The Humboldt-University and Its Rivals Under the Market Science Condition

Abstract

In the modern rankings of higher education institutions almost monopolistic American universities (Harvard, Stanford, Princeton, etc.) play the leading role promoting the idea of the “entrepreneurial university”. The classic European university fails in the competition, and the idea of the Humboldt University is losing credibility. Our assumption is that this situation is in the large part due to the historical identity of civilizational missions, elites and forms of communica­tion (“trading zones”) that initiated these types of universities. The comparative history of European and American universities demonstrates that in the first case philosophers played a leading role in achieving the goals of cultural policy, and in the second, there were managers who won in the economic competition. European and American universities were, in different proportions, culture-forming centers and factors of economic development. University reforms were usually initiated from outside: these are its competitors and sponsors, politi­cians, and entrepreneurs. Who exactly takes on the functions of the moderator in the trading zones is a key question for the university’s fate. If a business model-oriented manager builds cooperation, then the university becomes the embodiment of academic capitalism. If a cultural policy is implemented in the interdisciplinary interaction of scientists themselves, then there is a chance to measure the university's development with humanistic values and the ethos of science.