Editors: Steven Jones & Sadia Habib
Publisher: Manchester University Press
Overview
Universities worldwide stand at crossroads, no longer assured of financial – or even rhetorical – backing from their host societies, and increasingly subject to political interference and media attacks. The underlying public value and purpose of higher education is easily lost amid the metrics and games of artificially imposed markets. This series posits original solutions and offers fresh narratives. How can universities be cherished and trusted by citizens while retaining their institutional autonomies and academic freedoms? How can sectors adapt to a challenging socio-political context with integrity and collegiality? How can students and staff recover a sense of themselves as communities of scholars in pursuit of shared intellectual goals? The scope of the University Reimagined series is broad, but uniting the books is a commitment to reclaim and repurpose universities for the public good. Hope and positivity are crucial: the series moves beyond documenting problems to developing potential answers based on new conceptualisations of higher education, new engagement platforms, and new modes of working. We seek to rebuild confidence in the university, reassert the value of academic expertise, and open doors to inclusive change.
Given the prominence of debates about higher education in the public sphere, and the political tensions around funding models, free speech and other matters of wider public interest, it is unsurprising that university as a focus of academic enquiry has enlarged rapidly in recent decades. The University Reimagined series maps on to what is sometimes knows as Critical University Studies in the US, which has emerged as an inter-disciplinary field looking at privatisation, labour conditions, student debt and globalisation in higher education. The University Reimagined series takes the debate beyond Anglo-centric, Western, mostly white male circles, to unleash new ideas, incorporate different voices, and learn from alternative approaches. Methods vary: some authors take a theoretical perspective, reengaging with the idea of a university; others focus on everyday ways to reenergise university staff and students. The end product is a collection that bring innovative methods and rigorous thinking to the field, and culminates in a useable blueprint for the future of the sector.
Why publish with Manchester University Press?
Manchester is the home of radical thought, and its university has a rich legacy of critical and disruptive thinking. Manchester University Press was founded in 1904 as the Publications Committee of the University. Drawing upon the expertise of leading names and emerging scholars from around the world, the press now publishes over 200 books and five journals each year, specialising in the Humanities and Social Sciences. It prioritises discoverability, accessibility, and inclusivity in its publications, while upholding traditional values of excellent author care, good design, and high production standards.
What should my book look like?
The University Reimagined series offers a potential home for new ideas about higher education, both within the UK and internationally. Though based in Manchester (UK), the series will be global in its scope. Books should be around 80 – 90,000 words in length, and may be single- or co-authored.
What should my book be about?
We are interested in methodologically robust, critical analyses in all areas of higher education studies. We are particularly interested in research that brings a fresh perspective, imagines different principles, behaviours and models, and/or covers areas that haven’t previously been paid enough critical attention. The following list of potential topics is indicative, not exhaustive:
- Academic freedoms and institutional autonomies;
- Academic identity, professional agency and workload allocation;
- Academic labour and contractual precarity;
- Academic leadership and leader identity in higher education;
- Access and participation in higher education;
- Artificial intelligence and university assessment;
- Critical pedagogies and decolonised learning;
- Critical perspectives on graduate outcomes and graduate labour markets;
- Culture wars on campus;
- Digital platforms, pedagogies and communications;
- Indicators of quality and other sector metrics;
- Internal university administration configurations and organisation cultures;
- Investment in and planning of university estates;
- Media discourses of higher education;
- National and international higher education policy;
- Race, class, dis/ability;
- Risk-based approaches to university management;
- Social responsibility and the civic university;
- Staff recruitment, development, integration and identity;
- Student ‘positioning’ by university texts and discourses;
- Student organisation and student unions;
- The changing role of non-academic staff;
- The university on social media;
- University admissions policies, cultures and practices;
- University governance, regulation and compliance.
What is the process and timescale for commissioning books?
In the first instance, please contact one of the series editors with a brief overview of who you are and what your book would be about. We’ll then help you to complete a formal MUP book proposal form. We aim to let you have a decision within 3-6 months.
Prof Steven Jones: sj AT manchester.ac.uk, @profstevenjones.bsky.social, @SteveJones_MCR
Dr Sadia Habib: sadia.habib AT manchester.ac.uk, @sadiahabib.bsky.social, @educ_research
Mark Carrigan 