a book review, from Nature

the flava:

By the end of the twentieth century, many US public research universities had, unlike Germany's, become huge, bureaucratic, self-organizing and vastly complex. Some have numerous vice-chancellors, provosts and vice-provosts; more than half a dozen colleges (each with deans, associate deans and assistant deans); colleges with multiple departments (some with as many as 90 highly specialized faculty members); sprawling hospitals; and huge athletic programmes. Some have also managed large federal laboratories. And today, US universities seem to be in existential flux, questioning their size, function, structure, nature, philosophical bases and monumental student fees.

The Rise of the Research University charts how unpredictable and unstable university systems have been on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. It reveals that academic soul-searching about the role of research universities is as prevalent now as it was 150 years ago. But it also shows how important these bodies remain, in both the United States and Europe, in advancing understanding of the world.

And more of the Nature review here.