The Institution of Science and the Science of Institutions BOSTON STUDIES IN THE PHILOSOPHY AND HISTORY OF SCIENCE Editors ROBERTS.COHEN,BostonUniversity JÜRGENRENN,MaxPlanckInstitutefortheHistoryofScience KOSTASGAVROGLU,UniversityofAthens ManagingEditor LINDYDIVARCI,MaxPlanckInstitutefortheHistoryofScience EditorialBoard THEODOREARABATZIS,UniversityofAthens ALISABOKULICH,BostonUniversity HEATHERE.DOUGLAS,UniversityofPittsburgh JEANGAYON,UniversitéParis1 THOMASF.GLICK,BostonUniversity HUBERTGOENNER,UniversityofGoettingen JOHNHEILBRON,UniversityofCalifornia,Berkeley DIANAKORMOSBUCHWALD,CaliforniaInstituteofTechnology CHRISTOPHLEHNER,MaxPlanckInstitutefortheHistoryofScience PETERMCLAUGHLIN,UniversitätHeidelberg AGUSTÍNIETO-GALAN,UniversitatAutònomadeBarcelona NUCCIOORDINE,UniversitádellaCalabria ANASIMÕES,UniversidadedeLisboa JOHNJ.STACHEL,BostonUniversity SYLVANS.SCHWEBER,HarvardUniversity BAICHUNZHANG,ChineseAcademyofScience VOLUME302 Forfurthervolumes: www.springer.com/series/5710 Marcel Herbst Editor The Institution of Science and the Science of Institutions The Legacy of Joseph Ben-David Editor MarcelHerbst SwissFederalInstituteofTechnology Zürich,Switzerland ISSN0068-0346 ISSN2214-7942(electronic) BostonStudiesinthePhilosophyandHistoryofScience ISBN978-94-007-7406-3 ISBN978-94-007-7407-0(eBook) DOI10.1007/978-94-007-7407-0 SpringerDordrechtHeidelbergNewYorkLondon LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2013950762 ©SpringerScience+BusinessMediaDordrecht2014 Thisworkissubjecttocopyright.AllrightsarereservedbythePublisher,whetherthewholeorpartof thematerialisconcerned,specificallytherightsoftranslation,reprinting,reuseofillustrations,recitation, broadcasting,reproductiononmicrofilmsorinanyotherphysicalway,andtransmissionorinformation storageandretrieval,electronicadaptation,computersoftware,orbysimilarordissimilarmethodology nowknownorhereafterdeveloped.Exemptedfromthislegalreservationarebriefexcerptsinconnection with reviews or scholarly analysis or material supplied specifically for the purpose of being entered and executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work. 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Printedonacid-freepaper SpringerispartofSpringerScience+BusinessMedia(www.springer.com) Preface Thisanthologyisanoutgrowthofmyinterestinhighereducationandmydiscovery, sotospeak,ofJosephBen-David(1920–1986),i.e.afterIhadassumed,inthelate 1980s,newdutiesasaplanningofficialattheSwissFederalInstituteofTechnology inZürich(ETHZ). Priorto mynewadministrativepositionI hadbeenunawareof Ben-David.Foroneandone-halfdecadesIhadworkedoutsidetheframeworkofthe university, focusing on multi-purpose water resources planning, on hydro-electric and agricultural development, primarily in developing countries around the globe, or on waste-disposal systems in the chemical industry. Before that time, although being associated with universities as a student and faculty member, my focus was notontheinstitutionofhighereducation. In my new function at ETHZ, however, higher education was now the focus, and I was immediately confronted with a clash of cultures. My experience with universitiesinthelate1950suntilthemid1970sinGermany,Switzerlandandthe US,andmyexperienceoutsidethepremisesoftheuniversityduringthelate1970s and the 1980s, appeared to indicate that higher education cultures were nationally oriented. This was much more the case than it has for the industries surrounding the higher education landscape in the wake of globalization. The question posed itselfastowhatextenthighereducationsystemsthatdifferedthatmarkedlyintheir structurewereinapositiontobeequallyeffective. Qualitystandsatthecoreofresearchuniversities,andqualityrelatedissuesbe- came a central