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What is the place of the university in contemporary society? What should be the physical characteristics of the university as a space in the public sphere? This event will reflect on these and related questions and bring the example of CEU to bear on the history of universities – and the other way around.

We will be addressing the “place” of the university in a double sense: in terms of the complex relations between the university and society, and in terms of the physical space created by the university’s architecture. Depending on the university model, the social and political place of the university can vary dramatically: a research university arguably has a different role to play than a liberal arts college. Likewise, a university’s place on the urban map and its spatial organization can reveal much about how concepts of teaching and research have changed over time, about distinctions between academic and other forms of knowledge, about division and convergence between different disciplines, about the ways in which universities generate and transmit knowledge, and about the role they have played (or were meant to play) in public life.

The event will be held in English. It is organized by Junge Akademie members Jan Hennings and Fabian Krämer and will take place in CEU's newly inaugurated building in Quellenstrasse in Vienna. It will bring historians of science and universities into a conversation with actors and planners of university life.

On October 18th the Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg holds a podium discussion on academic debates and debating.