Paper short abstract:

The paper investigates how universities' gloomy outlook is produced by what we call machineries of pessimism, which contrasts to the predominant promissory discourses of vision and strategy documents.

Paper long abstract:

University history is a narrative of progress. Former President of Cornell University, Frank Rhode, has expressed this eloquently: “From modest beginnings over nine hundred years ago, it [the university] has become the quiet but decisive catalyst in modern society, the factor essential to its effective functioning and well-being”. Vision statements and strategy plans of universities reflect promissory discourses about achievements. In their branding efforts, universities are optimistic. However, this optimism disappears when university leadership discusses future developments. Then, the promissory discourse is replaced by a discourse emphasising external threats and challenges, above all expectations of austerity. This paper investigates the basis of this pessimism to identify what we call machineries of pessimism. It is based on an analysis of minutes of the Board of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology when the Board discusses budgets and long-term plans, supplemented by articles from the university’s newspaper.