part of the daily work of many university administrators. Quality management, first developed in the industrial context in the US and Japan (Juran 1995), was taken up in the sphere of public administration (Osborne and Gaebler 1992)anduniversitiesunderanexpandedfocusandname:TotalQualityManage- ment (TQM). TQM spawned a great number of workshops and publications, and thehopewasthatacollectivefocusonqualityimprovementwouldliftinstitutions to new heights of excellence. However, TQM did nothing to iron out differences in effectiveness which separated national higher education systems, and the hype subsidedafewyearsafterithadenteredthestageofthehighereducationscene. Thefocusonexcellenceandbenchmarkinghoweverremained.Highereducation, andresearchuniversitiesinparticular,wereincreasinglyseenasagentsofeconomic v vi Preface development,assafeguardsofandpathstoprosperity.Inthiscontext,questionsof effectivenessposedthemselves,“valueformoney”,particularlybecausehighered- ucationhadexpandedmarkedly(Trow1970)andtherespectivesocietieswereata loss on how to fund such systems. In the late 1970s, a study of the two polytech- nic institutions in Switzerland (ETHZ and École Politechnique Fédérale de Lau- sanne [EPFL]) (Fritschi et al. 1977, 1980) investigated the link between size and productivity,andthehunch,presumably,wasthatsizeeffectscouldplayarole,so called economies of scale or agglomeration economies, in which case the institu- tional managementwould have to pay attention to them.1 At the end of the 1980s theplanningcommissionofETHZhadspeculatedagainthatsizeandperformance were related and had proposed to redistribute the available resources over an en- largedfaculty.Thereformplanswereshort-livedandfailedtobeimplementedbe- cause they conflicted with the conservative posture and the guild-like partisanship oftheincumbentfacultyandtheirrepresentatives. Earlyinthe1990s,browsinginalocalbookstorewhileattendingoneofthean- nualforaoftheAssociationofInstitutionalResearch(AIR)intheUS,Iencountered GadFreudenthal’santhologyonJosephBen-David(1991).Iimmediatelyrealized the significance of Ben-David’s researches for my own work. In 1995 I organized two conferences at my institution: the 17th Annual Forum of the European As- sociation of Institutional Research (EAIR), the sister organization of AIR; and to profitfromsomeofthescholarspresent,asmallersecondconferencewasdirected at a Swiss higher education audience. In this context, a range of higher education researcherspresentedpapers,amongthemMartinTrow(1926–2007),whomBen- DavidhadencounteredwhilespendingayearinBerkeley,andBurtonClark(1921– 2009);thepapersofthisconference,includingsomeadditionalmaterial,werepub- lishedsubsequently(Herbstetal.1997).2 Aftermyearlyretirementintheyear2000Iwantedtodevotemytimetomatters otherthanhighereducation,butsoonthereafterFrançoisdaPozzo,thenowretired headoftheCentred’étudesdelascienceetdelatechnologie(CEST),3approached me with the idea of working on a study to compare MIT with ETHZ, two natural peer-institutionsand,inthecourseofthiscomparison,tousebibliometricindicators thatCESThaddeveloped(Herbstetal.2002).Toassesspossibledangersofmisuse ofbibliometricdata,particularlyinthecontextofperformance-basedbudgetingand funding,CESTcommissionedasecondstudy(Herbst2004)thatwassubsequently expandedandissuedasabook(Herbst2007). Thisresearchtransformedmydailyroutines,andIbecameevermoreconscious of the dilemmaswith whichhighereducationor researchsystems were grappling. The idea evolved to organize a conference focusing on Ben-David’s legacy and to commemorate his 25th Jahrzeit (2011). Higher education or research systems are 1Thefindingsofthatstudywereinconclusive,mainlyformethodologicalreasons. 