The Role of Universities in Small Scale Societies

The Faroese Student´s Union, MFS, recently hosted the NOM conference at the University of the Faroe Islands, with representatives from student organizations across the Nordic and Baltic countries participating. At the conference, Sigri M. Gaini, Ph.D., gave this lecture

First of all, thank you very much to MFS – the Faroese Students´ Union -  for the invitation to give a talk about the role of universities in small scale societies.

I am going to reflect on the specific – and utterly important – role  that universities play in small societies, but I will begin with focusing on the role of universities in general – and the principles connected to the very idea of universities. 

This role and these principles, of course, also apply to universities in small scale societies. 
The role that universities play in any society cannot be overestimated. Universities have an invaluable influence on society and they are a platform from which philosophers and political theorists have always aimed at finding and developing  a good society and a good life  through gaining knowledge.

So what is a  good society and a good life, one may ask? And I will elaborate on this in a little while.
The Bologna University is often referred to as ‘the mother of European universities’. It was founded in 1088. The University of Paris is also one of the oldest European universities, founded around 1150. But there are, of course, many other old universities in Europe as well.

In going back to the cradle of Democracy, ancient Greece, we find our very first institution of higher education in the West, namely Plato´s Academy or the Platonic Academy which was founded in Athens around 387 BC. 

And, as we know, our fundamental worldview, our science and research, our ethics and oulook on life are all influenced by the ideas of ancient Greek philosophers and scholars – and a number of these were connected to the first Western Academy.

If we look at the role of universities in contemporary society, the main factors that play a crucial part in society are pretty much the same as in Ancient Greece, centuries BC, and in Paris and Bologna, around a thousand years ago.

These factors are among others: 

The achievement of knowledge, the birth of new ideas and the finding of solutions to challenges and problems – and even the solution to how one can achieve knowledge which might seem unachievable.

All of these factors may lead to a good society and a good life since knowledge and ideas may create more just, more free, more comfortable, healthier, and even more interesting lives.

It is, however, of utmost importance to underline that attaining knowledge and understanding of life should be seen as valuable in itself – and not only as having value as a means to an end.
Universities are, by nature, independent from private institutions as well as political institutions and governments. Or so they should be. 

This does not, by any means, mean that they cannot  or should not cooperate with a variety of institutions, private and public, political and non-political. Cooperations related to research and education are needed and important for the development of society – also – or maybe especially – in small scale societies.

It is, however, crucial that  universities stay independent in relation to the research that they carry out and in relation to the results that they present.

If one compromises this very fundamental aspect of Academia, one lets go of the pillars which any university must rest on: 

Freedom of thought, freedom of expression and academic freedom.

Without this freedom, universities simply become like any other private or political institution in society, taking away its invaluable role as a place where new ideas are born and where utility is secondary, whereas the search for new knowledge, for and by itself, is primary.

Universities are the most important antidote to undemocratic governmental tendencies, they are one of the most important critiques of political decisions and ideas that pose a threat to the freedom and justice of a society – because they are born out of  the humanitarian ideas of freedom and justice. 

We have seen, in recent years, challenges and overlaps between what is in the interest of universities and what is, when one scratches the surface, really, in the interest of government and the private sector. This is something which is mainly seen through economic interests, e.g. through strict rules for research funding.

During the last couple of decades, true free research has received ever less funding while projects that have utilitarian value are continuously prioritized.

This may lead to a narrow minded society that undermines the foundational role of universities. Unfortunately, we see this tendency in contemporary Western societies in general, meaning it is also happening in small scale societies. 

These unfortunate tendencies are, among others, the aftermath of the ideas of New Public Management and Neo-liberalism as well as of a society that is all-consumed by the idea of Utilitarianism: that every political or societal decision, also concerning research, must have utilitarian value.

A few years ago, I interviewed the famous – and charismatic – Norwegian anthropologist, Thomas Hylland Eriksen, who sadly passed away last year.

Thomas gave a thought-provoking, interesting and very tangible example of the losses that society  may suffer when solely supporting and focusing on what apparently seems to be of societal and economic utility.

Thomas´s example was that when Einstein developed his theory of relativity, many researchers could not see how this theory would ever be used in practice. This did not, of course, stop Einstein from spending a lot of time on developing it and the irony – or perhaps rather, the happy end of the story – is that it became a theory which not long after was used very practically indeed. Today, one example of how Einstein´s theory is used in everyday life is in how a GPS works.

Thomas did, however, also stress that research does not need to lead to any other form of utility than that of having gained any new knowledge about something. That will always be valuable in itself.

Only universities themselves, meaning the academics and intellectuals representing the universities, can do something about this challenge by holding firmly on to the crucial role that universities play in society – and by holding onto the fact that this role can only be maintained with the upholding of freedom of thought, freedom of expression and academic freedom.

Small Scale Societies
Now, finally getting to the point that you might have been waiting for, namely what is it specifically that universities can offer small scale societies?

