The Identity of the University in the Context of “Liquid Modernity”
Authors:   Tomsk State University, Chernikova Irina V. , Chernikova Darya V. ,   Tomsk State University
Published: February 2023

The object of the research presented in the article is the transformation of the university's identity in the context of “liquid modernity” (Zygmunt Bauman), as an era of global instability. Despite political, economic and social upheavals and changes, the university remained a fairly stable, albeit evolving, social institution from its inception during the Middle Ages to the second half of the 20th century, to the stage of social development that is commonly called postmodernity or “liquid modernity”. At this time, higher education almost all over the world is faced with a reduction in public funding, and a need arises for universities to search for additional sources of income. As a result, a model of an entrepreneurial university is emerging, the social role and institutional identity of the university in modern reality is blurred (Bill Readings' “the university in ruins”). In the situation of the problematization of the university's integral identity and the emergence of multiple models in which it functions today, it becomes necessary to rethink the uniqueness of the university as a social institution and its place and role in the world. The article carries out a reflexive analysis of the transformation of the university's identity in three key dimensions: first, as an agent for the development of research open to innovation and social activity; second, as an educational project in the era of mass (and possibly universal) higher education; third, as a subject that bears social responsibility for contributing to the sustainable development of a changing world. The study of transformations of the identity of a modern university is based on the analysis of changes in the concept of knowledge from the perspective of the concept of “liquid modernity”. These transformations were indicated by an increase in the need for expert scientific knowledge, simultaneously with its relativization, the accumulation of uncertainties and risks, a paradigmatic shift from a fundamentalist type of science to research in which knowledge is epistemologically and socially constructed. An analysis of the transformations affecting the university in its key areas of activity - research, teaching, and social responsibility - shows how significant they are. Indeed, one might get the impression that the university is losing its place in the world and its identity; however, transformations of the basic functions of the university do not mean the loss of the university's uniqueness, but rather a renewal of the ideal. The authors of the article come to the conclusion that the identity of the university as a social institution is expressed in the unity of the functions of research, teaching, and social responsibility. This unique integrity allows the university to produce and broadcast knowledge as a social good, realizing its responsible research and expert position in the interests of the well-being of the larger world and overcoming civilizational crises, and this is what distinguishes the university from other social institutions.