2I would like to express my indebtedness and deep gratitude to both of these scholars; for an overviewoftheirwork,seeClark(2008)andTrow(2010). 3NowpartoftheSwissScienceandTechnologyCouncil. Preface vii bestunderstoodcomparatively,asviewedfromthevantagepointofthe‘outsider’, quasi-ethnographer or cultural anthropologist, and Joseph Ben-David was one of the few scholars in higher education research who had worked comparatively.His positioninasensewasideal.AsaJewishrefugeefromHungaryhecouldnotthat easilyfraternizewith,andfeelpartof,thetraditionoftheEuropeanorHumboldtian university he was unable to attend—although as a young immigrant to Palestine he attended the Hebrew University of Jerusalem which grew out of this tradition. HissubsequentencounterswiththeBritishhighereducationsystemwhileenrolled at the London School of Economics on a scholarship from the British Mandate andhisexperiencewithUSuniversities,particularlytheUniversityofCaliforniaat BerkeleyandtheUniversityofChicago,musthaveprovidedhimwithaperspective fewotherscholarscouldmuster. Preparationsstartedin2007toplantheconference.IhadcontactedLiahGreen- feld,ascholarofnationalismandmoderncultureatBostonUniversityandpresum- ablyBen-David’slastPhD-student,andshewasimpelledtoco-organizeaconfer- encededicatedtohermentor’slegacyandtoco-edit(sic)anassociatedanthology. Markus Christen from the Centre for Ethics at the University of Zürich agreed to participate; Michael Hagner, a professor of science studies at ETHZ, was brought onboard;andoneofMichaelHagner’sPhD-studentsatthetime,KijanMalteEspa- hangizi,wasrecruitedaswell.Thefiveindividuals(Christen,Espahangizi,Green- feld,Hagner,Herbst)formedtheprogramandthelocalorganizationcommitteefor theplannedconference.TheCentroStefanoFranscini,theinternationalconference centre of ETHZ located in southern Switzerland on the Monte Verità, a hill over- looking Ascona and the Lago Maggiore, agreed to host and to partially fund the conference.Theremainingfundsweredonatedbythe“RenéandSusanneBragin- sky Foundation”, by the Department of the Humanities, Social and Political Sci- ences of ETHZ, and by the Swiss Studienstiftung: I gratefully acknowledge their financialsupport.Theconferenceentitled“TheRoleoftheUniversityinourTime: theLegacyofJosephBen-DavidasaGuidelineforToday’sChallenges”tookplace in the summer of 2009 (Herbst 2009). Scholars from eleven countries and various disciplinary orientations participated. The conference eventually bore three publi- cations,oneinGerman(Gugerlietal.2010),andtheothertwoinEnglish,i.e.one editedbyLiahGreenfeld(2012)andthesecondonepresentedhere. A few acknowledgements are necessary. My focus on higher education devel- opedratherlateinmyprofessionallife,andIwouldn’thavebeenpreparedtodelve into a relatively new field without the earlier exposure to a range of mentors and scholarswhoseimpactwasformative.It isdifficulttolistafewamongthosewho havesupportedmeasayoungpersonorwhoseideasIhadabsorbed,butIshould mention, above all, Arnold Niederer, Horst Rittel, Hanno Kesting, Lucius Burck- hardt, Henry Hightower and Maynard Hufschmidt, teachers who had nurtured my critical thinking or quantitative—comprehensive, systemic—analyses; and Walter Isard,KennethE.Boulding,RussellL.AckoffandC.WestChurchmanwhosewrit- ingsIhadencounteredinthe1960s;particularlyChurchman,thephilosopherinthis group,hadasignificantimpactonmythinking. viii Preface AfterIhadjoinedETHZ,Iintensifiedmylocalcontactswithcolleagueswhom Ihadknownsincethedaysofmyconcentrationonoptimizationandsystemicde- signs(operationsresearch)toreviewhighereducationsystems,specificallysystems of research universities. The occasional discussions with Hans-Jakob Lüthi, and the regular exchange of ideas I had with Kurt Hässig or Hanspeter Eichenberger over