This book examines the restructuring of universities on the basis of neoliberal models, and provides a vision of the practice of hope in higher education as a means to counteract this new reality. The authors present a re-imagined version of Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal” to highlight the absurdity of policy trends and decisions within higher education and shock people out of indifference towards action. The authors suggest the ‘practice of hope’ as a way to create a system that moves beyond neoliberalism and embraces equity as commonplace. Providing real-world possibilities of the practice of hope, the book offers possibilities of what could happen if neoliberalism at the higher education level is counteracted by the practice of hope.

Around the world, the landscape of Higher Education is increasingly shaped by discourses of employability, rankings, and student satisfaction. Under these conditions, the role of universities in preparing students for all facets of life, and to contribute to the public good, is reshaped in significant ways: ways which are often negative and pessimistic. This book raises important and pressing questions about the nature and role of universities as formative educational institutions, drawing together contributors from both Western and non-Western perspectives. While the editors and contributors critique the current situation, the chapters evince a more humane and compassionate framing of the work of and in universities, based on positive and valued relationships and notions of the good. Drawing together a wide range of theoretical and conceptual frameworks to illuminate the issues discussed, this volume changes the debate to one of hopefulness and inspiration about the role of higher education for the public good: ultimately looking towards a potentially exciting and rewarding future through which humanity and the planet can flourish.

Collating various case studies, policies and other real-world research, this book examines effective high impact learning practices and demonstrates approaches that promote learning communities and common intellectual experiences.

The essays in Paul Ricoeur and the Hope of Higher Education: The Just University discuss diverse ways that Paul Ricoeur’s work provides hopeful insight and necessary provocation that should inform the task and mission of the modern university in the changing landscape of Higher Education. This volume gathers interdisciplinary scholars seeking to reestablish the place of justice as the central function of higher education in the twenty-first century. The contributors represent diverse backgrounds, including teachers, scholars, and administrators from R1 institutions, seminary and divinity schools as well as undergraduate teaching colleges. This collection, edited by Daniel Boscaljon and Jeffrey F. Keuss, offers critical and practical visions for the renewal of higher education. The first part of the book provides an internal examination of the university system and details how Ricoeur’s thinking assists on pragmatics from syllabus design to final exams to daily teaching. The second portion of the book examines the Just University’s role as a social institution within the broader cultural world and looks at how Ricoeur’s description of values informs how the university works relative to religious belief, prisons, and rural poverty.

Reappraising ideas associated with Ernst Bloch, Roland Barthes and Gaston Bachelard within the context of a utopian pedagogy, Hope, Utopia and Creativity in Higher Education reframes the transformative, creative and collaborative potential of education offering new concepts, tactics and pedagogical possibilities. Craig A. Hammond explores ways of analysing and democratising not only pedagogical conception, knowledge and delivery, but also the learning experience, and processes of negotiation and peer-assessment. Hammond shows how the incorporation of already existent learner hopes, daydreams, and creative possibilities can open up new opportunities for thinking about popular culture and memory, learning and knowledge, and collaborative communities of support. Drawing together theoretical and cultural material in a teaching and learning environment of empowerment, Hammond illustrates that formative articulations of alternative, utopian futures, across sociological, humanities, and education studies subjects and curricula, becomes possible.

Although educators continue to face the issue of maintaining quality teaching practices, academic managers and educational developers face significant challenges when changing in higher education teaching strategies. Cases on Quality Teaching Practices in Higher Education presents international case studies of individual approaches and institutional examples to benefit teachers at the individual level as well as institutional leaders involved in change. This publication is suitable for both undergraduate and graduate level courses in education related best practices in pedagogy, innovation in the use of technology, and the future direction of universities in the advancement of teaching practices.

