Contesting the neoliberalisation of higher education through student–faculty partnership

Abstract

Student-faculty partnership has been researched by contemporary academic developers, particularly its outcomes and challenges. However, theoretical discussions linking it with larger social-educational-political discourses are still lacking. This reflection aims to help fill the gap by analysing how student-faculty partnership might contest the neoliberalisation of higher education. It argues that, by positioning partnership as the basis for learning, student-faculty partnership provides an alternative discourse to contest the marketisation and corporatisation of higher education, the (re)production of learners as competitive and self-interested, and the standardisation and mechanisation of learning.

The student–faculty interaction beyond the formal curriculum in South Korea

“…Both the Western and Korean college students are in doubt about the necessity of building relationships with the faculty, in other words, students are not fully aware of worthy of student–faculty interaction. Based on the result of this study, the relationship between students and professors needs to be recognised from the perspective of the consumer‐provider, focusing on what college students believe to be their own best interests in course‐ and career‐related matters (Cotten & Wilson, 2006; Wijaya Mulya, 2019). University administrators should develop models and establish guidelines to strengthen the partnership between professors and students (i.e., creating learning community with students, introducing various career path from the graduates of each department, providing the latest and practical information on employment and the quality of jobs, and so on), and support the faculty to apply them through a series of seminars.…”

Quality with integrity: Working in partnership to conduct a program review

“…The fact that this partnership created a stronger sense of community for each of us offers evidence for Wijaya Mulya's (2018) argument that the collegiality and mutuality of partnership offer a mode of resistance to the neoliberalization of the university.…”

Partnership as Student Power: Democracy and Governance in a Neoliberal University

“…This forges clear links between education and the neoliberal project whereby "education has proved to be well-suited to the neoliberal project, with its emphases on achievement and its measurement" (Tight, 2019, p. 275). However, if an authentic view of planning, both academic and governance projects, in meaningful collaboration with students, then student partnership has a real opportunity to succeed as a counter-narrative or at least a more inclusive approach to students in the institution than the traditional "neoliberal student subject" (Wijaya Mulya, 2019). This important work needs help: institutions with the opportunity to participate in partnership projects need conscientious academic and professional staff to guide these projects towards a "public good," rather than allowing them to further distort the view of the students who participate in the initiatives.…”