{"id":15910,"date":"2025-12-15T14:42:30","date_gmt":"2025-12-15T13:42:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uni.lu\/research-en\/?post_type=news&p=15910"},"modified":"2026-03-16T09:18:22","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T08:18:22","slug":"new-book-university-public-mission","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.uni.lu\/research-en\/news\/new-book-university-public-mission\/","title":{"rendered":"New Book Explores the University\u2019s Public Mission"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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A new book published by Prof Georg Mein<\/a>, the head of ULIDE<\/a>, examines a question that feels increasingly urgent: What remains of the university\u2019s public mission when truth is relativised, expertise is attacked, and digital communication fractures the very idea of a shared world?
The new book, “Das Prinzip Universit\u00e4t: Warum Demokratie Wissenschaft braucht”, has a straightforward central argument: democratic societies rely on institutions that cultivate rational scrutiny and treat fallibility not as a weakness, but as a condition for collective learning. When these institutions come under pressure, the democratic project itself becomes fragile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Drawing on his background in German literature, philosophy, and educational theory, as well as his current role as Head of ULIDE, Prof Mein brings together humanities-based scholarship and contemporary debates on digitalisation and democracy. His long-standing engagement with higher education governance and international academic exchange also informs the book\u2019s reflection on the university as a cornerstone of democratic public life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Das Prinzip Universit\u00e4t” seeks to reclaim the university as such an institution \u2013 not one that produces consensus, but one that safeguards the very practices that make disagreement meaningful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n