The values many associate with higher education – academic freedom, institutional autonomy, accountability, equitable access, social responsibility – have often been taken for granted by university communities. They only become explicit when contested and threatened. Yet this can also change their meanings and significance. In this roundtable, we explore whether universities – including colleges such as Kellogg – could do more to articulate and implement a set of core principles and academic values. We also ask if these values need to be extended, given the worsening climate crisis, to include social and ecological justice.

Neil Hawkes is a Kellogg alumnus, whose doctoral research explored the impact of introducing values-based education within an Oxfordshire primary school. He champions value-based education, and will explore the role of universities in modelling ethical leadership. Lavinia Kamphausen is a doctoral student in Education researching student activism in Oxford and Cologne. She is interested in how university students conceptualise the university as a political space and how they negotiate their hopes, values and political practices.