What Are Universities For?

It is well known, of course, that universities teach undergraduate students, and that some of them have been doing that for literally hundreds of years.  But the modern university is much more than a teaching academy. As Emeritus Professor Robert Elliot, the guest of this episode reminds us, through their major involvement in research and other scholarly activities, they are essentially in the business of generating and sharing knowledge through community engagement as well as formal teaching. Their essential reason for being is to contribute to the betterment of society from the local to the global.

And as he also emphasises, the word business is entirely appropriate here, for these days, universities are multi-million-dollar enterprises. Currently Pro-vice Chancellor for International and Quality, as well as a Professor of Philosophy, Professor Elliott has been directly involved in the business affairs of the University of the Sunshine Coast almost since its establishment in the late 1990s.

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