Transformation of Teaching and Research in a Globalized IT-Driven World

Traditionally, teaching and research in the Western and Eastern world for decades took place in a state-dominated model. The Humboldt type of chairs (“Lehrstühle”) can be considered a metaphorical model for teaching and research in that rather hierarchical setting. The fundamental changes in the social, economic, and most importantly technological environment have challenged this model and led to new functional patterns in teaching and research and subsequently to new and innovative business models in this sector. This article describes the drivers of this change and derives a new functional logic for teaching and research in the age of digitalization and globalization. In a conclusion, dilemmas for the transformation of the sector, for example, the question of the future role of private and governmental actors, are discussed. On a more generic level, the teaching and research sector also serves as a role model for other sectors, which have to find a new rationality and business models lying between hierarchical governmental logic and pure market and network logic.