“Open University”: Conceptualization and Schematization of University 3.0 from the perspective of a System-Thinking-Activity (STA) approach (Part 2)

Abstract

The point is that after the destruction of the classical university, the essentially ‘closed’ ‘University of Excellence’ of B. Ridings took its place almost everywhere. The question is, what should replace it? Our task is to grasp schematically and conceptually the essence of University 3.0 as a real, in our opinion, alternative to the “closed” University of Excellence. To do this, we will rely on a System-Thinking-Activity approach (SMD-approach). Our leading hypothesis is that University 3.0 cannot be understood exclusively as an ‘Entrepreneurial University’ by B. Clark, where an environment has been created for the introduction of scientific innovations into life, but at the same time the idea of ‘autonomy of thinking’ as inherently non-utilitarian, the idea of Culture as the basis for nurturing the Personality of a person who, thanks to this should be ‘raised to the level of his time’ (Ortega-y-Gasset). It is Culture at the university that should become a meeting place for Science and Technology, Research and Business, and the university itself should become a means of cultural transformation (A. Auzan). And the questions are, what exactly does that mean? How exactly to achieve this? In this paper, we have tried to outline a general conceptual space for answering these questions, using a set of concepts and schemes of the System-Thinking-Activity methodology (SMD-methodology). The second part summarizes the findings of the study.