Reforming (and Teaching?) Through Metaphors: from the Good to the New University

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the relationship between communication, rhetoric and research in the field of university reformism. Such reformism requires simplification and understanding not only for academic actors, but also for students and stakeholders. In this view, the critical reflection on three recent books, City of Intellect: The Uses and Abuses of the University (2023) by Nicholas Dirks, The New University (2021) by James Coe and The Good University by Raewyn Connell (2019), investigates the convergence of academic discourse and reformist innovation through the cognitive efficiency of metaphors simplifying the understanding of academic innovation through the symbolic and semantic reduction of an ever-changing scenario. Their books have the merit of delving into the contingent and programmatic factors fueling academic reliability in terms of democratization and inclusion through teaching activities, in line with the functional tenets of the civic university (Dobson and Ferrari, 2023).