| A hundred years ago, Britain declared war on Germany. We may never have been truly at peace since, except perhaps for two fleeting utopian moments – the euphoria of 1945 following victory over Hitler and the triumph of 1989 after the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Higher education, as we recognise it, is the product of that troubled century. In 1914 universities were tiny, and the best were in Germany. In 2014 higher education systems are vast, and the most developed are in the US.
But this is not merely a historical coincidence. However, uncomfortable the thought, the success of higher education has owed a lot to war, threats of war and ideological confrontation. War was a major stimulus, quickening the pace of scientific development, sharpening the clash of ideas and increasing the demand for motivated citizens (or mobilised workforces). Over the past century, universities have as frequently been bases for war as they have islands of peace. Maybe the rot began soon after the outbreak of war in 1914, with the notorious manifesto by German professors and intellectuals defending German Kultur, soon echoed by rival manifestos in Britain and France. For the first time, ideas were systematically conscripted as well as men. |