ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the issue of the mutation of the university institution. From its late-medieval origins, the university was understood as the cynosure of knowledge synthesis, reflecting the critical role of ideas and ideals in the very making of modern society. Following its transplantation to America, the critical search for Truth that long-defined academic research within the institution was essentially replaced, by the mid-20th century, with the methodical study of the effects of increasingly numerous factors and targeted actions on an external environment, in line with the university's transformation into an organisation and the operational imperatives and demands for efficiency that follow. This historical perspective on the role of university in society and of research within the university calls for resisting the hijacking of the institution by organisational technocratic management.
