Page 141 - Šolsko polje, XXXI, 2020, 3-4: Convention on the Rights of the Child: Educational Opportunities and Social Justice, eds. Zdenko Kodelja and Urška Štremfel
P. 141
Public Universities in Post-Socialist States
Could Become ‘Un-Academic’ after 2020 Pandemic
Andraž Teršek, Faculty of Education and Faculty of Humanities, University of Primorska
and European Faculty of Law, New University
Introduction1
Two years ago (see Teršek, 2018), I publicly raised questions about
the “death of the university and the thoughtless professorships”
and the criteria for progress beyond mere technical development.
Are professors largely career self-promoters and paper-repeaters? Are stu-
dents prisoners of thoughtlessness and bureaucracy? Further, has science
chiefly become ‘manipulation’? Have reading and in-depth study been set
aside somewhere in the area of eccentricity? Are books mainly modern
‘boasting’, not a way of talking to oneself and with others, who offer wit,
knowledge and wisdom in books? Is this the world we are living in, has
our world become like this?
In this article, I present major problems universities have faced over
the last two decades, especially in post-socialist countries. This includes
the Republic of Slovenia, a (post-socialist) EU member state. I present
the legal, constitutional, social and bureaucratic aspects of the problem.
The following issues are stressed: the lack of civil courage among members
of academia (professors and researchers) to be more active and critical in
public, above all at the expense of the deficient and sometimes unconsti-
tutional legal policies of the universities. I outline the actual situation at
universities and highlight the technical, financial and logistical problems
faced by professors and researchers, some of which are quite paradoxical.
I do so against the background of my own ethical understanding of my
1 The starting points for this article are the previously published articles Teršek and Žgur
(2010); Teršek (2017).
https://doi.org/10.32320/1581-6044.31(3-4)139-165 139
Original scientific article
Could Become ‘Un-Academic’ after 2020 Pandemic
Andraž Teršek, Faculty of Education and Faculty of Humanities, University of Primorska
and European Faculty of Law, New University
Introduction1
Two years ago (see Teršek, 2018), I publicly raised questions about
the “death of the university and the thoughtless professorships”
and the criteria for progress beyond mere technical development.
Are professors largely career self-promoters and paper-repeaters? Are stu-
dents prisoners of thoughtlessness and bureaucracy? Further, has science
chiefly become ‘manipulation’? Have reading and in-depth study been set
aside somewhere in the area of eccentricity? Are books mainly modern
‘boasting’, not a way of talking to oneself and with others, who offer wit,
knowledge and wisdom in books? Is this the world we are living in, has
our world become like this?
In this article, I present major problems universities have faced over
the last two decades, especially in post-socialist countries. This includes
the Republic of Slovenia, a (post-socialist) EU member state. I present
the legal, constitutional, social and bureaucratic aspects of the problem.
The following issues are stressed: the lack of civil courage among members
of academia (professors and researchers) to be more active and critical in
public, above all at the expense of the deficient and sometimes unconsti-
tutional legal policies of the universities. I outline the actual situation at
universities and highlight the technical, financial and logistical problems
faced by professors and researchers, some of which are quite paradoxical.
I do so against the background of my own ethical understanding of my
1 The starting points for this article are the previously published articles Teršek and Žgur
(2010); Teršek (2017).
https://doi.org/10.32320/1581-6044.31(3-4)139-165 139
Original scientific article