coffee in the faculty club or over a plate of chop-suey in a nearby restaurant, werebothelucidatingandsupportive;thedebateswithintheplanningcommission of ETHZ, headed at the time by Konrad Osterwalder, were far-sighted; I came to knowHerbKells,andsubsequentlyalsoBobSimhaandMartinTrow,allofwhom have become personal friends; ETHZ profited from the visions of Jakob Nüesch (past president) and the tenacityof Katharinavon Salis who had initiated ETHZ’s first office of equal-opportunity (Equal!); and with colleagues like Burton Clark, François da Pozzo, Gary Matkin, Ian McNay, Terry Russell, Frank Schmidtlein, MichaelShattock,LydiaSnover,HenryWasser,andothers,Ihadanenrichingpro- fessionalrelationship. Lastly,Ishouldthankthevariousassociates,friendsandorganizationsthathave contributed,directlyorindirectly,tothisvolume:thepeoplewhohadservedonthe organizing committee for the Monte Verità conference, particularly Michael Hag- ner;thesponsoringagencies(mentionedabove)andtheparticipantsofthatconfer- ence; Nicolas Carayol, Rivka Feldhay, Gad Freudenthal, Michel Haymann, Beate Krais,EricKubli,ChristophMandl,MaryLouMettler,SandyOtis,TerryRussell, ThomasSchøtt,ChikakoTakeishi,NinaToren,KurtWeiss,ananonymousreviewer and, of course, Miriam Ben-David. But above all, I want to thank my co-authors whostoodsteadfastlybehindtheprojectofthisanthologyandmyfamilymembers (Jacqueline,mywife,andourchildrenRachel,JoshuaandRebecca)whosupported meinmyworkonBen-David—againstallodds. ZürichandPromontogno,Switzerland MarcelHerbst April2013 References Ben-David,J.1991.Scientificgrowth:essaysonthesocialorganizationandethosofscience,by JosephBen-David.Berkeley:UniversityofCaliforniaPress. Clark,B.R.2008.Onhighereducation:selectedwritings,1956–2006.Baltimore:JohnsHopkins UniversityPress. Fritschi,A.,G.-A.Grin,M.Kraus,andJ.-J.Paltenghi.1977.Etudesurleseffetsdetailleausein desEcolesPolytechniquesFédérales,vols.1–4.ZurichetLausanne. Fritschi,A.,G.-A.Grin,M.Kraus,andJ.-J.Paltenghi.1980.EffetsdeTailledansDeuxEcoles Polytechniques.RevueInternationaledegestiondesétablissementsd’enseignementsupérieur 4:21–45. Greenfeld,L.,ed.2012.TheidealsofJosephBen-David:thescientist’sroleandcentersoflearning revisited.NewJersey:TransactionPublishers. Gugerli,D.,M.Hagner,P.Sarasin,andJ.Tanner.2010.Universität.Vol.6ofNachFeierabend: ZürcherJahrbuchfürWissensgeschichte.Diaphanes:Berlin. Preface ix Herbst, M. 2004. Governance and management of research universities: funding and budget- ing as instruments of change. Centre d’études de la science et de la technologie (CEST), http://www.swtr.ch/en/dokstelle/Publikationen/2004/CEST_2004_4.pdf). Herbst,M.2007.Financingpublicuniversities:thecaseofperformancefunding.Berlin:Springer. Herbst,M.,ed.2009.Theroleoftheuniversityinourtime:thelegacyofJosephBen-Davidasa guidelinefortoday’schallenges.InProceedingsoftheconferenceattheCentroStefanoFran- scinioftheSwissFederalInstituteofTechnology(ETH)Zürich,MonteVerità,Switzerland, July21–26. Herbst,M.,U.Hugentobler,andL.Snover.2002.MITandETHZürich:structuresandcultures juxtaposed(Centred’étudesdelascienceetdelatechnologie(CEST2002/9),www.swtr.ch. Herbst,M.,G.Latzel,andL.Lutz,eds.1997.WandelimtertiärenBildungssektor:zurPosition derSchweiziminternationalenVergleich.Zürich:VerlagderFachvereine(vdf). Juran,J.,ed.1995.Ahistoryofmanagingforquality:theevolution,trends,andfuturedirections ofmanagingforquality.Milwaukee:ASOCQualityPress. Osborne,D.,andT.Gaebler.1992.Reinventinggovernment,howtheentrepreneurialspiritistrans- formingthepublicspirit.Reading:Addison-Wesley. Trow,M.1970.Reflectionsonthetransitionfromelitetomasshighereducation. Dædalus90: 1–42. Trow,M.2010.Twentieth-centuryhighereducation:elitetomasstouniversal.Baltimore:Johns HopkinsUniversityPress.