THE UNIVERSITY IDENTITY: WILL UNIVERSITIES SURVIVE IN THE INFORMATION AGE?

The article considers the problems of the university identity, which became the focus of research interest in the period of the transition to the knowledge society, through the prism of the university idea. Modern society can be seen as knowledge and digital in the information epoch, however, as a market-oriented society ruled and controlled by national and international corporations. Therefore, education can be regarded as product, and university as a commercial enterprise. Nevertheless, understanding the university as a civilizational project helps to distinguish multiple interpretations of the main value orientations - education, research and upbringing, which are preserved there. The development of the university idea has undergone several stages, passing from the research-centred or teaching-centred university model to the multifunctional university complex. The crisis of the university identity manifests itself as an imbalance of the three core values and is analysed within the theoretical framework of contemporary social scientists, including Bauman, Boltanski, Chiapello, Liessmann, Luhmann, Ritzier, Teveno. (C) 2017 Published by Future Academy www.FutureAcademy.org.UK