Universities Reinvented: Shaping Legacy and Impact for a New World
In this three-part lecture series, President of Singapore Management University and 15th S R Nathan Fellow Professor Lily Kong will reflect on the idea of the university and how it has evolved over time. She will examine the public value of universities, and the potential and reality of their contributions to societal development. In the first lecture entitled “Through the Looking Glass: Insights into the Origin and Evolution of Universities”, she illustrates how, throughout history, the university has reflected changing societal contexts. The contemporary university is no different — a condition of our post-industrial, post-truth world. In the second lecture entitled “At the Crossroads: Universities for the 100-Year Life”, Prof Kong examines what a university stands for if humanity contemplates and confronts the very real possibility of a 100-year life. The relevance of the university will of necessity extend beyond the narrow slice of three to four years in the first of four quartiles in human life. In her third lecture, she invites discussion about the responsibility of universities — as brain trust — to the world beyond its walls. Entitled “Beyond the Ivory Tower: Research and the Dilemmas of Quality and Relevance”, she addresses questions of misinformation, manipulation, and misconduct in research, but also, more optimistically, research that is creative, catalytic, and consequential.
Beyond the Ivory Tower: Research and the Dilemmas of Quality and Relevance
In the face of massive social and technological transformations, the world needs deep understanding, new ideas and reasoned perspectives informed by research to navigate global and local challenges. The role of universities in producing relevant, impactful research is more crucial and more complex than ever. This lecture examines the responsibilities that universities bear in ensuring the quality and integrity of their research, while steering away from the pitfalls of misinformation, misconduct and manipulation that have increasingly contributed to academic crises. Other than adopting a cautionary perspective, we must envision the creative, catalytic and consequential potential of research — that which anticipates the demands of a fast-evolving global landscape, not only within the world of academia but in the broader society it serves.
To find out more about Professor Lily Kong, the 15th S R Nathan Fellow, click here.
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