Round table

Processing the Bologna Process:

Current Losses and Future Gains
University of Zagreb, UNESCO Chair for Governance and Management of
Higher Education
Zagreb,5–6 March 2010

Training vs. Studying

in Past and Present
Zvonimir Šikić
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering
and Naval Architecture
University of Zagreb
INSTITUTIONS OF KNOWLEDGE

(INSTITUTIONS RESPONSIBLE FOR

PRODUCTION, PRESERVATION &
TRANSMISSION OF KNOWLEDGE)
 TRAINING STUDYING
To do To understand
Know how Know what
Procedural k. Descriptive k.
Concrete Abstract
Skills Values
Master Professor (text)
Apprentice Student
Vocational General
Professional Liberal
HISTORICAL INSTITUTIONS

ACADEMY (400 B.C. – 500) T

LIBRARY (300 B.C. – 500) S
MONASTERY (100-1100) S
• UNIVERSITY (1100 – 1500) T
REPUBLIC OF LETTERS (1500 - 1800) S
• UNIVERSITY (MULTIVERSITY) (1700-1900) S
LABORATORY (1800,) T
• UNIVERSITY (1900, ) T
 UNIVERSITY (1100-1500)

• ANSWER TO MONASTIC STAGNATION,

OFFERING VOCATIONAL TRAINING FOR:
DOCTORS (SALERNO)
LAWYERS (BOLOGNA)
PREACHERS (PARIS)

• WITH ARTES LIBERALES (TRIVIUM AND

QUADRIVIUM) AS
PREPARATIONS
UNIVERSITAS  GUILD
SWORN GROUP OF PEOPLE
MASTERS & APPRENTICES
PROFESSORS & STUDENTS

UNIVERSITIES WERE NOT FOUNDED,

BUT SPONTANEOUSLY GENERATED
AROUND NETWORKS OF
STUDENTS AND PROFESSORS

OXFORD, CAMBRIDGE VS.

(JOHN) HARVARD, (ELI) YALE,…
 REPUBLIC OF LETTERS (1500 - 1800)

ANSWER TO PRODUCTIVE STAGNATION

OF MEDIEVAL UNIVERSITY
OFFERING (NO LESS THEN)
SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION

INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY OF
LEARNING STICHED TOGETHER INITIALLY
BY LETTERS & LATER BY BOOKS AND JOURNALS

ITS LITERATI: ERASMO, COPERNICUS, GALILEO

DESCARTES, LEIBNIZ, NEWTON, BACON, EULER, …
ITS INSTITUTIONS: ACADEMIES, PRINTSHOPS
BUT UNIVERSITY HAS NOT
DISAPPEARED AS INSTITUTION OF
KNOWLEDGE (AS MONASTERY HAS)

IN SPITE OF GOETHE’S FAUST:

“USELESSNESS & PEDANTRY OF
PHILOSOPHY, LAW, MEDICINE AND –
WORST OF ALL – THEOLOGY”

IN SPITE OF GENERAL OPINION THAT:

”EUROPES UNIVERSITIES COUNTED
AMONG THE LAST PLACES
ENLIGHTEMENT LOOKED FOR
REJUVENMENT OF KNOWLEDGE.”
“OXFORD AND CAMBRIDGE WERE
BEST KNOWN FOR POLISHING THE
MANNERS OF YOUNG GENTLEMEN.”

BUT UNIVERSITY WAS RECREATED AS

A PART OF PRUSSIA’S STATE-
SPONSORED SYSTEM OF PUBLIC
EDUCATION, WHICH STARTED WITH
PRIMARY ED.

UNIVERSITY WAS REDESIGNED BY

W. von HUMBOLDT AS:
 MULTIVERSITY (1700 - 1900)

ITS AIM WAS TO COLLECT, ORGANIZE &

DISSEMINATE (NEW SC.) KNOWLEDGE
BY DIVIDING IT INTO ACADEMIC
DISCIPLINES TO BE STUDIED.

IT WAS A (NATIONAL) PROJECT TO

REACH AND TEACH THE MASSES.

(10000 AMERICANS STUDIED IN

GERMANY BEFORE THEY FOUNDED AND
TRANSFORMED THEIR UNIVERSITIES.)
 LABORATORY (1800 -)

LAVOISIER (18th ct.):

LABORATORY AS WORKSHOP FOR
COLLABORATION BETWEEN SCHOLARS
& CRAFTSMEN, WITHOUT AMBITION TO
TEACH THE PUBLIC.

PASTEUR (19th ct.):

NETWORK OF INSTITUTES ALL OVER
THE WORLD

NATURAL & SOCIAL SCIENCES BECAME

DOMINATED BY LABORATORY!!
RELEVANT K. WAS NOT PRODUCED AT
UNIVERSITIES; ONCE AGAIN!
 RESEARCH UNIVERSITY (1900 -)

WAS THE ANSWER!

IT INCORPORATED LABORATORY, BUT IT

WAS NOT EASY!

J. LIEBIG (FATHER OF ORG. CHEM.)

ORGANIZED FIRST REASEARCH SCHOOL
IN CHEMISTRY AT UNIV. OF GIESSEN.

“ACADEMICS CONSIDER CHEMISTRY A

CRAFT, USEFUL FOR MAKING SODA &
SOAP… THEY ARE UNACQUAINTED WITH
CHEMISTRY AS A FIELD OF SCIENTIFIC
RESEARCH.”
ACADEMICS: UNIVERSITY MUST REPRESENT
THEORETICAL INSTRUCTION IN CHEMISTRY,
IN WHICH STUDENTS OF ALL DISCIPLINES
CAN TAKE PART, WITHOUT ANY PRACTICAL
CHEM. ORIENTATION TO LABORATORY
APPARATUS AND HANDS-ON TECHNIQUES.
LECTURES & SEMINARS SHOULD SUFFICE.

LIEBIG: CLASSICAL PHILOLOGISTS ARE

STRANGERS TO ANY TRUE HUMANITY.

THE FIGHT WAS NOT ABOUT RESEARCH AT

UNIVERSITY BUT ABOUT RESEARCH
TRAINING AT UNIVERSITY.

YOU KNOW WHO WON.

LIEBIG DEMONSTRATED HOW CRUCIAL
COLLECTIVE, PRACTICAL PEDAGOGY WAS
TO SCIENTIFIC & INDUSTRIAL ADVANCE.

HIS TRAINING METHOD HAS MADE KILLS

REPLICABLE.

FURTHERMORE, LIEBIG’S CRAFT

TECHNIQUES BUILD A CULTURE OF
CONSENSUS UNLIKE TEXTUAL
INTERPRETATIONS WHICH THRIVE ON
DEBATE AND REQUIRE DISAGREEMENT TO
KEEP THE RESEARCH MOVING
UNIVERSITY SURVIVED TWICE:

1. AS MULTIVERSITY
2. AS RESEARCH UNIVERSITY

1. BY TEACHING DISCIPLINES
(PROVIDED BY LITERATI)
2. BY TEACHING RESEARCH
(PROVIDED BY LABORATORY)

BY INCORPORATING & TEACHING ALL THE

KNOWLEDGE WHEREVER
IT IS PRODUCED (SOMETIMES BY TRAINING,
SOMETIMES BY STUDYING, WHIC IS LESS
IMPORTANT).
UNIVERSITY
SURVIVES ONLY BY
TEACHING

IT SURVIVES AS
TEACHING
UNIVERSITY
BY THE WAY

HARVARD FACULTY 2007.

2.497 NONMEDICAL

10.647 MEDICAL