Myles Brand’s College Sports Sustainability: “Amateurism”, Finances, and Institutional Balance

As NCAA President, Myles Brand championed three major college sports initiatives: academic integrity, diversity, and sustainability. This paper is about the last. The first step is to distill the elements of college sports that Brand identified repeatedly in his documents and speeches on sustainability. The central elements are the NCAA definition of “amateurism”, athletic department finances, and balance between athletic and academic spending as a part of the university mission. An assessment of these three suggests that NCAA amateurism has changed since his death, in ways Brand stated should raise worries about sustainability. Finances and balance within the university have changed very little over the past ten years and appear sustainable into the future.

The University Mission in the Humanitarian Dimension: Stating the Problem

The article focuses on the mission humanitarianism of a university as a social institution from the perspective of social ontology. The mission is viewed as a perfect benchmark (supreme goal and purpose) necessary for university existence as well as for maintenance and authorization of its institutional identity. It is shown that despite the changes in functionality of universities under the conditions of knowledge-intensive economy development (use of business models in interaction with the society), the humanitarian orientation has not lost its significance since it is necessary for the existence of a university as an institutionally organized specific educational activity, including knowledge generation, storage and transmission. Key institutional characteristics are considered that reveal the importance of humanitarianism for preserving the university as a unique social phenomenon. The authors are guided by the methodology of moderate constructivism – the study of value and meaning of human mentality, ideas and ideals in forming the institutional design of social reality. The role of the ideal and the intentionality of human actions in the construction and function of an educational social institution, which is expressed in the university corporation’s drive to be orientated at values, which give positive social significance to its activities and are aimed at achieving good, are explored. The university produces and conveys knowledge through establishing a knowledge subject, in other words, it forms the very intention to achieve a socially significant result not only in an objectified form of knowledge, but also in the form of evolution (development) of an individual who can produce and use knowledge for the good of society and for their personal advancement. In this context, the mission is understood to be a supreme goal and an ideal benchmark in the concrete historic practices of university education in forming a knowledge subject who must master the fundamental values necessary for society’s existence. The university mission is based on the concrete historic interpretation of the key socially significant goal of education: the development of a “human being” who acts for the good and benefit of society and its members via conveying the thesaurus of universal human values in their concrete historic theoretical and ideological formats.

How to Keep University Active during COVID-19 Pandemic: Experience from Slovakia

The paper outlines the adverse consequences and challenges induced by COVID-19 pandemic for the whole world and for universities in particular. The example of Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra illustrates the difficulties and challenges caused by the pandemic in relation to the two main activities arising from the university mission-teaching and research. It presents some particular aspects of the university activities adversely affected by COVID-19 and shares the measures to minimize the resulted damages. Furthermore, it demonstrates that, despite complications induced by COVID-19, teaching, research, and international cooperation have been successfully continued.

Differentiation of Colombian university mission statements

PurposeA mission statement is the central axis of any organization and the cornerstone of its strategic planning. Universities have implemented this tool to define, among other things, its identity; however, the legal nature and functions of the mission statement have not been determined. In this article, the authors analyze the differences in the university mission statements of public and private higher education institutions in relation to the mission functions proposed by the 1992 legislation on higher education in Colombia – Law 30 – involving teaching, research, extension and social projection and internationalization.Design/methodology/approachThrough content analysis, the authors analyze the mission statements of two groups of institutions that make up the totality of universities in Colombia – 32 public and 53 private universities. The analysis is conducted along the four dimensions defined by the law as comprising the higher education mission, i.e. teaching, research, extension and social projection, and internationalization, due to its importance in the high-quality institutional accreditation process.FindingsBased on the differences identified in the mission statements, the authors establish the university functions and determine how they give back to society in their legal capacity as public or private institutions.Research limitations/implicationsThis research scenario is appropriate for answering research questions related to whether there are differences in the strategies of Colombian public and private universities based on their mission statements. Although the Colombian higher education system includes various types of tertiary institutions, only universities are included in the study.Practical implicationsResearch has shown that regardless of their legal nature, based on their mission statements, Colombian universities are mainly geared towards teaching. However, when comparing additional dimensions, private universities are less involved in research processes and more focused on activities related to social impact than are public universities. Additionally, private universities are more engaged in internationalization than are public institutions, with mission statements focused on both national and international accreditation processes.Social implicationsThe results of this research are intended to help society comprehend the differences between public and private universities in Colombia based on mission statements, which can contribute to understanding, among other factors, the academic programs offered by universities and how they should guide their activities.Originality/valueThis is the first such study in Colombia, a country that provides higher education through public and private institutions in very similar proportions, that analyses the differences in university mission statements and whose findings contribute to understanding whether universities are strategically oriented towards their own established policies or to contributing to the development of new public policies aimed at supporting the country's development process.

The Effect of University Context on Academics' Engagement with Industry

Drawing on the theory of planned behavior, this study investigates the impact of academics' perception of university context on their engagement with industry via the mediation of academics' intention to industrial collaborations. The third mission and supportive policy were put forward as two university influence factors. From analysis results of 564 questionnaire responses, we found that academics' perception of university context had significant effect on academic engagement. In addition, the relationship between university mission, supportive policy and academics' industrial engagement were partially mediated by academics' intention to industrial collaboration.

The Promise of Artistic Research in the Asia Pacific

Artistic research has sought to gain academic legitimacy through adapting to scientific methods, while also retaining the mandate of the humanities in the reproduction of culture. In both cases, Western epistemologies have structured what constitutes knowledge and how it is circulated and shared. The contemporary university is far more connected to its local environment, bringing the potential of engaging broad publics in the life of the institution. Innovation and experimentation with local artistic forms is one way that artistic research can powerfully animate the 21st century university mission in the Asia Pacific.