Gobierno para una Universidad de Investigación: La Universidad Politécnica Salesiana

The university is the place par excellence where the relationship -conflictive but fruitful- between instrumental reason (the effective transformation of the world, nourished by science and oriented by the search for efficiency and rationality) and the critical sense (meaning, justification and questioning) is built. The very nature of research and education implies justification and questioning, which opens the way to the critical sense, and the dialogue between the critical sense and instrumental reason implies taking into account that they are opposed and complementary at certain moments of university life. The lack of critical sense implies a trivialization and standardization of the university, even if it is effective, and, on the other hand, dispensing with instrumental reason would be a sign of infertility and inability to touch society. It is necessary, then, to define and disseminate a model that fosters dialogue between the efficiency demanded by the environment and the ability to choose how and why to respond. The link that makes this dialogue possible is research.