The Transformative Role of Universities in a Knowledge Society

Abstract

This article is an edited version of the Bynum Tudor Lecture given by Mary L. Walshok in November 2004 during a Visiting Fellowship at Oxford University's Kellogg College. Against the background of ever-accelerating change – technological, social, economic, geopolitical and cultural – and the consequent need for constant adjustment and new responses, the author examines the potential role of the research university in the context of its current self-image and performance. She then sets out what actions are needed if the world's great universities are to broaden and deepen their engagement with the knowledge society – and thus to fulfil their central and critically important function.