Rome, 4-12
April
2009


Universitas, Knowledge without limits

Hints for research issues


What is the University? Current challenges
  • The University is a society governed by consensus. Consensus and relativism, The University as an environment that gives meaning in the face of the threat of nihilism.
  • Truth, complexity and prejudices in university research. The University in the face of the current problem of its foundation. foundation of science and foundation of ethics. Can there be an anthropological basis for all the branches of knowledge?
  • Comparative study of diverse University models. J.H. Newman and his Idea of a Liberal University. The model of W. von Humboldt. The University education according to K. Jaspers. Intellectual work in the model of thought of J. Guitton. The Mission of the university according to J. Ortega y Gasset
  • Universities in History. Their influence upon social and cultural developments. The University and opposition. The role of universities in the political changes of the 20th century. The crisis of the university in 1968.
The University Today
  • The social function of the University, the University and social changes, the University and politics. The government of Universities. The University’s Autonomy and social responsibility.
  • Private and Public Universities. Distinct personalities, advantages and risks.
  • The University as professional formation
  • Teaching in the University. Innovation in teaching methodologies, tutorials vs. magisterial lectures, communication between professor and student. Experiences of new pedagogical methods. Teaching on-line. The university and university congresses.
  • Student Mobility. The SOCRATES Program and other international exchange programs. Experiences. Learning foreign languages in the University.
  • Social Commitment in the University. University and Volunteering. The University’s cooperation in social development. Some concrete experiences.
  • University, science, and disabilities. Access for handicapped persons to University formation, new technologies for information, scientific advancements...
  • Selection process of information in the University Libraries. The danger of information saturation.
Interdisciplinary Issues
  • The University. Is specialization compatible with unity of knowledge? Conditions for interdisciplinary dialogue.
  • The need to learn the art of dialogue in the University. To truly listen to the arguments of others. Empathy in relationships, in order to understand the “reasons of the heart”. To affirm with clarity ones own ideas without imposing a point of view. To seek the truth together.
  • How to study themes that are meeting points between distinct disciplines. bioethics and new medical techniques; artificial intelligence; high tech as a condition for human development, solidarity and global economy; the right to privacy and international security; freedom of expression and the respect for the beliefs of others; quality of life and the human rights of the “weaker” (children, the handicapped, the elderly, etc.)
  • Is a dialogue between believers and non-believers necessary? Is it possible? With what conditions? Why?
  • The University and Intercultural dialogue. The challenge of cultural diversity and the immigration phenomenon, Universality of human rights and cultural diversity. The interreligious dialogue.
Law and Economy
  • Juridical regulation of scientific activity in national legislation and in International Law
  • Law in the Universitas. A science between theory and practice, issues of interdisciplinary exchange.
  • Relation between the University and the Business world. The role of the University in the economy of knowledge. Research, Development and Innovation as competition factors. Public policies for stimulating R+D+I. The transfer of research and technology to businesses. Their long-term formation.
  • Integral Lifestyle and Business Ethics after Enron, Parmalat, Société Génerale.
  • Multinationals and cultural exchange, the role of the University in economic globalization, and the effect of globalization in the University. Dissemination of knowledge and culture, dialogue.
Architecture, Engineering and Urbanism
  • A proposal for a university city in the communications era
  • The University in the City
  • Architecture and the University. Medieval cloisters, modernism, current university campuses
  • Engineering solutions for the problems of a technological society
  • University formation of engineers
Sciences and Medicine
  • The social and ethical repercussions of scientific activity. Scientific progress and human dignity. Is everything that is scientifically possible also ethical? Concrete ethical problems. Human cloning, therapeutic use of embryonic stem cells.
  • Technology as a condition for human development.
  • Humanist formation of the scientist; Scientific formation of the humanist.
Communication
  • Presence of the University in means of communication. Public awareness of scientific activity. Scientific journalism. Science and television. Science and Cinema. Scientific discoveries on the internet. Study of concrete cases.
  • University web pages. Studies and proposals.
  • Pages dedicated to university information in the press. University sections of newspapers on the internet.
  • What does television teach a university student?
  • The University and social networks.
Transfer in Rome