7. Fostering the gift

This chapter argues that - like art - higher education is a gift, or better, that it can be a gift, a gift that needs to be fostered. For the gift to emerge, the political-economic context in which higher education operates needs to be explored. It is also necessary to examine teaching pedagogies that provide fertile soil for the gift. The chapter examines the potential of the gift to shine from two angles. The first angle - property regimes or political economies - compares the marketized university with higher education as a common. The second angle focuses on three teaching pedagogies that are particularly important in times of multiple and existential crises: resonance, relevance, and imagination.