Commercial Realities and Ethical Discomfort – The Market in Higher Education in Ireland

1. Commercial Realities and Ethical Discomfort – The Market in Higher Education in Ireland Professor Tom Collins Institute of Education March 23rd 2017

2. Contemporary Challenges • The Progress Illusion- Climate Change • The Digital Transformation and Automation • Population Pressure • The Decline of the West • The Strain on Cohesion • Austerity and Privatisation –Withdrawal of the State

3. On Democracy and Hope • Democracy is imperilled because individuals are unable to translate their privately suffered misery into broadly shared public concerns or collective action(Giroux, H. and S., 2004) • ..broken and frustrated people with no great love of life or expectations of it will look forward to Armageddon with almost religious excitement..( Butler, H.in Foster ,R.-Irish Times , March 18th 2017)

4. The University in the World • The prospect of dominating the nation’s scholars by Federal employment project allocations and the power of money is ever present-Eisenhower • Power to subordinate the proper end of every human activity to the ancillary end of money making-Aristotle • Democracy requires a citizen-responsible for something other than his own well feathered little corner-Giroux

5. Ethical Considerations in Higher Education • Academic Freedom - thought, expression and association • Absence of self censorship or sanction • To pursue truth, improve human welfare and advance democracy • University a public good in a civil society context • To restrict academic freedom is ‘to imperil the future of the nation’

6. Purpose of the university • Enhance knowledge and capability • Enrich culture • Foster Critique • Redistribute opportunity • Promote Cohesion • Increase tolerance for difference

7. Inspirations from the Past • The State should not look to universities for anything that directly serves its own end(Humboldt in Hogan) • HE-What does it mean to be Human • Truth –pursued and approached-not claimed • Dialogue-not a means to an end – it is itself the end • A pedagogy of dialogue animates all spheres of the higher education experience

8. Education as self creation-Montessori • Observed children at liberty to act freely in a conducive environment • Role of the Educator-remove obstacles to natural development. • Provide opportunities for the child to proceed to flourish and develop • Spontaneous Discipline-children will evolve order • First educate the senses-then the intellect

9. Creative-John Dewey(1859-1952) • Purpose of Education-realisation of one’s full potential • Preparation for future life-’give him command of himself’ • Prepare for future challenges by dealing with current ones

10. Dewey on Democracy and Humanism • School is a site of Social Reform • Child is not simply an immature being who needs to be deepened • Humanism-where ‘nature and the science of nature are made the willing servants of human good’ • Democracy and the one ultimate ethical ideal of humanity ‘are to my mind synonymous’ • Freedom –both absence of external constraints and the power to be an individualised self.

11. Critical Consciousness • Foucault: Criticism is the art of ‘not being governed’ • From criticism as knowing to criticism as perfecting • Friere: Conscientisation through Praxis • Habermas: Critique through Dialogue- the inevitability of democratic discourse

12. The Neo Liberal Perspective • Political philosophy that is wider than technocratic toolkit • Reduced State- pro market anti-labour • Reduction in role of welfare • Conviction on capability of individual rationality

13. Hegemony-Gramsci • Success of the dominant class in presenting their definition of reality to other classes as ‘common sense’ • Combination of force and consent • Culture emerges from a contestation of different world views • Role of civil society institutions • Engineered consent-but never completed

14. Williamson’s 10 defining criteria of neo-liberalism • Fiscal Discipline; reduction in public expenditure ;tax reform ; financial liberalisation ; market determined exchange rates ; trade liberalisation ; open door to FDI; privatisation of public services ; deregulation and secure property rights

15. The Short-Comings of the Market Paradigm in Higher Education • Choice does not drive quality other than downwards • Market does not re-distribute but provides inter-generational continuity • The social project of education as a public good is weakened in a privatising scenario • The currency of the qualification is subject to other considerations • The academic scaffolding becomes depleted – e.g. research, the ethical imperative of speaking truth to power and the overall aesthetic of the experience • The student as consumer – citizen entitlement; pre-suppositions re: cultural capital and private consumption versus collective solidarity • The morality of student indebtedness?

