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MARKETS IN HIGHER EDUCATION:TEACHING VERSUS RESEARCH Professor Margaret Thornton

This article discusses the influence of neoliberalism on the teaching and research dynamics in higher education, highlighting the shift towards corporatization, commodification of knowledge, and the detachment of teaching and research. It also explores the implications of this hybrid institution and the challenges it poses to pedagogical practices.

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MARKETS IN HIGHER EDUCATION:TEACHING VERSUS RESEARCH Professor Margaret Thornton

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  1. MARKETS IN HIGHER EDUCATION:TEACHING VERSUS RESEARCHProfessor Margaret Thornton ANU College of Law

  2. Social Liberalism • 20th Century political philosophy of western democracies, esp UK, Scandinavia & Australasia - egalitarian • Social liberalism was committed to the common good – free higher education • Government played a central role in minimising inequalities through progressive taxation, social welfare policies such as unemployment benefits, sickness benefits, age pensions, etc

  3. Neoliberalism • Influence of Thatcher and George Bush (Snr) – public institutions a drain on the state – savage cuts to higher ed – a global phenomenon • Instead of the common good and public responsibility, focus shifted to private markets – eg, utilities, transport and higher education – the imperative in favour of privatisationunstoppable - widening inequality – competition policy • ‘User pays’ philosophy; income generation • The market now the arbiter of the good, but role of govt central – an intimate liaison -

  4. CORPORATISATION Definition: The application of business practices to universities to make them more like private businesses Commodification of knowledge – ‘New knowledge economy’ replaces primary resources & manufacturing. Unis may relish the economic descriptor - academic capitalism, the enterprise university • Competition – between countries, institutions & individuals; global markets in education - inequality • Consumerism - Unis as ‘service providers’ have irrevocably altered the teacher/student relationship

  5. The New Environment • Neoliberal subjects - academics as well as students - promotion of the self • Risk society – a corollary of the market • Unis seek to guard against through managerialism & metricisation • Contractualism, precarious work – disproportionate impact re gender • Increased workloads, stress - somatechnics

  6. TEACHING - SUBSTANCE • Shift from ‘know what’ to ‘know how’ Slough off theory & critique in favour of applied or ‘useful’ knowledge; technocratic • Resistance to interrogating the knowledge transmitted – positivism & ‘right answers’ favoured – ‘job ready’, use value in market • How best to serve the new knowledge economy • How to make the world safe for markets • Business-related; attack on humanities & soc/sci

  7. PEDAGOGICAL PRACTICES Reversion to lectures - Transmission of frozen knowledge – pre-packaged, economically rational Small group teaching - sloughed off – too expensive in a mass system + interrogation & critique unfashionable Theoretical, critical & feminist subjects less likely to be offered – students don’t want them on their transcripts Flexible delivery – eg block teaching – accommodate needs of customers, esp ‘earner-learners’ On-line & MOOCS – contributes to dehumanisation – obscures greyness & subjectivity of knowledge

  8. RESEARCH • Teaching must be ‘excellent’ but relegated to 2nd order • Research grants – incl consultancies • Research entrepreneurialism – ideal academic a ‘technopreneur’ - ‘technoscientific knowledge combined with business acumen’ (Kenway)– biomedicine & technoscience; international ‘stars’ • Knowledge transfer – commercialisation of knowledge • Pursuit of knowledge for its own sake (Newman) now anachronistic. Instrumentalism & functionality • Productivity & performativity

  9. AUDIT CULTURE • Publish in international journals (dismissal of the local) • Focus on metricisation & calculability • Rankings & league tables – standardisation; sloughing off of diversity between institutions – measure up or face closure • Indvidualised competition - global stars -Benschop & Brouns refer to as the Olympian model (masculinist) v that of the agora

  10. DELINKING OF TEACHING & RESEARCH • Privileging of research – status + income: Encourages competition & hierarchisation of unis – Russell Group v others • The less time spent on teaching = more time for research - knowledge creation • Grants: Buy out teaching time – encourages casualisation(feminised) • Research -inactive: More teaching – a form of punishment

  11. DE-LINKING of TEACHING AND RESEARCH • Privileging of research: encourages lowest common denominator approach • Teaching – mass pedagogies - lectures, on-line, etc; no time for theory or debate • Assessment – short answer & multiple choice rather than research essays ‘take too long to mark’ • Role of ‘quality’ agencies • Encourages transmission of orthodoxy - ‘how to’, positivistic & applied knowledge • Cf knowledge creation in research

  12. Conclusion: A Hybrid Institution Governance: Managerial, bureaucratised & top-down, not collegial or collaborative Managers the new university elite - tell academics, the ‘cognitariat’, what to do; NB - Masculinity of managerialismcounteracts feminisation of the academy • Markets + managerialism = hybridity – unis no longer public nor fully private

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