In turbulent times trust is crucial for universities

We are living in turbulent times. Nationalist, populist and separatist movements seem to be on the rise almost everywhere in Europe. What is even more frightening, however, is the tendency in several countries, such as Hungary, Poland and in particular Turkey, to transform once democratically elected governments into autocratic regimes.

At various levels they are restricting academic freedom and violating basic human rights. Xenophobia and discrimination against foreign staff and students (‘domestic students first’) are fuelled by extremist parties now represented in parliaments all the way from France, Belgium and the Netherlands up to Denmark, Sweden and Finland, but also in Austria and Germany.

Despite the wide variety of different higher education and research systems in Europe as well as the quite diversified and often multi-faceted institutional structures in each country, we can observe negative, even hostile attitudes against cosmopolitan elites, research-based expertise and evidence-based policy-making in many and this affects universities.

While in the early 2000s there was widespread agreement that the almost simultaneous process of the creation, distribution and absorption of new knowledge facilitated by electronic communication and globe-spanning personal connections would have an enormous impact on the internationalisation of higher education and research, we are now confronted with a lot of voices calling for an exclusive focus on local and national priorities, in particular domestic labour markets.

The rising popularity of nationalist and populist movements indicates a loss of trust in established political, economic and academic elites as well as in research-based advice.

From open society to echo chambers

Protectionist policies, the erection of walls and fences, and attempts at closing internationally minded institutions such as the Central European University in Budapest are among the most alarming signs of an increasing tendency to restrict or even discard the principles and preconditions of an open society.

The quite frequent attacks on democratic and cosmopolitan values, the increasing trend towards a retribalisation of public discourse, as well as an implosion of what we used to call ‘the public sphere’ (which has more or less been replaced by echo chambers and populist networks of outrage) no longer allow for an attitude hitherto quite common among scholars and scientists who enjoyed the pleasure of the margins by sitting on the sidelines of political debates.

For academics across Europe it becomes increasingly urgent to conceive of themselves as globally concerned citizens who operate far beyond academic institutions. The prevailing anti-academic tendencies in several countries should provide enough reasons for them to stand up for their and their colleagues’ basic human rights as well as the manifold checks and balances (including the division of powers) that characterise a well-functioning democracy.

As far as academia is concerned, it will be essential to regain trust in scientific and scholarly expertise as well as in its mode of operation through various steps and measures. These include:

• • New, interactive modes of communication that try to overcome still existing asymmetries;
  
• • Enhanced transparency with respect to the processes and procedures involved in the generation of new knowledge;
  
• • Increasing opportunities for the participation of citizens in agenda-setting processes as well as citizen-science based projects;
  
• • New modes of operation such as focus groups, consensus conferences and online consultations;
  
• • More bidirectional exchanges of views and concerns, and a mutual perception of risks;
  
• • Reconfiguring consultation processes in order to facilitate debates on scenarios of desirable futures and the co-creation of common positions.

Courage and communication

Putting these points into practice is not at all straightforward. It takes a lot of courage to stand up for one’s own beliefs in these turbulent times. But even more important than that will be a fundamental change in the hitherto common practices of communication.

Instead of primarily speaking to the public, it will be essential for scientists and scholars to first of all listen to the people in front of them, to take their concerns seriously, to pay attention to the social pressures they are exposed to, and to bear in mind that to overcome emotional differences may in the beginning matter just as much or even more so than the coherence and consistency of the respective arguments.

Given the fact that in several of the most recent surveys conducted in Europe the share of people who support the view that higher education and research contribute significantly to the future well-being of our societies has been rapidly declining (in particular among the less well-educated parts of the population), we have more than enough reasons to open up labs and classrooms for critical as well as creative thinking, and to embark upon new modes of interactions in at least some of the quite diversified public spheres.

The real challenge, however, is to reach out to those people who seem to sit comfortably in their self-affirmative networks and echo chambers filled with prejudices against foreigners and strong ideological beliefs in the superiority of their own tribe.

It appears to be an almost impossible task. But in pursuing this quite urgent and socially important endeavour, it is perhaps quite helpful to remind ourselves of Samuel Beckett’s words: “Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.”

Wilhelm Krull is secretary general of the Volkswagen Foundation, the largest German private non-profit organisation for the promotion of research and education in the sciences, social sciences and humanities. He is giving a keynote speech at the New Nationalism and Universities conference at the University of California, Berkeley in the US on 16-17 November.