The Trend Towards Multiversities: A Case of Incoherent Heterogeneity

Abstract

My proposition is that the present recession in Higher Education is significantly related to the trend towards "multiversities". By the latter I mean the assumption that each university should maximize its institutional capacity towards satisfying the widest range of goals, values and interests. Maximal institutional capacity and viability are assumed to be contingent on maximal structural heterogeneity. It seems that multiversities together with industrial conglomerates, department stores, ecumenical churches, political parties and other modern organizations fulfill the old dictum: the future lies with heterogeneity, and that makes for cohesiveness.