Night of the University

On the Night of the University the future of the Academia will be central theme of debates, talks and discussions. Students, teachers and researchers, as well as policy makers and politicians are questioning the direction the university is taking.

Find more information about the program here

The university is turning into a business run by managers. The academia has been the centre of debate over the last years. Has the university become a top-down student factory run by ‘managers’ who only think in numbers and output? Is a real academic degree only reserved for the few who manage to excel the masses? How much room is there for innovation and research that is driven by curiosity in the rat race for funding and the pressure to publish? What is left of academic freedom? In short, what is the place and purpose of academia this day and age? 

On the Night of the University the future of the Academia will be central theme of debates, talks and discussions in the Academy Building of the University of Groningen. Students, teachers and researchers, as well as policy makers and politicians are questioning the direction the university is taking. There will be an ongoing program in English with debates around sense and nonsense of PhD research. Are PhD’s a form of cheap labor?  Is the university becoming a sweatshop?  Or is a PhD really worth it?
There are also interesting panel discussions about diversity in the university, the position of women and intercultural thinking (‘White men only?!’) and about a new bottom-up education initiative of Amsterdam students and teachers: the Bildung Academy. 
Or discuss your own opinions over a drink at the bar. Share your ideas!

The Night of the University is organized by the Faculty of Philosophy, debating center DwarsDiep and Studium Generale Groningen.