Re-creating universities for 'beyond the stable state': From 'Dearingesque' systematic control to post-Dearing systemic learning and inquiry

This paper considers the limitations (excluding funding) of the UK Dearing Report and likely influences of what might be considered 'Dearingesque prop osals', increasingly invoked throughout the world as 'solutions' to the cha llenges of 'the learning society'. It is concerned with emphases of the rep ort on structural solutions to complex problems that are by no means struct ural in nature. The tendency is to 'order the mess', through increased stan dardisation, specification of outcomes and centralised control. Implementat ion of 'Dearingesque proposals' are likely to ossify traditional academic s tatus hierarchies, subject boundaries, and the normative criteria by which teaching and learning quality and research tend to be judged. This trend wi ll work against academics, and professional groups who recognise the need t o build capacity for 'second-order change' and for new kinds of social lear ning in an essentially 'unstable state'. It will also discourage the engage ment of diversity. It is argued that innovation, development and partnership can only come fro m systemic learning and inquiry from 'within the mess'. Working with, rathe r than controlling, this epistemological diversity and richness could lead to the visualisation and enactment of alternative epistemological and ethic al positions by government, employers and academics, working in partnership . Systemic learning and inquiry could lead to new understandings of 'respon siveness' and quality in higher education for the millennium, that could en hance the capacity of society to work with and learn from challenges of com plexity, change and systemicity. Copyright (C) 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.