Philosophy and Theory of Higher Education Society

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PaTHES Members Funding Scheme

The PaTHES board would like to invite applications to the inaugural PaTHES Funding Scheme for 2026-27. This scheme has emerged from conversations on the PaTHES board to use the resources of the Society proactively, and also as a way to give something back to the membership. Aim The primary aim is to use existing resources…

Submit your abstracts for PaTHES 2026

We are very happy to announce that the submission page is now open for submitting your abstract for PaTHES 2026 in Aarhus. To submit, and for more information, please go to the conference website HERE. The link to the page for submitting an abstract is a green button on the right hand side of the…

Higher Education Reading Group

Introducing the “Higher Education Reading Group” — a shared space for thought, resistance, and symbolic repair At a surface level, this is a space for collective reading and discussion around key texts in the philosophy of education, the university, and the public good. We’re also open to contemporary works and author draft papers. Think of…

Information about accommodation, discount codes, travel, etc.

The conference will be held primarily on the Trinity College Dublin campus in the city centre of Dublin. Accommodation Hotels in Dublin tend to be expensive, and we recommend that you book your accommodation as soon as possible, especially as June is a popular month for conferences in the city.  However, there are many options…

Programme – PaTHES Conference 2025 – The Creative University

The Philosophy and Theory of Higher Education Society’s 2025 conference will occur at Trinity College Dublin from June 10-12. The program includes community sessions, keynotes from notable speakers, paper parallel sessions, and a panel discussion. Registration details and specifics on paper sessions will follow.

Webinar: Real utopianism and the university: ideas and interconnections (April 2025)

Speaker: Martin Aidnik Register Here The presentation approaches the public university as a real utopia, drawing upon the work of the American sociologist Erik Olin Wright. Martin Aidnik explores institutional democracy, academic freedom and the curriculum as the real utopian ‘constituents’ of the public university. In doing so, he approach the public university not as…

Webinar: Rethinking Emotions in Higher Education

Speaker: Liz Jackson 12 March 2025: UK 7-8am– CET 8-9am – Hong Kong 3-4pm – Sydney 6-7pm – NZ 8- 9pm You can access the recording here. To access it, use the passcode $$4NsTVx Many might assume that emotional education is not a central part of education. If it is relevant, it would seem most…

Webinar: Reunderstanding Chinese Knowledge: Intellectual Traditions and Epistemic Practices (March 2024)

 Speakers: Yanzhen Zhu & Yuting Shen  Abstract: Globalisation has interconnected knowledge in different parts of the world, during which non-Western knowledge has been largely shaped by Western one. Simultaneously, non-Western knowledge has never been wholly Westernised but has evolved with unique traditions and practices. Against such a backdrop, how should we reunderstand non-Western knowledge? This…

Webinar: Malou Juelskjær, Re/unlearning how to research, teach and learn: Pedagogy as a worlding practice

PaTHES Webinar: Malou Juelskjær, Re/unlearning how to research, teach and learn: Pedagogy as a worlding practice Feb 22, 2024 07:00 AM  in London Speaker: Malou Juelskjær, Danish School of Education, Aarhus University, Denmark Discussant: Barbara Grant Recording Available Here Abstract/summary: Feminist new materialist thinking is proliferating in the precarious time also named ‘the Anthropocene’; an era of…

Essay: Finding meaning and friendship on a finite planet 

— by Robert Stratford

There is an ongoing push in higher education to develop sustainability skills and knowledge. Is there a need for anything else to learn besides practical sustainability skills and knowledge? One approach to developing meaning which I have argued for from an ecological perspective is exploring higher education as a place to…

Essay: Philosophy or Theory of Higher Education?  Yes, please!

— By Ronald Barnett

The point here is that for me, especially when we are focusing on a social institution such as higher education, philosophy should run into social theory and social theory should become philosophical.  That said, I think that it is worthwhile trying to have a sense that, even if they run…

Webinar: Academic research in the global knowledge economy: boundaries and power (Nov 2023)

Eliel Cohen – The Policy Institute, King’s College London November 15th, 2pm, UK time Recording Available Here Abstract/summary: The global knowledge society promotes the greater interaction and integration of universities with a range of non-academic actors and sectors, especially economic. Some see this as a desirable situation that allows academia to realise and enact its distinctive…

Essay: Places and spaces in and outside of the university

In this extended piece, Giorgi Tavadze lets us explore the ongoing project “Places and spaces in and outside of the university”. “Our goal is to enrich the ongoing adventure called “life.” Ontological education should remain an open-ended project. I hold a strong belief that the university should function as a platform where students and lecturers…

