Pandemic pushes universities to rethink excellence

Competitive reputation, prestige and elitism have always been present in elite universities, Nobel prizes and other forms of reputational competition. However, commercial rankings and publishing exert excessive global pressure on institutions worldwide, forcing them to compete and produce scarcities of reputation. Very often, quantity is mistaken for quality in this competitive environment. Instead of pursuing excellence, universities with a public good mission might think more carefully and clearly about their mission and diversify their pursuit of quality in order better to serve the public good. This would be understood in terms of a transformative mission to democratise knowledge and engage the public; to deliver equitable solutions to public problems; and to ensure public benefits in terms of safety, ethics, well-being and sustainability.