University and Future-Oriented Cultures: Reflections on Cultivating Communities of Practice in the Basque Country
In: World futures review: a journal of strategic foresight, Band 12, Heft 4, S. 351-362
ISSN: 2169-2793
There are currently a number of preconceived ideas about the university and its possible fates within our socially latent future. Some of these assumptions can restrict our capacity to imagine much of the actual potential scenarios at present. Following the Integral Futures perspective, here we stress the relevance of its interior cultural development as a key factor when thinking about the futures of and for the university. Instead of defining specific foresight strategies, however, this paper suggests how some current university extension activities can facilitate a productive cultural basis to enhance their forethought capabilities. It specifically addresses the potential of cultivating Communities of Practice (CoPs), through which institutions are able to connect with wide-ranging cultural domains, from both the inner and outer worlds, and making organizational culture more prone to unbiased imagination. Such features are illustrated with recent action-research conducted at the University of the Basque Country, which will finally provide some guidance on how to seed future-oriented cultures in corresponding universities.