Keynote at the symposium ’Praxis in higher education’, University of Borås
![Eva Borås](/sites/default/files/styles/content/public/2019-05/Eva%20Bor%C3%A5s.jpg?itok=KYVm9xBW)
One key challenge that marks all systems and institutions of higher education is one of meaninglessness. When we for example hold a meeting for the sake of holding a meeting, or write a research article just to produce an output. Teaching becomes meaningless when educators sense that students engage strategically – attend courses to obtain a tick in an attendance log or plagiarise or cheat to pass the course on the way to getting the credential of a degree. Teaching also becomes meaningless when workloads mean that the quality is compromised – there is not enough time for preparation, for engaging with students informally, or for providing thorough feedback on their work.
Higher education consists of many ‘we-s’ that must do different things. We need to keep insisting on the meaningful and keep pushing back when things do not feel meaningful. We need to think about what can I do, and what can we do, to improve the situation and make a better future – and act upon it, every day, in big matters as in small. Nobody here suggests that it is easy work. And it requires courage, which is precisely what my key-note lecture will address.