Webinar: Is academic freedom always defensible? (May 2023)

PaTHES, in collaboration with the Philosophy SIG at the American Education Research Association (AERA) are proud to invite you to the following webinar: Date:    11 May 2023 Time:    11am ET/8am PT in the US/4-5pm in Europe/6pm in SA Registration Link Academic freedom, and its ensuing controversies, have long served as one of the…

Call for Contributions: Special Issue on Slow Academia (Deadline: June 1, 2023)

Philosophy and Theory in Higher Education Special Issue on Slow Academia Guest Editors Agnes Bosanquet, Macquarie University, Australia Sean Sturm, University of Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand Special Issue This special issue of Philosophy and Theory in Higher Education aims to engage critically with philosophies and theories of slowness to explore possibilities for inhabiting the idea…

Symposium – Higher Education as a Public Good (March 2023)

PaTHES and Philosophy of Education Society of Australasia (PESA) Central European Summer TIME (CEST/UTC+2) = March 28th 2023, 20.00-21.30 Melbourne (AEDT) = Wednesday 29th March, 6.00am Auckland (NZDT) = Wednesday 29th March, 8.00am The recording of the event is available here In a now classic explication of public goods, Paul Samuelson (1947, 1954) distinguishes between private consumption…

Essay: Collegial Purgatories in an Accelerating Academia?

— by Hampus Östh Gustafsson

The quickening in academic tempo has been considered by scholars coming from various fields, including Anthropology and Philosophy as well as Psychology and Sociology. One perspective that is often missing in this context, however, is the historical. So, what happens if we inquire into conflicting academic times throughout a longer…

Webinar Series: Ontological Reflections on the Contemporary University (Jan – June 2023)

University and ontology. Seminar series Scholarly Communication Research Group in collaboration with Philosophy and Theory of Higher Education Society opens a new series of seminars on the ontological reflection on the contemporary University. University is no longer a safe place to wait up the storm, brewing beyond its walls. The intensifying and experienced on the…

PaTHES Elections 2023

As part of our association’s democratic processes, we are seeking to elect a Chair, a Treasurer and three At Large Board members. Voting will start on the 18th of August, and continue until the 18th of September. By clicking on the gallery of candidates below, you can access short blurbs outlining the candidates’ backgrounds, and…

Webinar: Proclaiming the Philosophy of Higher Education: Scope, Character, Potential

Proclaiming the Philosophy of Higher Education: Scope, Character, Potential Ronald Barnett November 29, 2022, at 20.00-21.30 Central European Time (CET) (UTC+1) Register here Outline You are all invited to this presentation and discussion of Emeritus Professor Ronald Barnett’s new book The Philosophy of Higher Education: A Critical Introduction (Routledge, 2022). Barnett will give a presentation…

Webinar: Virtually Everywhere: Exploring Place in Online Learning (13/12/2022)

Date: December 13, 2022 at 09.00-10.00 Eastern Standard Time (ET) / 15.00-16.00 Central European Time (CET) Place: The webinar takes place on Zoom, and a link will be shared closer to the event. Video Available Here Speaker: Catherine Esposito, Penn State, United States Abstract: The diffusion of online learning has undoubtedly impacted not only how students learn…

Online Discussion: Towards the placeful university (Nov 2022)

Online roundtable discussion – Recording available here November 15, 2022, at 15.00-17.00 Central European Time (CET) (UTC+1) The event is co-hosted by East European University and PaTHES. Convenor and event chair: Professor Giorgi Tavadze, East European University Places are centers of meaning, they are meaningful places. We dwell in places, interact with other humans at…

Webinar: Endeavoring to Inspire: Making the Learning and Teaching ‘Center’ ‘the Nucleus’ of the University (April 2022)

Date / Time: April 26, 3.30-4.30 pm CEST (UTC +2) Open to all – online via Zoom: link for joining the online webinar and any additional information will be sent to everyone signed up when registration closes Registration for the webinar – Sign up via this link: https://forms.gle/ArNZHR3j9vuKHtQP9 Registration deadline: April 22 Dr Pinar Ayyildiz – Asst. Prof./Director of CoRaL -…

PaTHES Online Social Meets: Season 5 (April – June 2022)

To keep our communities connected, PaTHES is organising public and virtual social meets, where we come together and chat informally about topics around current challenges for Higher Education and for our Higher Education Futures. Join us!  SEASON 5 THEME: Slow Academia – A Critical Discussion Led by A/Prof Agnes Bosanquet, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia Chaired…

Webinar: The modern university as ivory tower, factory and network across space and time (May 2022)

