Modern University: Transformation into Organization

Abstract

Traditionally the university is viewed as an institution. Many people see it as nothing else but а “temple of science”, the core of intellect and culture focusing on high ideals of search for truth, intellectual development and humanistic education, which is based on academic principles and scientific interests. Nevertheless, nowadays an approach to analyze the university in terms of a formal organization and an entrepreneurial structure becomes more and more popular. A formal organization vested with authority and sovereignty, independently and rationally defining its goals and means to achieve them, characterized by a clear hierarchical structure and an entrepreneurial structure aiming at profitability at the lowest cost. Obviously, a new look at the university is connected not only with a change of perspective, but above all, with the changes inside the university. How justified is the use of the concepts "bureaucratic organization" and "entrepreneurial structure" in relation to the modern university? Can a university, seen in its classic form as a unique, historical institution, be compared to any bureaucratic organization, though having specific features, and to an entrepreneurial structure focused on economic success? In the present article the author tries to answer these questions relying on the analysis of changes not only inside the university, but in contemporary society in general. The modern university is an open system responsive to changes in external conditions. The author investigates how the new external conditions, such as increased globalization, widespread neoliberal ideas and practices, and information society affect the university causing a change in its organizational structure and in its identity, culture and values.