{"id":140454,"date":"2020-06-26T02:10:52","date_gmt":"2020-06-26T01:10:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gouni.edu.ng\/?p=140454"},"modified":"2020-06-26T02:12:31","modified_gmt":"2020-06-26T01:12:31","slug":"from-a-university-to-an-epistemic-shopping-mall-a-post-covid-19-higher-education-vision","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gouni.edu.ng\/new\/from-a-university-to-an-epistemic-shopping-mall-a-post-covid-19-higher-education-vision\/","title":{"rendered":"From a University to an Epistemic Shopping Mall: A Post Covid-19 Higher Education Vision"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rev. Father Prof.  Dr. Christian\nAnieke <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vice\nChancellor, Godfrey Okoye University, Enugu, Nigeria <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Abstract<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nothing has affected human life and\nepistemic space since the Second World War as much as the Covid-19 pandemic.\nIts ripples are everywhere and will continue for some time. Human consciousness\nhas been incredibly jolted to respond to the challenges of this novel\nsituation. The human society must continue to respond to questions connected\nwith the unfolding narrative of this pandemic with new visions and social\nvalues that will make the visions realizable. Higher education as the theatre\nof human epistemic action must become visionary and responsive to a gamut\nof social visions in order to continue to be relevant in society. I am\nenthralled by a particular higher education vision which Prof. Am\u00e9l\u00e9 Ekue of Globethics\nmentioned last time during our conference, the idea of a leap from\nuniversity to pluriversity. In the same line of thought, my new vision of\nuniversity in this paper is captured by the title: From a University to an\nEpistemic Shopping Mall: a Post Covid-19 Higher Education Vision. This vision,\nin contradiction from pluriversity, means that a university will not only\ncontinue to celebrate its essential uniqueness but also wear an\nadditional look as a shopping mall for knowledge. The uniqueness of each\nuniversity will rest on the altar of its local content besides the variety of\nproducts from different scholars that are available for sale. In this case,\nthere will be singularity and hybridity, connecting with human epistemic space\nas well as securing a unique epistemic territory. Such an arrangement will make\nthe values of good social living inevitable and a desideratum. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Characteristics of\nShopping <\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A shopping mall or centre has its\nhistory in the village or community buying and selling in an open market.\nBefore the industrial revolution farmers and producers of different goods and\nbuyers met in such an open market to exchange their products. But with the\nindustrial revolution, there was an exponential rise in the volume of\nproduction and variety of products for sale. (Of course the industrial\nrevolution had its dark clouds as Charles Dickens portrayed in his novel Hard\nTimes but it jolted human productivity to unimaginable heights). Shopping\nmalls or centres sprang with time to make buying and selling of products\nemerging from the roaring machines of the industrial revolution easier. \u201cShopping malls<\/a>, a late\n20th-century development in retail practices, were created to provide for a\nconsumer\u2019s every need in a\nsingle, self-contained shopping area.\u201d (britannica.com). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is important to show some of the\ncharacteristics of shopping malls so that we can see how they can be an\ninspiration for a post Covid-19 higher education vision. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spaciousness<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the features of a shopping\nmall or centre is that it has a large space to accommodate a lot of products\nprovided in that single space. Buyers will not need to run from one market or\nmarket area to another to get their basic needs. This saves time and makes\nbuying a joyful human experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Variety of Offers<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is another characteristic of a\nshopping mall. You have such a fascinating variety that you can find nearly all\nyou need in a single commercial space. In fact, some malls boast about having\neverything. Interspar in Austria has this slogan in its advertisement: \u201cINTERSPAR, alles da. Alles da, da, da\u201d. As Terry Johnson (2019, online) observes, \u201cThe first thing you\nshould look at when choosing a shopping plaza is the availability of a variety\nof products and services. You are guaranteed of good shopping experience from a\nshopping centre that has all varieties of products and services. Time-saving is\nwitnessed while shopping in a plaza with a wide collection of different stores.\nYou will have a smooth time shopping in a plaza that has all types of\ncommodities and services.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Community-oriented<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A shopping mall provides immediate\nday-to-day needs of the community. It is always rich in what a community needs\nand reveals an incredible understanding of the size and taste of the community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Comfort<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

One feature of a mall is the guarantee\nof comfort in buying and selling.  Each mall tries to make buying and\nselling as comfortable as possible. This explains the provision of beautiful\nscenery, recreational facilities, parks, eateries, and everything that seduces\nthe soul to plunge in an ocean of unceasing buying. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Accessibility<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shopping malls provide both external and\ninternal accessibility. A mall always ensures that it is easily accessible to\nbuyers. This is always one of the first considerations in its physical\nsetting. Also it organises the compartments in such a way that buyers can\neasily find their way around and get what they need. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A University as a Shopping Mall<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Covid-19 pandemic has detonated and\nglobalized an atomic bomb of incredible innovations. Humans have always been\nknown for their adaptability and innovations. But at no point in history has\nthere been such innovativeness within so short a time as we see today.