the world have led many influential thinkers and organizations to the view that the traditional model is inappropriate for the rapidly changing situation in the world. A range of new institutions like open universities for distance-learning, polytechnics, short-cycle professional and technical institutes, community colleges, and the new information-technology universities (learning by satellite and internet), have been developed to meet the growing demand for higher education and to meet the needs of the global market economy and its changing labour markets.

The huge increase in the number of students entering higher education has precipitated a crisis in universities all over the world because governments in the context of structural adjustment programs are no longer willing or able to fund the increases in expenditure on higher education. An inevitable consequence of the increase in numbers and the reduction in per capita expenditure is the diminishing of quality in higher education and reduced access by the vulnerable sectors of society, especially women and minorities.

Morale in universities has plunged, both among students and teachers, as they experience overcrowding, deteriorating physical facilities, lack of resources and materials, increased class-sizes and work-loads. As government has sought to shift the burden of expenditure to students, many students have been forced by this exercise in cost-sharing into self-financing part-time study or into loans which leave them with mountainous debts at the end of their studies. Further, the increasing privatisation of education will mean the dualisation of education, insofar as a two-tier system will emerge in which private institutions will attract funding and will be able to offer a higher standard of education to those who can afford it while only struggling and low-funded public institutions will be available to other students. In some countries certain public institutions have access to greater resources and provide better education than many private schools.

Some of the developments in higher education are not entirely negative. Diversification has provided greater choice for many people and satisfaction of their particular needs. It has also introduced a new concept of life-long learning and has changed the profile of the student. Increasingly, the higher education student is coming to be a mature-age person, probably studying part-time. The question for Christians in universities is now: What form of ministry and service can be developed to meet the new models of higher education?

However, the larger question of the nature and purpose of higher education has been eclipsed as people increasingly fall prey to the instrumental view of education as training for a job. The spectacular

increase in student numbers since 1960 is welcomed. There is therefore a need for greater access to higher education. However, this need precipitates a disturbing phenomenon: the commercialisation of education.

The new principle which appears to under gird higher education is commercial viability, which instils individualism, materialism and competition as the controlling values in society. This principle is part of a pernicious ideology which sees society as consisting of individuals who are naturally competitive and concerned with the accumulation of wealth. Such a society is seen as being best served by those subjects or branches of education, especially science, technology and economics, which will generate wealth. The generation of wealth should not become the sole aim of persons or systems. In the wealth-generating mentality, only those lines of research which will attract commercial support and make profit will be guaranteed survival. Thus the profit-motive will govern higher education and leave it open to control by politics and other vested interests including large corporations and the military-industrial complex. Such control also augurs badly for academic freedom, which will be curtailed as the new masters dictate what is legitimate and acceptable.

It is a consequence of the selfish individualism inherent in this political philosophy that education is treated as a commodity, subject to market forces, to be bought, contracted for, and sold. This process is referred to as the commodification of education. It has to be asked whether the uncontrolled operation of market forces is appropriate to the common good; and whether the instrumental understanding of higher education as skills-training in the service of the economy does not dangerously threaten the concept of education itself. It is very evident that this instrumental view of education betrays the very ideals of education, particularly the development of critical thought and skills.

In addition to the instrumentalisation and commercialisation of education, the changes in higher education also reflect a serious fragmentation both of knowledge and community in the university.

This fragmentation is accompanied by a loss of a sense of coherence, a disdain for the search for truth, qualitative knowledge, community, harmony, and the common good, and loss of respect for the humanities and life-affirming values. Depersonalisation is also marked by a loss of sense of community, treatment of persons as things, and a loss of civility which in some places leads to violence. Inadequate salaries, the absence of women and minority teachers, and disproportionate power exerted by some of those in authority hinder the fulfilment of the teaching vocation and further fracture the academic community.

Teachers in universities, as a result of institutional pressure to publish or perish, are more and more removed from students, and discouraged from developing a person-centred style of education. Students, many of whom are yearning for meaning, are being alienated by curricula designed for commercial rather than human considerations and by lack of participation in the increasingly managerial culture in higher education.

