The Institution of the University, Local and Global Challenges, and Interaction with the Public Space

Universities are amongst the most important institutions that play crucial roles with respect to bringing about and shaping the modern world. The institution of the university also partakes in providing effective responses to the endless challenges which are emerged in the modern world. The frequency of the appearance of these challenges, in comparison to what was happening in the pre-modern world, is much higher. The present paper, first, provides a brief account of some of the chief functions and main models of universities as well as some of the crucial local and global challenges and the role of universities in dealing with them. Then, it discusses the issue of the ‘public space’, its principal characteristics, and the mutual relationship between it and the institution of the university. The main argument of the paper is that the institutions of the university and the public space, as two socially constructed entities which are both the products of collective intentionalities, are constantly evolving and in doing so exert influence upon each other, as well as other entities in the realm of social realities including the institution of the state, and the sphere of politics, culture, and economy. In return, the institution of university and the public space are influenced by those other entities in the social realm. The net result of these many-folded influences is the actualisation of vast potentials which are inherent in these entities and institutions. The actualisation of these potentials is directly linked, on the one hand, to the needs of their users and, on the other, on the inbuilt functions of these institutions. The paper intends to provide an answer to the problem of identifying theoretical models or the sets of instructions by which one can manage the interaction between these institutions and socially constructed entities, ensuring, as much as possible, maximal actualisation of their positive capacities and suppression of their negative capacities.