The idea of «liberal education» and a modern university: from the research to the entrepreneurial

The synthesis of the German model of the research university (in W. von Humboldt's version) and the English idea of “liberal education” (J. Newman) defined the concept and reality of the “western university” until the mid-twentieth century. Changing nature of scientific knowledge towards “technicalization” and its transformation into a marketable commodity caused the form and content of the university and transformed it from an “ivory tower” into a corporation (B. Riddings, B. Clark) producing goods: practical knowledge and human capital; a technical knowledge factory (M. Heidegger). “Liberal education” becomes an anachronism, which is accompanied by political risks: “human capital” is deprived of the citizenship necessary (M. Nussbaum, S. Collini) for the existence of a liberal political order both at the state level and at the global level. The article elucidates the main ways of overcoming the situation, revealing the consequences of its persistence and development, as well as the content of politicization (W. Beck) of university discourse to inoculate the modern university as a corporation of “Liberal Education”.