The crisis in higher education which we have discerned needs to be addressed urgently by Christians – by WSCF, SCM and chaplains in university ministry. If the instrumental and commercial view of education is allowed to prevail, not only will the ideal of higher education be eclipsed, but we shall see the shrinking of the spirit of enquiry and free speech, and ultimately the suppressing of the human spirit as the university becomes a tool of global economy. Christians must proclaim an alternative and larger vision of the university – a vision of wholeness which is central to the Christian understanding of salvation. Christians in universities must press for an education which produces people who are concerned for the good not only of themselves, but of others; they should also be concerned for justice, peace and love – in short, for the marks of the reign of God in the university.

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II. Needs of the Academic Community to Which SCMAVSCF Should Respond

A. Student Needs

Having surveyed and analyzed the issues which confront tertiary education, the Working Group on Higher Education identified the following needs facing today's students:

• Holistic Education. Students need an education which treats them as whole persons, not just minds for knowing but also hearts for feeling and caring and wills for acting. A wholistic approach to education emphasizes effective as well as cognitive learning, qualitative as well as quantitative knowledge, faith as well as reason. It inculcates an understanding of how we are shaped by our history. It also provides a sense of the wholeness of truth, helping students know that ultimately truth is not fragmented but coherent, that in Jesus Christ, all things cohere, i.e. hold together and make sense. It recognizes the context from which students come and the society in which they are called to serve.

• Appreciation for the Inherent Value of Truth. Instead of viewing truth as a commodity to be bought and sold or acquired simply to get a job, students need to be helped to value education for the way it enhances life, liberates persons from ignorance and parochialism, and enables them to fulfil their human potential and to serve their communities. This precludes any exclusive claims to truth as well as any indifference to it, and implies that truth needs to be engaged dialogically.

• Community for Learning. Since education is best acquired in community, students need a learning environment which provides support and encouragement, receptivity to new ideas, openness to dialogue and respect for others, and trust and mutual care for one another.

• A Sense of Purpose and Meaning, Students today often lack a sense of meaning because they have been unable to develop self-esteem or become responsible for their life-choices. They need an educational environment in which they feel involved in decision-making, accountable for their performance, and empowered to shape their lives. This also means recognizing the morality of knowledge, those students will be held responsible for the moral use of what they learn. And it means helping students develop the kind of personal faith and genuine spirituality which will satisfy their need for ultimate meaning.

• Capacity for Critical Thinking and Moral Judgement. At a time when value-neutral objectivity is increasingly considered impossible, students need help in developing the ability to engage in critical analysis and to decide how to act on the basis of their analysis. This requires becoming aware of social problems, e.g., the influence of mass media, informed about policy options, and able to act in responsible ways. It also involves recognizing the importance of civic involvement and community participation in today's world.

• Concern for Justice. Students need to become more aware of injustices wherever they exist, e.g., in their educational institutions (admission policies, scholarship awards, grading practices and governance) and society at large (racial and sexual discrimination, militarism, economic exploitation, persecution and censorship of dissent, abuse of the environment, etc.). Students should learn how to move beyond analysis to initiate or join others in efforts to correct injustice and ensure equitable treatment of all persons.

B. Teachers' Needs

In addition to the needs of students, the Working Group also identified the following needs of those who teach in colleges and universities:

• A Sense of Vocation as Teachers/Scholars. Because of the critical role which teachers play in the educational experience, it is imperative that they view their work as a calling, not simply a job. The scholarly vocation includes integrity in research, skill in transmitting knowledge, and commitment to rightly handing the word of truth. Teachers should be aware of the power they exert over students' lives and not abuse their power through the exchange of bribes or sexual favors for grades.

• A Creative Teaching-Learning Relationship. Since student development is an important aim of education, it is important that teachers be committed to teaching as well as research, to relevant and contextual sharing of knowledge, and fairness, empathy and compassion in their treatment of students. Instead of a seller-buyer model for teaching or a monarchical, condescending view of students as empty heads to be filled with facts, teachers must be helped to function as role models, mentors and colleagues in students' search for truth so that students can become active learners. Students need opportunities to get to know teachers as persons and vice versa.

• Concern for the Curriculum. Since teachers are responsible for the shape of the curriculum and course requirement in most institutions, they should be aware of the values which are communicated in the curriculum and should ensure that it includes all kinds of knowledge, a global perspective, various modes of learning, and attention to issues of purpose and meaning.