This collection weaves together the personal narratives of a group of diverse scholars in academia in order to reflect on the ways that grief and hope matter for those situated within higher education. Each chapter explores a unique aspect of grief and loss, from experiencing a personal tragedy such as the loss of a loved one, to national and international grief such as campus shootings and refugee camp experiences, to experiencing racism and microaggressions as a woman of color in academia, to the implications of religious differences severing personal ties as an individual navigates research and academic studies. Unlike most resources examining grief, this collection pushes beyond notions of sorrow as solely individual, and instead situates moments of loss and hurt as ones that matter politically, academically, professionally, and personally. The editors and their authors offer pathways forward to academics, researchers, teachers, pedagogues, and thinkers who grapple with grief in a variety of forms, transforming this book into a critical resource of hope to those in the field of education (and others) who may feel the effects of an otherwise solitary journey of grief, to create an awareness of solidarity and support that some may not realize exists within academic circles.

This book illuminates international voices of those who feel empowered to do things differently in higher education, providing inspiration to those who are seeking guidance, reassurance, or a beacon of hope. Doing things differently comes with an awareness and curiosity to explore what can be. Increasingly, more and more professionals in higher education are choosing themselves, happiness, families, relationships, kindness, and compassion over arbitrary notions of institutional prestige, continuous pressure to overwork, and competitiveness with others. The chapters in this book do more than highlight flaws in the system, they call for proactive engagement in interrupting and reimagining what is broken. The authors share their own experiences as a way of encouraging readers to take small steps towards self-care, to notice their surroundings, and to embrace change as an empowering tool. The focus is on becoming the change we aspire to see, with a collective readiness to instigate positive transformations. Sharing ambitious ideas to encourage change, this book is a valuable resource for those seeking to enhance their self-care and wellbeing in the higher education context, and for those seeking to engage with others in support of these efforts.

Students, parents, and educators at all levels are increasingly frustrated, demoralized, burned out, and discontented with education and schooling today. At no previous time has it been more necessary to revitalize hope in the promise of education or to reestablish joy in teaching and learning than the current moment. In this timely and inspirational volume, authors from diverse disciplines consider and affirm the many places across curriculum and context where hope and joy are or can be strong and vibrant. Drawing on the life-affirming ideals of renowned education philosopher and school founder Daisaku Ikeda, Hope and Joy in Education will reenergize educational research, theory, and practice. Featuring contributions from such luminaries as Theodorea Berry, Cynthia Dillard, Walter Gershon, Francyne Huckaby, Johnny Lupinacci, and Anita Patterson, this book reminds readers that the classroom is still a magical space, brimming with the brilliant and creative energy of young people. “This is a necessary text at a necessary time if we are to revitalize hope in the promise of education.” —From the Foreword by Cynthia B. Dillard, University of Georgia “A beacon of light toward desirable collective futurities in a world of increasing complexity, uncertainty, and vulnerability.” —Ming Fang He, Georgia Southern University “These essays are just what we need in these turbulent, uncertain times: a thoughtful focus on hope and joy as the path to educating for a more just, equitable, relational, and peaceful state of being.” —Denise Taliaferro Baszile, Miami University “This insightful book urges educators to center hope and joy in our work—not by turning away from the despair of the moment, but by fostering dialogue, seeking connection, and always remembering that the true aim of education for teachers and students alike is to become more fully human.” —Gregory Michie, Chicago public school teacher

Many accounts of critical pedagogy, particularly accounts of trying to enact it within higher education (HE), express a deep cynicism about whether it is possible to counter the ever creeping hegemony of neo-liberalism, neo- conservatism and new managerialism within Universities. Hopeful Pedagogies in Higher Education acknowledges some of these criticisms, but attempts to rescue critical pedagogy, locating some of its associated pessimism as misreading of Freire and offering hopeful avenues for new theory and practice. These misreadings are also located in the present, in the assumption that unless change comes within the lifetime of the project, it has somehow failed. Instead, this book argues that a positive utopianism is possible. Present actions need to be celebrated, and cultivated as symbols of hope, possibility and generativity for the future - which the concept of hope implies. The contributors make the case for celebrating the pedagogies of HE that operate in liminal spaces – situated in the spaces between the present and the future (between the world as it is and the world as it could be) and also in the cracks that are beginning to show in the dominant discourses.