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Episode details

Radio 3,22 Jun 2016,45 mins

Universities: Therapy or Learning?

Free Thinking

Available for over a year

Philip Dodd debates "Universities - therapy or learning?". New Generation Thinker Dr Seán Williams looks at the history of the university as a space for thought, considering the arguments put forward by Frederick Nietzsche. Dr Seán Williams is at the University of Sheffield's School of Languages and Cultures. He is an expert on German and Comparative Literature and is currently researching a cultural history of hairdressing. Dr Matt Lodder, Lecturer in Contemporary Art and Visual Culture at the University of Essex and Dr Joanna Williams, education editor of Spiked Online and former Director of the Study for Higher Education at the University of Kent discuss what is happening in academia and what it means. Dr Shahidha Bari reviews Omer Fast's film of Tom McCarthy's novel Remainder. And Adam Mars Jones joins her to discuss the place for experimentation in the arts today. Frederick Nietzsche's 1872 series of lectures On the Future of Our Educational Institutions have been republished under the title Anti-Education. Remainder is released on 24th June 2016. The New Generation Thinkers prize is an initiative launched by BBC Radio 3 and the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) to find the brightest minds from across the UK who have the potential to transform their research into engaging broadcast programmes. You can hear more about the research topics of all 10 2016 New Generation Thinkers on our website on a programme broadcast on May 31st and available as an arts and ideas podcast and find clips where you can hear their newly commissioned written pieces on a range of subjects. Producer: Ruth Watts.

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