• Support from Colleagues. Because if is often very lonely for teachers who are trying to be faithful to their Christian calling, it is essential that some sort of faculty groups should be organized locally, regionally and nationally to provide encouragement, support and intellectual stimulation. Christian faculty should be encouraged to establish dialogue and share papers with colleagues in their disciplines and across disciplinary lines as they seek to

explore the implications of the Christian faith for their scholarship and teaching.

• Concern for Institutional Policies. Teachers should be encouraged to work with others to improve the often unsupportive institutional environment, e.g., unjust practices and policies, inadequate salaries, unequal treatment and exclusion of women and minorities and unfair work-loads. They should also seek to call attention to the ways their institutions are being unfaithful to their mission. Teachers should work through appropriate channels to change government policies and to provide greater accessibility and equity in higher education.

C. Institutional Needs

1. Accessibility

2. Accountability to students and the broader society.

3. Quality control, including standards regarding grading evaluation and accreditation.

4. Democratic decision-making, involving both students and faculty.

5. Problems of non-profit institutions.

6. Support mechanisms to insure access to adequate funds.

7. Freedom of choice for students, including the ability to transfer.

8. Incentives for those wishing to study for professions not geared toward profit.

9. Academic freedom for faculty.

10. Funding from private sectors without control.

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III. Strategies for Responding to Student, Faculty and Institutional Needs

A. Primarily for Action by WSCF:

• WSCF should pursue a dialogue with the WCC and the churches about the importance of higher education to the future of the church and the importance of a vibrant Christian presence in higher education.

• WSCF should persuade the main-line churches that the WSCF is their representative in higher education and should be supported financially at a meaningful level. In particular, the SCM should be provided with sufficient resources in money and personnel to effectively counteract the cults which increasingly gain the allegiance of students.

• WSCF should encourage the production and publication (in college newspapers, etc.) of articles by students describing and analyzing their situation as students.

• WSCF should commission the preparation of a study-book for students to assess their institution with respect, for example, to (i) curriculum, (ii) teaching staff, (iii) governance, (iv) funding, (v) relation to the community. This might be material for 6-10 meetings of a study group, supplemented by research projects on particular aspects of the college program. It would attempt to make explicit the value-system presupposed and implicitly inculcated by the institution.

• WSCF should explore the development of an E-mail network of faculty/staft7senior friends for consultation on issues of concern to the WSCF.

• The Inter-Regional Office of the WSCF should develop an Information Technology capability including a large accessible database for (i) communication with the Regional Offices and a senior friends network, (ii) provision of information and other resources to persons to whom the WSCF has given an access code. At the present time, when the technology of cyberspace is in flux, one can easily waste large sums of money. This proposal should be entered upon carefully with advice from a number of computer experts in the WSCF community in different countries. It is very easy to run into frustrating situations caused by incompatible protocols and/or hardware.

• The WSCF should keep informed of the changing patterns of participation of students in higher education (e.g. age distribution, part-time vs. full-time, etc.) and devise appropriate programs for various types.

• The WSCF should raise with bodies related to UN and UNESCO critical emergent issues for higher education which have become apparent through our global network.

• Through the existing processes of the WSCF (study groups, magazines, etc.), the WSCF should seek to arouse awareness among students and faculty of the consequences of the increasingly widespread policy of accepting the free-market model as normative for values in higher education.

B. Primarily for action by national SCMs:

• Local or national SCMs should seek to persuade university authorities to take positive action on their suggestions aimed at improving the learning environment.

• Local SCMs should seek to be a warm, caring community able to provide pastoral support for students - particularly new students -

- possibly with the help of senior friends and chaplains. To achieve this, where feasible, perhaps with the help of a professor or senior friend, an SCM might establish a program of training in peer counselling.

• The organization of general social activities, of weekend camps and work projects is a primary method of building friendships and rapport in a local SCM.

• An SCM could invite professors to give a last lecture, that is a lecture in which he/she would seek to make explicit the set of values on which a meaningful life could be based.

C. Primarily for action by Churches:

• Provide materials for private and public prayer to nourish a form of Christian spirituality appropriate for persons in the global village who are working for justice and peace and who have positive empathy towards men and women of other faiths.

• Publish a guide or study-book to help SCMs respond pastorally to student needs. It should be provided free, or at very modest cost, to any SCM which applies for it.