Management, Philosophy and Consciousness in the Shaping of Problem-Based Learning

This chapter builds upon empirical material and our experiences in universities for more than 35 years, mainly in business economics, from Aalborg University and universities in USA. The content arises from analyses of those experiences and reflections on what education has become; what the problems are; and what it should and could be. We have been teaching, supervising, building programs, members of study boards, program coordinators, and administrators of programs. Our experiences are from the everyday of life in those programs and being a part of the political, strategic and discussions of teaching and universities programs. It is all about politics and engagement.

Since the mid/late eighties, there has been, from a political view, a desire to have more control over the universities. This stems from the cost of public universities, to ensure that they become more focused on economic growth, production and innovation. This has had an influence on programmes, content, which programmes, number of students and assessment. This has created a contradiction between the political management of universities and the idea of what universities should or could be in relation to engagement, quality of education and self-development of the students. These challenges and contradictions are discussed in the chapter. We then make a case for theory and philosophy of science as a mitigating response to such incongruences.