The Necroliberal University (original) (raw)
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The university has its possibilities
2012
The idea of a university – the single idea of a university – is dead. Not to worry; there is now a pleasant view as a thousand flowers blossom on its grave: the ‘twenty-first century’, ‘efficient’, ‘world-class’, ‘entrepreneurial’, ‘borderless’, ‘virtual’, ‘market place’ etc. university, but also the ‘moral’, ‘creative’, ‘critical’, ‘not-for-profit’, ‘socially engaged’, ‘inclusive’, ‘public space’ etc. university. It is almost impossible to collect and classify all of these flowers – and yet new ones are blooming every day. A lot of work for botanists from the next century.
Universities in the Neoliberal Era
Palgrave Macmillan UK eBooks, 2017
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
In an era of neoliberal reforms, academics in UK universities have become increasingly enmeshed in audit, particularly of research ‘outputs’. Using the data of performance management and training documents, this paper rstly offers an analysis of the role of discourse in rede ning the meaning of research, and in colonising a new kind of entrepreneurial, corporate academic. In the second part of the paper, we narrate a case study of resistance to management by metrics. In 2015, Newcastle University managers introduced a new set of research ‘expectations’ known as ‘Raising the Bar’, which the academic body were able to act collectively to resist. The collective refused the imposition of individual targets and refused to subordinate academic values to nancial ones. There was a successful negotiation with management, and in July 2016, Raising the Bar was rescinded in favour of collegial action to work towards research improvement. Keywords: neoliberalism, resistance, performance management, outcomes, targets, metrics, audit culture, academic identities, critical discourse analysis
Wake Up or Perish: Neo-Liberalism, the Social Sciences, and Salvaging the Public University
Jemielniak, Dariusz and Greenwood, Davydd J. (2015) Wake Up or Perish: Neo-Liberalism, the Social Sciences, and Salvaging the Public University, "Cultural Studies Critical Methodologies", 15(1), pp. 72-82
Higher education around the world is currently undergoing a neo-liberal administrative takeover. The drive to reduce costs and increased bureaucratization do not serve any other purpose than increasing the power of the universities’ administration. The reasons for allowing this situation to happen are related to scholars’ inertia and subscribing to a belief that academia can and should be impractical. As a result, the emerging corporate university, McDonaldized model relies increasingly on contingent and deskilled faculty, effectively eliminating the traditional academic freedoms. We conclude with suggestions for possible courses of action to make a constructive counter-movement to the radical changes taking place. We propose that we can begin addressing the predicaments of higher education through re-discovering our role in the society, by re-conceptualizing the disciplinary boundaries of academic fields, by forcing the de-bunkerization of academic career and work, and by starting up multi-disciplinary learning communities at universities. We argue that collective action is needed immediately, if any positive change is possible at all before more of higher education is more deeply degraded.
Universities: Neoliberal products or social institutions
There is little doubt that worldwide the policies, processes and practices of 21 st century universities are being shaped by neo-liberalism. The trend towards the marketization and corporatization of tertiary institutions continues to grow, along with the stresses arising from a 'lean' work environment characterised by competition, bureaucracy and mantras of hyper-efficiency. How do these moves affect students, academics and society in general? Are these the parameters within which universities can flourish?
From collusion to collective compassion: putting heart back into the neoliberal university
Pastoral Care in Education, 2017
As neoliberal ideology has come to dominate higher education, the roles and relationships of managers, academics and students have changed radically. This article outlines ways in which neoliberalism and its companion ideology, neoconservatism, have impacted on higher education through a move to individualism, managerialism, measurement and accountability. While the context for this article is New Zealand, the experiences will resonate with academics worldwide. Using a conceptual framework highlighting conscious, unwitting and coercive complicity, the authors analyse their experiences of teaching in the neoliberal university. They discuss three themes to emerge from their findings: (a) universities as instruments of neoliberalism; (b) academics as managed subjects; and (c) students as entitled consumers. They conclude by offering examples of ways to resist the competitive and individualising regime by creating a culture of care and compassion.
Neoliberal turns in higher education
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Over the past decades, higher education has been profoundly restructured across the world. With remarkable consistency educational reforms have been put forward that rest on a particular and similar rationale: to achieve global competitiveness and adapt to the advent of the so-called ‘knowledge economy’. The ramifications for universities have been dramatic: institutions have changed, roles of students and university employees have been re-defined and the concept of knowledge itself altered.