\nUniversities, as recognizable epistemic space for innovativeness, adaptability,\nresearch, teaching and learning, must catch up with breath-taking\ninnovations in the world today. As the famous Nigerian author Chinua Achebe\nwrites in his novel Arrow of God: \u201cThe world is like a\ndancing masquerade. If you want to see it well, you do not stand in one place.\u201d\nI am delighted that many universities are abreast with the latest developments\nin the world. For instance, the wide use and adaptions of Zoom, Google meet,\nWebex, Skype, as well as such tools as Edmodo, Socative, Projeqt , Thinglink , TED-Ed,\nClassDojo, eduClipper, Storybird , Animoto, Moodle and Kahoot, have redefined\nacademic activities in the absence of face-to-face teaching and learning. These\nfacilities have the promise of helping our universities offer a variety of\nproducts like a shopping mall. My higher education vision in this\nconnection is this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1.\nEvery university,\nlike a shopping mall, must have virtual space for a lot of epistemic\nproducts. This virtual space involves internet facilities. There cannot be a\nlimit to the bandwidth a university can have. Investments in a university must\ntilt towards having as much bandwidth as can take every imaginary online\nactivity of the university. At no point should the virtual life of the\nuniversity community lose its tempo and vibrancy because of internet\nfacilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2.\nA university, like\na shopping mall, must have a variety of epistemic offers. Universities have\nalways done this. But technology has offered us an opportunity to get the best\nscholars from anywhere in the world to deliver lectures in our universities. We\ncan mount a number of courses using the best scholars in the world, who will\nnot need to travel to deliver their lectures. Travel costs, inconveniences of\ntravelling, immigration requirements, health challenges, aviophobia,\nhodophobia, xenoglossophobia  or even xenophobia have been a great\nhindrance to many scholars in leaving the comfort of their homes and academic\nterritories. Today these great scholars can be engaged by universities in the\nworld to deliver lectures online without any of these hindrances. Experienced\nbut retired academics can be engaged by universities to increase the\nvariety of their offers. Also the emphasis in every MoU now must be that\npartner universities can enjoy the online classes available in each of the\ncollaborating universities. Furthermore, on the side of students, every\nuniversity must encourage them to shop for knowledge in other universities.\nBesides, universities in the economically rich counties of the world must\nconsider fee waivers for students in poor countries to encourage them to get\nknowledge through the online courses available in such universities.\nUniversities like Harvard and Oxford must stop taking a lot of money from\nAfrican students for their online courses. From this standpoint, the value of\nuniversity will now depend on how much is being offered the students from local\nand foreign-based scholars and how much a university is helping students to get\nproducts offered by other universities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. A university must also, like a shopping\nmall, be community-based. Every shopping mall, while offering a variety of\nproducts, still retains its face of specialisation, which will reflect\nthe taste of the community. This is where the identity of the university\nwill be underscored. Each university must define what its peculiar local\ncontent will be as \u201cUniversitas Magistrorum et Scholarium (a community of teachers and\nscholars). What researches and studies, curriculum, or pedagogical\napproaches are peculiar to the university? This is why I reject the concept of\npluriversity, which appears to be the obliteration of the \u201cuniversitiness\u201d of\nthe university. A university must maintain its singularity, underscored by the\nprefix \u201cuni\u201d (one).\nTherefore, while offering a variety of epistemic\nproducts, it must maintain its singularity, its epistemic oneness, its\nuniversitiness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4.\nFinally, comfort\nand accessibility are as important in the university as they are in a\nshopping mall. The epistemic products must be offered in a setting of comfort,\nsuch that it is attractive to the buyers. Lectures must become a pleasurable\nexperience. Online classes must not only be interactive but also a delightful\nexperience. Also knowledge must be organized in such a fashion that it is easy\nto find and acquire. Every online app or platform that makes it difficult\nto teach and learn must be buried in a forgotten grave of useless ideas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conclusion<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Covid-19 pandemic has shaken our\nworld but not broken it. It has rather jolted us to a fresh consciousness of\ndoing so many things in varied ways. A higher institution that understands the\nfull semantic weight of the word \u201cadaptability\u201d will\nsurvive and transform itself. This calls for a redefinition and redesigning of\na university to fly on fascinating idea of a shopping mall. This also\ncalls for deeper collaboration in higher institutions in a common understanding\nof our shared values as members of the human family deeply entangled in the web\nof our social space and collective home: the Earth!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

References<\/strong> <\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Achebe, Chinua. Arrow of God. Oxford: Heinemann. 1974.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Barker, C. Cultural Studies: Theory and\nPractice. London: Sage Publications, 2000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bryson, B. Mother Tongue. London:\nPenguin Books, 1990.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dickens, C. Hard Times. Cambridge: Hiberside Press. 1869.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Encyclopedia Brittanica (online).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Johnson, Terry (2019). https:\/\/medium.com\/@johnsont628\/characteristics-of-a-good-shopping-center-66accd4f6098<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nnaji, H.I. Modern English-Igbo\nDictionary. Onitsha: Gonaj Books, 1985.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Oxford English Dictionary. Second\nEdition. Oxford: Oxford University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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