What is the purpose of a university?

Most people believe that a university exists to educate and to perform research. But it has a higher role, a sacred trust, to pass down all the knowledge that we’ve accumulated to the next generation, while developing new knowledge in the process. What would happen if we turned off the whole university system in Canada? I mean literally locking the doors and scattering the people?

In the first year, we would hear nothing much beyond the complaints of displaced professors and students. In the second year, the rumblings would start. In the third and fourth years, companies would begin to feel the pinch of a high quality, skilled labour shortage. They would start to fall behind in international competitiveness. Except for immigrants – now highly sought after – companies would have no new engineers, scientists, accountants or writers. All of a sudden, there would be an outcry: “We must protect our citizens because they can't get jobs anymore!” The borders would be closed. Taxes would be raised. Then we would wake up and say, “Oh my, universities really are important!” So we would open the doors, pour money back in, and hire back the professors—if we could find them. Many years would go by before anything resulted. In fact, it would take years just to get back to the starting point.

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[CLB: Please read this article. Here's the link again: Why basic research matters. Keeping in the same spirit, last year, I donated funds for graduate scholarships in physics and astronomy. Please consider doing the same.]