The policy analysis role of the contemporary university

Abstract

From society's standpoint, modern science and technology appears Janus-faced: It has given us wealth in one sense, and poverty in another; it has harnessed nature to man's basic needs in ways and to extents undreamed-of only a few decades ago, but it has fostered a continuingly lowered “quality of life.” In large measure, this outcome results from an economic and social philosophy in the Western world which rationalizes existing institutional structures as spontaneously arising “in response to felt needs.”

But we live in an era of historical discontinuity, so to speak. We must now choose between alternative futures, most elements of which are already subject to man's influences. The policy sciences assume ever larger importance as the need for planned change increases. The unique institution able to provide guidance—the university—is, however, still cursed with rigid academic departmentalization. Problem-oriented approaches are only timorously being devised. This must change. Vigorous new inter- and trans-disciplinary modes must evolve, consonant with general systems concepts, cybernetic science and computer technology. Only then will universities fulfill their urgent mission and provide society with reasoned analyses of optimum policy judgments.