University 2030: Thinking About a Structural Change

A structural divergence has opened up between Universities (as other educational and heritage institutions) orientation, forms and cultures and the mature dynamics of the Network Society (Castells, 1996). In summary: the dominant model of knowledge construction is based on dematerialization and decentralization in millions of networks, producing and reusing billions of ‘content’ every day, mainly concentrated on large global platforms (Van Dijk et al. 2019). We are facing gigantic processes of globalization, virtualization, media convergence, based on connectivity/relationship on the web; consequently substantial breaks in continuity must be previsioned (and governed) also for the traditional twentieth-century forms of education and research institutions. Great changes are under way: towards permeability – opening up to the flows of digital life; towards creativity – the investment necessary to make online subjects active and not passive; and towards the most difficult, the network reorganization, implying a strong change in the structure and mentality. Can we still discuss an answer to this divergence and suffering in terms of reform? Ruberti (1990) and Berlinguer (1998) overturned the old organizational forms by playing on a European dimension, and putting Italy back in an advanced position in addressing the transition to the knowledge economy. While today the processes are global, all institutional forms are in crisis, confidence in a reform policy is low. In this contribution, taking into account the discussion in recent years on some crucial issues, it is proposed to design a new model, counteracting bureaucratization/corporatization, vertical teaching transmission, uncertainty about missions, excessive isolation and self-referentiality of structures and individuals.