Presented at Le Collège de France, April 6th 2006, translated into English by Barbara Nelson.

The Aims and Institutional Structure of the University

How is the university to be organized institutionally? This question has been much discussed recently, and many universities have been reorganized according to certain models which are now in fashion. But there has perhaps been too little systematic recognition of the fact that different institutional models are ordered to different ends; that is to say, it is the ends that are to be served that determine – or anyway should determine – the structure of an institution dedicated to those ends. If this is so, it is a mistake to focus too intensively on any one institutional model and to try to re-form every important institution according to a single paradigm.

Role and Importance of Universities,NUAS (the Nordic Association of University Administrators)Conference  in Reykjavik May 2013

New book - published january 2015

Whart sort of institution should the university aspire to be? What role should it be playing in the present? How should it be governed? Are universities taking proper care of the knowledge that they are responsible for? These questions, along with others, are pursued by Páll Skúlason in the present volume on the basis of many years of reflection and experience of university administration. His main thesis is that universities need to be more dedicated to critical thinking and to cultivate the moral dimension of scientific, and technical knowledge.

  This paper was originally delivered at Hólar at a conference celebrating the 900^th anni­versary of the School of Hólar on the 29th of April 2006.

This paper deals with the question why universities have become so important in our societies. In answering this question, the author discusses the cosmopolitan nature of universities and describes their activity as the exercise of theoretical thinking. He distinguishes such thinking from political, religious and commercial modes of thinking,

Le but de cet article est double. D’une part, tenter d’expliquer pourquoi tant de gens finissent par perdre de vue ce qui fait l’essentiel de l’activité universitaire, et d’autre part essayer de rappeler à l'opinion les caractéristiques principales de l’activité universitaire depuis le Moyen-Âge, c'est-à-dire sa finalité et les aspects éthiques qui lui sont fondamentaux.

Hvert er gildi menntunar? Hver er kjarni háskólastarfs? Hvað eiga þau, sem lokið hafa háskólanámi, sameiginlegt? Í rektorstíð sinni á árunum 1997-2005 flutti Páll Skúlason 24 brautskráningarræður og brautskráði 9000 kandídata frá Háskóla Íslands. Í ræðum sínum, sem birtast allar í þessari bók, fjallar Páll um ofangreind efni og tekst auk þess á við fjölmargar spurningar sem blasa við hinum nýútskrifuðu kandídötum og gefur þeim heilræði fyrir framtíðina.

Ný bók eftir Pál Skúlason er komin út, Pælingar III. Bókina hafði hann nýlokið við að búa til prentunar er hann lést 22. apríl 2015. Í formála bókarinnar segir Páll: „Ein helsta lífsnautn mín er að eiga í góðum samræðum, deila frjóum hugmyndum og kenningum um spennandi efni, lesa áhugaverða grein eða hlusta á góðan fyrirlestur. Viðleitni mín snýst því um að semja erindi sem fólki finnst vonandi skemmtilegt og fræðandi að lesa.“ Greinarnar sem hér birtast falla í eftirfarandi þrjá flokka: Stjórnmál og samfélag - tilfinningar og trú - siðfræði og menntun. Í þeim fjallar Páll meðal annars um stöðu fjölmiðla, um framtíðarríkið, um trúna, um ellina, um siðareglur og um tilgang náms. Bókin á því erindi til þeirra sem vilja yfirvega málefni samtímans með aðstoð heimspekinnar.

Whart sort of institution should the university aspire to be? What role should it be playing in the present? How should it be governed? Are universities taking proper care of the knowledge that they are responsible for? These questions, along with others, are pursued by Páll Skúlason in the present volume on the basis of many years of reflection and experience of university administration. His main thesis is that universities need to be more dedicated to critical thinking and to cultivate the moral dimension of scientific, and technical knowledge.

Whart sort of institution should the university aspire to be? What role should it be playing in the present? How should it be governed? Are universities taking proper care of the knowledge that they are responsible for? These questions, along with others, are pursued by Páll Skúlason in the present volume on the basis of many years of reflection and experience of university administration. His main thesis is that universities need to be more dedicated to critical thinking and to cultivate the moral dimension of scientific, and technical knowledge.

Whart sort of institution should the university aspire to be? What role should it be playing in the present? How should it be governed? Are universities taking proper care of the knowledge that they are responsible for? These questions, along with others, are pursued by Páll Skúlason in the present volume on the basis of many years of reflection and experience of university administration. His main thesis is that universities need to be more dedicated to critical thinking and to cultivate the moral dimension of scientific, and technical knowledge.