There is a  lot of research done on the impact that universities have in society – also specifically small scale societies and I will elaborate on a few of them now, some of the most important ones.
Universities strongly contribute to the cultural life of society, creating an environment that gathers people at events that may cover talks, debates, lectures, international visiting guests, exhibitions and much more. This contributes to a rich cultural life in the town of the university and to greater overall satisfaction among citizens.

Universities also lead to higher educated citizens. In small scale societies with universities, more people are educated since some of those who choose to study at their local university would not be willing to leave home (in our case, mostly for Denmark), hence they would not have received an education if there was no local university available. 

Local universities also lead to more young people choosing to stay in their home place which again contributes to a more lively and dynamic society since these young people don´t leave the country and since they, naturally, create life by using the city actively as well as organizing different events etc.

It is also proven that access to higher education leads to significant economic benefits both to individuals and to society as a whole. Several studies point to a correlation between the presense of a university in a city and socio-economic development in the local area of the university.

It is important, however, to stress that research shows that universities lift the cultural capital of their students not only socio-economically, but also in terms of communication skills, and intellectual understanding of the world we live in. 

The renowned French sociologist, Pierre Bourdieu, argued that the aquisition of cultural capital was closely linked to the possession of economic capital and social class and that the combination of the advantages of economic capital with the prestige of what he calls symbolic capital (which arises from an individual´s achivement, for example their education) can disguise a person´s class origin.

One can, of course, discuss whether this should be a goal in itself – but the bottomline is that universities and access to education can contribute to  break social inheritance and educational and social inequality.

One of the most significant gains of having universities in small scale societies, like for example the Faroe Islands, is that one has the opportunity to carry out research regarding one´s own circumstances which would probably never have been carried out otherwise. 

This, of course, develops the society in multiple ways, both on a societal and on an individual level.

And this is reflected in gained knowledge about the areas of society that the respective University represents through their specific faculties and expertise. 

In the Faroe Islands, the faculty of Faroese, naturally, plays a significant role in relation to protecting our language and all of the history and culture that follows from that. We have the faculty of History and Social Science that among other carries out research about our contemporary society which can help us navigate in the world, culturally and politically, with awareness of our specific identity as a country with our own history – but also our own challenges that need to be adressed.

The Faculty of Health Science does research within diseases that are specifically wide-spread in the Faroe Islands and the faculty of Education educates teachers who are specialized in teaching children in Faroese (and this not only applies to the language, but also to the Faroese history and culture).

There are plenty of examples of interesting research, specifically relevant to the Faroe Islands and Faroese citizens, which goes on continuously. This strengthens our society immensely, both because of the gathered knowledge which leads to improvements of our society and the lives of our citizens and because of the strong identity it creates for us as a people – not least in our relations to the world.

Recently, several researchers at the Faculty of Health Science, The Faculty of History and Social Science and the Faculty of Science and Technology at our university have received significant amounts of research funding for very comprehensive and internationally relevant projects. In addition to the University, there are other Faroese research institutions involved, such as Havstovan.

This is certainly also an example of the impact that a university in a small scale society can have. It proves that a university in a small society can deliver research on an international level. And, of course, this is not new in itself – although the very large amounts of funding are rare and a true accomplishment – there is and has been ongoing Faroese research on an international level for decades.

Hence, our research which contributes specifically to us, as a people, and as a Faroese society, also continuously contributes to knowledge internationally.

It is also important to remember that we have a number of research institutions that work closely together with the university and that contribute to the benefits that societies with access to higher education bring forward.

There are several projects going on with cooperations between for example the Faculty of Science and Technology, one or several research institutions and the industry. This is another important part of the role of a university, and it has significant impact in a small scale society, benefitting all parts involved.

One amazing – and in a way funny – story about research in the Faroe Islands was when Debes Joensen, manager at Heilsufrøðiliga starvsstovan (The Faroese Food, Veterenary and Environmental Agency) quickly saw a possibility and a solution regarding the testing for corona when quite suddenly corona was spread in the world and everyone who travelled between countries had to be tested for it. Debes Joensen called the hospital in the Faroe Islands and offered to use a specific technique, the same as used in the aquaculture industry so as to be able to test everyone so quickly and effectively that one had the test results the next day.

This story went around the world and was written about internationally. And it is a  good example of what a highly educated small scale society with a university and research institutions can do. The advantages are, of course, the close knit and manageable society in terms of the number of inhabitants, the short distance between people and institutions and the short distance between ideas and action (meaning less bureaucracy and formalia). 

Of course, the corona crisis was a time of exception – and the factors that Debes Joensen got a brilliant idea and that his idea was immediately supported by doctors at the hospital were also crucial. I don´t know whether this also depicts people in small scale societies in general? 

There is no doubt that our university contributes to an economically and culturally richer society, and it contributes to a stronger identity and a freer, more powerful and autonomous society through gained knowledge and tangible research results – and we must, of course, continue to develop and support our university!