The case for caring compassionately for the well-being of others in the University

Higher education is being sought by growing numbers of students whose ambitions are various but at their core there seems to be an economic imperative to improve their well-being rather than caring about those who make up the higher education community and beyond. The neoliberal consensus on the necessity of market capitalism has led to the dominance of rights and duties around choice, independence and personal achievement, as well as competition, selfishness and the pursuit of profit, status and power. Construing the purpose of the university primarily in economic terms limits a wider contribution it can make as a social institution to framing and forming futures. To achieve that I suggest that, amongst other things we need to be more compassionate to ourselves and to others. Compassion gives rise to altruism, generosity, social connectedness, and kindness towards oneself and others focused on others, which naturally results in greater social connectedness. This is surely a good thing but those of us who have the privilege to facilitate the well-being goals of the university also have other civic responsibilities. In this chapter, this distinction is explored through the weaving of a transdisciplinary attitude to care and the role of the university community.

This version of the chapter has been accepted for publication, after peer review (when applicable) and is subject to Springer Nature’s AM terms of use (https://www.springernature.com/gp/open-research/policies/accepted-ma...), but is not the Version of Record and does not reflect post-acceptance improvements, or any corrections. The Version of Record is available online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-99924-6_4