Universities in the Competition State:

Wright, Susan; Ørberg, Jakob Williams

doi:10.2307/j.ctvw04bj2.9

Cited by 11 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…A second commonly articulated purpose of higher education was related to ideas about personal growth and enrichment. This was evident in all six countries in our sample, even in England where the HE sector is highly marketised and in Denmark where the language used in policy is increasingly neo-liberal in orientation (Wright & Ørberg, 2017). This purpose was discussed in two main ways.…”

Section: Personal Growth and Enrichmentmentioning

confidence: 95%

Students’ views about the purpose of higher education: a comparative analysis of six European countries

Brooks

Gupta

Jayadeva

et al. 2020

Higher Education Research & Development

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Across Europe, assumptions are often made within the academic literature and by some social commentators that students have come to understand the purpose of higher education (HE) in increasingly instrumental terms. This is often linked to processes of marketisation and neo-liberalisation across the Global North, in which the value of HE has come to be associated with economic reward and labour market participation and measured through a relatively narrow range of metrics. It is also associated with the establishment, in 2010, of the European Higher Education Area, which is argued to have brought about the refiguration of European universities around an Anglo-American model. Scholars have contended that students have become consumer-like in their behaviour and preoccupied by labour market outcomes rather than processes of learning and knowledge generation. Often, however, such claims are made on the basis of limited empirical evidence, or a focus on policies and structures rather than the perspectives of students themselves. In contrast, this paper draws on a series of 54 focus groups with 295 students conducted in six European countries (Denmark, England, Germany, Ireland, Poland and Spain). It shows how understandings of the purpose of HE are more nuanced than much of the extant literature suggests and vary, at least to some extent, by both nationstate and higher education institution. Alongside viewing the purpose of HE as preparing them for the labour market, students emphasised the importance of tertiary-level study for personal growth and enrichment, and societal development and progress. These findings have implications for policy and practice. In particular, the broader purposes of HE, as articulated by the students in this study, should be given greater recognition by policymakers, those teaching in HE, and the wider public instead of, as is often the case, positioning students as consumers, interested in only economic gain.

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Section: Personal Growth and Enrichmentmentioning

confidence: 95%

Students’ views about the purpose of higher education: a comparative analysis of six European countries

Brooks

Gupta

Jayadeva

et al. 2020

Higher Education Research & Development

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“…While scholars vary in terms of how they evaluate the merit of these reforms, most are in agreement that they are underpinned by a neoliberal agenda. It has been argued that as a result of such initiatives HE has become more aligned with the needs of the labour market, there is a greater focus on promoting student employability, and universities have come to be seen as engines of economic growth and international competitiveness (Wright and Ørberg 2017;Brooks 2021a). Some scholars have even suggested that such policy reforms are attempting to 'reverse engineer' an Anglo-American model of HE across the continent (Slaughter and Cantwell 2012).…”

Section: The Bologna Process Reformsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Paradise lost or created? How higher-education staff perceive the impact of policy on students

Jayadeva¹,

Brooks

Lažetić

2021

Journal of Education Policy

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“…Baldwin and James, 2000; Holtta et al, 2011; Naidoo et al, 2011; Slaughter and Cantwell, 2012). This has highlighted, for example, the introduction, in some countries at least, of principles of New Public Management (Deem et al, 2007; Wright and Ørberg, 2017); tuition fees (Gale and Parker, 2018; Wilkins et al, 2013); metrics encouraging institutions to compete against one another (Sabri, 2013; Tavares and Cardoso, 2013); and consumer rights legislation (Tomlinson, 2018). These developments have typically been linked to the spread of neoliberal globalisation across the Global North.…”

Section: Students and Marketisationmentioning

confidence: 99%