After the Congress of Academic Culture

Abstract

The article reports main themes of debate at the recent Congress of Academic Culture held at the Jagiellonian University at Krakow. The motto of the Congress: ”The Idea of the University – Reactivation” grasps the wide perception of the current crisis of the institution due to the decay of traditional academic culture – unique values and norms regulating academic life – and the invasion of alien axiological system, the corporate culture. Some symptoms include the quantification of research results and educational procedures, anonymity of relations between students and professors, focus on vocational training instead of formation of enlightened citizens, demands of narrow practicality instead of fundamental theoretical validity of results. There was a considerable unanimity concerning this diagnosis and the strong postulate of reactivating university culture in forms adequate for the XXI century.