patrick
i'm not an expert on the history of universities- but its interesting
to think of the middle ages when the first universities were created
( I am about 200 kilometers from Montpellier one of the first universities)
it was in age of crafts and guilds and most knowledge was locked up
in monasteries and books were usually chained to desks
= the idea that a teacher could put out their sign and teach
open courses to students was really revolutionary at the time- and so indeed
the university was a serious undertaking to develop "public scholarship"
as you call it
its clear now that people find their teachers on line in all kinds of ways
and the majority of serious education and scholarship happens outside
organised schools-
so the public scholarship that you are talking about is happening ,it just
isnt very closely coupled to academia..it gets more complicated when to
do research and scholarship you need access to expensive equipment..
and complicated also when you need to make a living at it ( cf the
discussion on curatorship)
also of note is that the real growth in universities now is outside north
america and western europe, as is the growth of new museums- we wont
recognise the landscape in fifty years when india, brazil, china start
dominating the academy and the world of museums ...this globalisation
of ideas is really going to change things
roger
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