May 23rd, from 3.30-4.30 CEST (UTC +2) Registration deadline: May 21st Sign-up here: https://forms.gle/k3YPauF1YYZNXVqZ7 Open to all – online via Zoom: link for joining the online webinar and any additional information will be sent to everyone signed up when registration closes. Dr. Adam Matthews Lecturer in Education, Technology and Society University of Birmingham, School of Education and Engineering and…

Essay: In praise of the index – a conversation

— by Ronald Barnett and Dagrun Engen

A while ago, Dagrun received a short text from Ron that was meant for the En Passant column in the PaTHES Newsletter. Ron wrote in praise of the index – as a writer and as a reader. The thoughts and narratives that Ron articulated in his text resonated with Dagrun’s thoughts…

Webinar Series: The State of Academic Freedom (Oct 2021)

11 and 12 October 2021: Two days and two webinars while we wait for the conference Universities under siege? to take place Due to the Covid-19 situation, the 4th annual Philosophy and Theory of Higher Education Conference that was planned to take place in Uppsala in the autumn of 2020, was postponed. The new date…

PaTHES Online Social Meets: Season 4 (Oct – Nov 2021)

To keep our communities connected, PaTHES is organising public and virtual social meets, where we come together and chat informally about topics around current challenges for Higher Education and for our Higher Education Futures. Join us! Join us at the right time by clicking on this link Click here to join the meeting SEASON THEME:…

Webinar: Right to publish: towards self-regulating scholarly community (09/11/2021)

Right to publish: towards self-regulating scholarly community Online roundtable discussion   Speaker: Professor Giorgi Tavadze East European University, Georgia     Chair: Dr Søren Bengtsen, Aarhus University, PaTHES Chair     November 9, 2021 at 15.00-16.00 Central European Time (CET)   There will be a brief 20-30 mins presentation by Dr. Tavadze followed by an…

Essay: Loneliness and collegiality – a chronicle of academic alienation

— by Julia Molinari

First quarter of 2021. Year #2 of COVID19. Working at home. Small market town, The Midlands, UK.

Like many, I have not set foot on campus for over a year, but I have been emergency remote teaching, home schooling, and researching despite mixed messages about whether business…

Webinar: Towards a New Academic Activism (April 2020)

Webinar: Towards a New Academic Activism  On 14. April 2020 PaTHES organized our first Online Webinar Discussion under the heading – Towards a New Academic Activism. In this webinar discussion, we asked – what are the values and common beliefs foundational in the formation of a new academic activism? The introduction, key note talks and…

Webinar: Towards a New Academic Activism (April 2020)

  On 14. April 2020 PaTHES organized our first Online Webinar Discussion under the heading – Towards a New Academic Activism. In this webinar discussion, we asked – what are the values and common beliefs foundational in the formation of a new academic activism? The introduction, key note talks and the closing reflection were recorded,…

Essay: What’s the use of use?

— by Jakob Egholm Feldt Being useful is great. It is fundamentally satisfying. When students express that my teaching has been useful for them, I’m both grateful and happy. I’m predisposed to commit myself uncritically to the university of our time: whatever we as university people can do to help, solve problems, make up problems,…

Essay: Towards an imperative of togetherness and co-creation

— By Patric Wallin I have hope that most students and teachers are actually at the university, because they want to learn and become part of a disciplinary community. From this starting point and building on Freire’s idea that ´teaching must begin with solving the teacher/student contradiction, by reconciling the opposite poles, so that both…

PaTHES Online Club Meets (Feb – March 2021)

SEASON THEME: Loneliness and  Collegiality Our PaTHES online meets are back for a third season. We are rotating our timezones and facilitators to accommodate our international community, so after seasons facilitated for Europe, then Australasia, we are now turning to the Americas. So put this slot in your diary and feel free to bring your coffee, tea and discussion…

Essay: Reflecting on the methodological dualism in higher education research

— By Tessa DeLaquil It seems that a somewhat curious dualism exists in the methodological approach to research in our social-scientific field of higher education. On the one hand, we are empiricists, strictly following the rule of objectivism and the analytic scientific method, eschewing all but the observable and the factual. On the other, we…

Essay: Webinar and Essays: Towards a new academic activism: short interventions (April 2020)

Following a successful call for short contributions on the theme of academic activism, we are pleased to publish a selection of diverse and thought-provoking reflections on the theme, mirroring and complementing the complexity and richness of  views originally captured in the PaTHES webinar Towards a new academic activism (April 2020). The diversity of perspectives and generosity of reflections emerged in…