Renewal or despair?:Critiquing the possibility of the university

Symposium theme The societal situation of the university is at the forefront when considering the possibility of the university in the 21stcentury and beyond. Often-heard critiques repeat the threats of employability agendas, consumerism, digitalisation, corporatism, and neo-nationalism. On the one hand, it may be argued that all these current threats are contextually and socio-politically unique. On the other hand, it may be said that universities have always faced similar threats and that these are ‘merely’ socio-historical conditions urging on the university’s perpetual institutional renewal and ‘ontology of travel’ (Bengtsen & Gildersleeve, 2021). This way seen, the university’s social, political and cultural navigation is continuously challenging, and its formation of citizenship is inherently vulnerable (Davids, 2023). A recent special issue (Feldt et.al., 2024) unpacked the multiple challenges but also opportunities for university’s societal belonging across country, institutional, political, and cultural contexts. What seems to be a real and shared condition is that a growing despair from external and internal stakeholders is clinging to the university as an institution. However, the symposium aims to not shy away from the despair but to probe and engage with it head-on and discuss if the despair should perhaps be embraced rather than shunned. For the symposium framing, an existential approach is taken based on the concept of despair in Kierkegaard’s (1983) late major work The Sickness Unto Death (though the panel members are invited to speak from their own knowledge stances). To be in despair is to be stuck, to be held in self-bondage, and not being able to renew one’s own self, societal and life-situation. Despair keeps the university in a repetitive oscillation between not experiencing enough freedom to transform itself and, paradoxically, experiencing too much freedom to, seemingly, know exactly what to do and how to connect societally. However, as Theunissen (2005) points out in his reading of the concept of despair in Kierkegaard, the further renewal of the self is not guaranteed by any certain dialectic but must be risked by a leap into the unknown. Perhaps the same holds true for the university, that the institutional leap is now needed, and it cannot hold back any longer. New ideas and practical discussions are needed if universities are to realize their potential of institutional andsocietal renewal (Barnett, 2024). Symposium structure The symposium brings together leading scholars from around the world (Denmark, Sweden, UK, and Australia) to discuss the symposium theme. The panel members bring a range of knowledge stances with them ranging from social, political, and cultural theory and all with a firm philosophical grounding.