2013
Volume 13, Number 3, pp. 96–104
The postmodern university, research and media studies
Frank Webster
Department of Sociology, City University, London, UK
This article considers three defining ideas of the university: the collegium dedicated to the pursuit of truth, the national institution, and the driver of research. It argues that all three are no longer sustainable and each is undermined by the postmodern university, an institution that proffers simultaneously a plethora and a dearth of ideas of the university. The postmodern university is an oxymoronic institution, a collection of differences devoid of distinguishing characteristics and lacking in internal unity.