Debating Higher Education: Philosophical Perspectives

Higher education is a huge matter globally, commanding massive resources, political decisions and the hopes of many. But there is little to accompany the debates about higher education in the way of an informed philosophical literature. For us, this gap in the literature is a serious matter. The aim of this series, accordingly, is to produce books that individually and collectively help to develop a philosophical literature about higher education.

We intend that the scope of the series will be very wide. We look to include work that engages with the idea of the university in the twenty-first century as well as topics concerned with the student experience. We hope that volumes will examine policy and practical issues (such as internationalisation, access and equity, and the digital era) and also more overtly conceptual issues (such as academic freedom, ethics and wellbeing). We shall bring out the nature both of the university as an institution and higher education as an educational process.

It is becoming increasingly difficult for individual scholars to write sole-authored books. The press of academic life and the reward structures no longer much encourages that manner of writing. We unashamedly, therefore, look in this series to commission edited volumes. However, these volumes will have a number of distinctive features. They will each:(a) Be addressed to a specific matter, as agreed with the series editors(b) Be informed by contemporary debates in philosophy and social theory(c) Demonstrably adopt – in some form – a debating approach (whether in securing contributors who focus on a particular debate, or who debate among themselves)(d) Contain a lively introduction from the editor of each volume(e) Overall, be edited so as to have a brisk and lively and highly accessible style.

The editors are currently looking to commission works from scholars across the world. If you have either a topic that you feel would be suitable or know of a scholar who would be a good editor of a volume in the series, do please be in touch with us.