ABSTRACT
At first sight, universities are doing better than ever. Never before have there been so many good institutions of higher education, which conduct what is often fantastic research and where students receive better teaching than ever. On closer inspection, however, the bitter wind of a fundamentally changed society is whipping around the university’s ancient, originally twelfth-century, form. Many believe that the old university has been transformed into a teaching factory, where students, as modern consumers, protest against the value for money they receive. The compact institutions of the past have become large businesses in which many scholars no longer feel at home. The image of focused study in silent libraries has largely been supplanted by a deluge of complaints about the pressure of work, in a setting that is more reminiscent of the care sector than a peaceful temple of learning.
