Worldwise News

Registration from 18.00 (lecture to begin promptly at 18.30), King's College London

The Value of a University Education

Higher education has always involved a substantial investment of time, effort and money by students and funders. They have made these investments for a variety of reasons and with a range of goals in mind. The current public debate about value for money is an important challenge to universities, coming in the context of changing regulations and arguments about the funding model in the UK. The lecture will argue for a broad conception of the value of a university education, including both private and public value.

About Professor Frans Berkhout

Frans Berkhout is Executive Dean of the Faculty of Social Science & Public Policy and Professor of Environment, Society & Climate in the Department of Geography (School of Global Affairs) at King’s College London. Professor Berkhout joined King’s in 2013.

Professor Berkhout’s research over the past 20 years has focused on science, technology, policy and sustainability, with a focus on climate change. His earlier work concerned the economic, political and security aspects of the nuclear fuel cycle. Amongst other posts, Professor Berkhout was Director of the UK Economic and Social Research Council’s Global Environmental Change and Sustainable Technologies programmes, directed the Institute for Environmental Studies at the VU University Amsterdam and led the Amsterdam Global Change Institute. He was Director of the Future Earth programme, based at the International Council for Science (ICSU) in Paris, from 2013-2015.

Professor Berkhout has held, and continues to hold, many advisory roles. Professor Berkhout shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for his contributions to the work of the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC); he was a lead author on the IPCC’s Fourth (2007) and Fifth Assessment Reports (2014). He sits on the editorial boards of seven journals including Research Policy, the Journal of Industrial Ecology and The Anthropocene Review. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences.