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The Uses of the University

The Uses of the University

Fifth Edition

Clark Kerr

ISBN 9780674005327

Publication date: 03/02/2001

America's university president extraordinaire adds a new chapter and preface to The Uses of the University, probably the most important book on the modern university ever written. This summa on higher education brings the research university into the new century.

The multiversity that Clark Kerr so presciently discovered now finds itself in an age of apprehension with few certainties. Leaders of institutions of higher learning can be either hedgehogs or foxes in the new age. Kerr gives five general points of advice on what kinds of attitudes universities should adopt. He then gives a blueprint for action for foxes, suggesting that a few hedgehogs need to be around to protect university autonomy and the public weal.

Praise

  • No book ever written has provided such a penetrating description of the modern research university or offered such insightful comments on its special tensions and problems. Anyone wishing to understand the American research university--past, present, and future--must begin with a careful reading of this book.

    —Derek Bok, President Emeritus, Harvard University

Author

  • Clark Kerr was President Emeritus and former Chancellor and Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley. He is the former Chair of the Carnegie Commission (and later Council) on Higher Education, and the former Chair and Director of the National Commission on Strengthening Presidential Leadership under the auspices of the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges.

Book Details

  • 288 pages
  • 5-1/2 x 8-1/4 inches
  • Harvard University Press

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