ABSTRACT
Bert van der Zwaan is no defender of the ivory tower. In his recent book, Higher Education in 2040 — A Global Approach (2017), he has shown that the university must convincingly demonstrate its value to society, should it wish to survive into the future. His book entails a rich range of observations and prescriptions but seems to centre around two sets of ideas. One is that the university abandon its isolation by developing partnerships outside of the university as well as innovative forms that transcend classic university models, whether in the realm of IT or interdisciplinarity. In so doing, new knowledge is created in the process. And the other is that the university must focus much of its effforts on solving the rising number of problems facing society. Citizens and politicians will have increasing impatience with — and a declining willingness to pay for — a university that continues to stand at some remove from life as they live it and from their real world problems.
