My Research Inquiry and Relevant Article
1) My research inquiry
I am studying the phenomenon of higher education functioning
increasingly more like a private enterprise (eg. higher tuition fees,
decreasing funding, accountability measures) rather than a public institution…
…because I want to find out how this shift has influenced
administrative and academic practices in higher education…
…in order to better understand what practices are working
well for the collective, and what are not working well (do these practices
serve or harm the public good?)…
…so that we will know about how administration and academia
can collaborate more meaningfully together to benefit the public good
2) Reading of my interest
Title: Neoliberalism, higher education and the knowledge
economy: from the free market to knowledge capitalism
Author: Mark Olssen, Michael A. Peters
This article from the Journal of Education Policy explores
the shift in higher education from a culture of open intellectual inquiry to
“institutional stress on performativity”, as a result of transcending into the era
of neoliberalism. The authors explain the shift from classic liberalism, which
emphasized the autonomous individual as free from state power, to that of
neoliberalism, which “has come to represent a positive conception of the
state’s role in creating the appropriate market by providing the conditions,
laws and institutions necessary for its operation (p. 315).” The result of
neoliberalism is producing “artificially or contrived forms of free,
entrepreneurial and competitive economic-rational individuals,” by having a
state act in a role focused on “auditing, accounting, and management (p. 315).”
The authors explore the evolution of theory from classic
liberalism, to neoliberalism, to neoliberalism in relation to higher education
such as public choice theory (PCT). Theorists of PCT argued “for an extension
of the market as a mechanism for the institutional regulation of public sector
organizational contexts (p. 317).” What emerged was the New Public Management
(NPM) discourse that emphasized performativity and accountability measures in a
hierarchical manner. For one, NPM includes the Agency Theory, which emphasizes
a contractual relationship between principal and agent, reaffirming
accountability to very specific measures (and less room for autonomy). The core
dimensions of NPM are: flexibility (in relation to organizations through the
use of contracts), clearly defined objectives, and a results orientation (p.
324)” These objectives in practice have resulted in a shift from flatter more
democratic governance structures to hierarchical models that emphasize managing
performance, and a shift away from professionalism that allowed for autonomy
and open inquiry to “a new form of identity more suited to managerialism (p. 325).”
Furthermore, the article discusses how competition is used to manage
productivity and accountability, and ultimately is seen as improving quality
from the perspective of neoliberalism.
In relation to my research question, I want to understand –
are these trends seen at UBC? Are these practices conducive to or do they
conflict with the social value of higher education and to the academic mission?
HI Naureen,
ReplyDeleteThis is a really important topic and, with your background in finance and your current position as a kind of “insider” in the finances of higher education, you will likely have an interesting perspective.
I wonder if you have a “gut feeling” about this: “do these practices serve or harm the public good?”. Something tells me that these practices harm the public good as universities become increasingly focused on the bottom line, their place in rankings, and their marketing to students. When one university starts to behave like his, others sort of need to follow in order to stay competitive / relevant. These days it seems that universities are becoming increasingly focused on reputation building (brand building?) so that they, sometimes, come across like consumer products we see advertised on TV. How much of service to the “public good” can remain if this is superseded by focusing on the “business” of education.
The topic reminded me of an article I read recently on the intrusion of tech companies into high schools in the US. Though not directly related to your topic, I found it disturbing to see this idea of the “branded teacher” appearing in classrooms.
Silicon Valley Courts Brand-Name Teachers, Raising Ethics Issues https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/02/technology/silicon-valley-teachers-tech.html
K
(* open the link in private/incognito mode if the paywall stops you)