Unthinkable: Has Cardinal John Henry Newman’s vision for universities died?

In 1854, Cardinal John Henry Newman began writing what remains the world’s most famous essay on higher education, The Idea of a University. The same year, he opened the Catholic University in Dublin as the template for this new kind of institution where students didn’t just learn but “flourished”.
Exactly 160 years on, how is his model faring? University College Dublin, the Catholic University’s modern incarnation, has just published a new strategic plan, targeting growth in international student numbers and increased research output as well as setting the goal of being “within the top 10 universities in the world in terms of global engagement”. More...