16. Valley of the Despond-Krugman • Concentration of wealth in a global elite • Rising middle class in India and China • Declining share of income in the advanced countries working classes • Soaring income at the top achieved by squeezing those below

17. Docherty –Unremitting Bleakness of contemporary trends • Entrepreneurial University • Corporate University • Quality regimes • Managerialism • Commodification • Performativity

18. Higher Education as a Public Good (Source: OECD – Education at a Glance, 2016)

19. Funding per Student-Ireland

20. Brexit • The higher the level of education, the higher the EU support • University graduates most likely to remain in EU • GCSE as highest qualification more likely to back BREXIT • Only three of 35 areas where more than half residents had a degree voted to leave the EU

22. The demographics that Drove Brexit (Source: The Guardian, 2016)

23. Richard Florida on the USA election • Education has replaced cultural issues as the central fault-line in American politics • Clinton support highest in more educated states

24. Economically Deprived Neighbourhood ‘Build houses’ ‘Fix cars’ ‘Footballer’ ‘Kill rats and get a gun’ ‘Work with my daddy’ ‘Make stuff with wood’ ‘Join the army’ ‘Fireman’ ‘Clean carpets’ ‘Just go to work’ Responses of 5-6 year old boys to the question: “What would you like to be whenyou grow up?” Affluent Neighbourhood • ‘Professional skateboarder’ • ‘Doctor’ • ‘Jet pilot’ • ‘Racing car man’ • ‘Scientist’ • ‘TV presenter’ • ‘Artist’ • ‘A person who finds dinosaur bones and fossils’ • ‘Sea-diver’ • ‘Policeman’ (Source: Connolly, P. (2004) Boys and Schooling in the Early Years (London: Routledge).

25. The Changing nature of the university • Massification-From Elite to Universal-fee income a key consideration • Teaching emphasis declining in the prestige hierarchy of what is done in HEI’s • Automation of knowledge transfer • Emergence of private sector players – Apollo Group-170 campuses, 1.8bn USD

26. University as Corporation • University indebtedness-UK universities moving from a net debt position of 49m in 2016 to 3.9 bn in 2019 • The trend of increasing borrowing and reducing liquidity is ‘ unsustainable in the long term “-(HEFCE in Larkin 2017) • Servicing debt now a significant challenge in academic planning and institutional management • The locus of decision making in the academy has moved from the academics to the executive

27. The Commercialisation Character • Massification-From Elite to Universal-fee income crucial • Shift away from state funding-entrepreneurial universities • Teaching emphasis declining in the prestige hierarchy of what is done in HEI’s • Automation of knowledge transfer • Emergence of private sector players – Apollo Group-170 campuses, 1.8bn USD

28. Separation of duties in HE Leadership Governing Body Central Executive Academic Council

29. The accountability Challenge • Security of tenure can be abused • Reliance on State funding requires compliance with state objectives • Asymmetrical power relationships between staff and students • Indexed quality with an associated machinery of inspection • League tables are self fulfilling and fail to measure value added

30. World Bank Perspective • Increasing importance of knowledge as an economic driver • Role/impact in the information-communication revolution • 1%of global output is spent on higher education • Education has become a ‘competitive global industry’

31. US Institutions with Branch Campuses in GCC include Virginia Commonwealth University Cornell Medical College Texas A and M Carnegie Mellon Georgetown University New York Institute of Technology De Paul University

32. The UK experience with TNE • Of 134 UK HEI’s 94 provide TNE • Total number of TNE students-665,995 • 22 UK HEI’s have individually more than 5000 students • Only 15 countries in the world where UK institutions do not provide TNE • Branch campus is the most common form of physical presence in the host country

33. The TNE Opportunities Matrix-British Council • Policy Environment • Market Environment • Mobility Environment • Re Impacts-Socio-cultural impacts ‘are acknowledged as important but more difficult to grasp and measure’(p 55.2013)

34. Branch Campuses Abroad • Over 60 branch campuses in the GCC region • Important in moving ideas people and money between America and the Middle East • Non Profit universities can focus on academic excellence • This is not the case for proprietary universities where return on investment is the key concern-( Bertelsen, 2012)

35. Academic Freedom • Teachers and students ‘must always remain free to inquire, to study and to evaluate, to gain new maturity and understanding ; otherwise our civilisation will stagnate and die.’( Chief Justice Warren in Sarabyn,Kelly p148,Journal of Law and Education. Vol 39,No ) • Discovering truth ‘through a multitude of tongues’ • Think the unthinkable, discuss the unmentionable , challenge the uchallengeable…Yale

36. Dahl-Polyarchy • Elected officials • Free and fair elections • Inclusive suffrage • Right to run for office • Freedom of expression • Alternative information protected by law • Associational autonomy

37. The Sound of Silence • Oppositional voice is treason • Theocratic monarchies do not seek win-win solutions • The State is an extension of the government-which is itself an extension of a family • Suppression of free speech, freedom of association and press-silence is collusion • Higher education becomes an agent of political oppression

38. Flagship University • Research intensive • Committed to teaching, learning and public service • Comprehensive-across disciplines • Internationally engaged • Broadly accessible • Autonomous • Publicly Financed (Douglas)

39. A quality HEI-Compelling vision • Democratic • Engaged • Inclusive • Ecological • Creative