Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Freedom from Autonomy: A Critique on the New Managerialism in Higher Education

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
The Future of Higher Education in India

Abstract

The paper discusses the transformations happening in the Indian higher education system under the neoliberal influences. To facilitate the transformation, a new managerialism was implemented in higher education institutions. The new public management of higher education, based on autonomy, responsibilization and accountability, was introduced in the higher education institutions. Autonomy and responsibilization on the one hand and question of individual existence and accountability on the other hand work as a decaying substance of academic creativity. Drawing from Foucauldian idea of governmentality, the study analyses how control and governance are deepened in higher education system. Use of soft measures like ‘suggestive orders’ is highlighted in the study to expose the strategies of new managerialism to make autonomy given to the higher education institutions a travesty.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
eBook
USD 16.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    Refers to the way in which the state exercises control over, or governs, the body of its populace.

  2. 2.

    Neoliberal forces include market and its various supportive systems including government and its various regulatory systems and international agencies that have the capacity to influence higher education system either through power or through soft means like reputation earned through intellectual capital.

  3. 3.

    See Empowering Education by Ira Shor for more about the concept ‘Central Bank of Knowledge’.

  4. 4.

    Legal and statutory power exerted by the agencies to influence other institutions.

References

  • 265th Report of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Human Resource Development. (2015–16). Ministry of Human Resource Development. New Delhi.

    Google Scholar 

  • Apple, W. M. (2001). Educating the ‘right’ way: Markets, standards, god, and inequality. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Apple, M. (2005). Education, markets, and an audit culture. Critical Quarterly, 47, 1–2.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bernstein, B. (1996). Pedagogy, symbolic control and identity. Philadelphia: Taylor and Francis.

    Google Scholar 

  • Besley, A. C., & Peters, M. A. (2006). Neoliberalism, performance and the assessment of research quality. South African Journal of Higher Education, 20(6), 814–883.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bok, D. C. (2003). Universities in the market place. The commercialization of higher education. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clark, B. R. (1998). Creating entrepreneurial universities: Organizing pathways of transformation. Oxford: International Association of Universities Press and Elsevier Science.

    Google Scholar 

  • Collier, C. W. (1992). Intellectual authority and institutional authority, 42. Journal of Legal Education, 155. Available at http://scholarship.law.ufl.edu/facultypub/677

  • Connell, R. (2010). Understanding neoliberalism. In S. Bradley & M. Luxton (Eds.), Neoliberalism and everyday life (pp. 22–36). Montreal/Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ferlie, E., Musselin, C., & Andresani, G. (2008). The steering of higher education systems: A public management perspective. Higher Education, 56, 325–348.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Foucault, M. (1991). Governmentality. In G. Burchell, C. Gordon, & P. Miller (Eds.), The Foucault effect: Studies in governmentality. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harvey, D. (2005). A brief history of neoliberalism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jankowski, N., & Provezis, S. (2014). Neoliberal ideologies, governmentality and the academy: An examination of accountability through assessment and transparency. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 46(5), 475–487.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jessop, B. (2002). The future of the capitalist state. Cambridge: Polity Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leys, C. (2003). Market-driven politics: Neoliberal democracy and the public interest (p. 70). New York: Verso.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lissovoy, N. D., & Mclaren, P. (2003). Educational ‘accountability’ and the violence of capital: A Marxian reading. Journal of Education Policy, 18(2), 131–143.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lolich, L. (2011). … and the market created the students to its image and likening. Neoliberal governmentality and its effects on pedagogy and course design in higher education in Ireland. Journal of Irish Educational Studies, 30, 271–284.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marx, K. (1981). A contribution to the critique of political economy. London: Lawrence and Wishart.

    Google Scholar 

  • Naidoo, R., & Jamieson, I. (2005). Knowledge in the marketplace. The global commodification of teaching and learning in higher education. In P. Ninnes & M. Hellste´n (Eds.), Internationalizing higher education: Critical perspectives on pedagogy and policy (pp. 37–51). Dordrecht: Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Peters, M. A. (2005). The new prudentialism in education: Actuarial rationality and the entrepreneurial self. Educational Theory, 55, 123–137.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Polanyi, K. (1954). The great transformation. Boston: Beacon Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Report of Anil Kakodkar Committee. (2011). Taking IITs to excellence and greater relevance. New Delhi: MHRD.

    Google Scholar 

  • Romzek, B. S. (2000). Dynamics of public accountability in an era of reform. International Review of Administrative Sciences, 66(1), 21–44.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shor, I. (1992). Empowering education: Critical teaching for social change. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Shumar, W. (1997). College for sale: A critique of the commodification of higher education. New York: Routledge Falmer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Simons, M. (2006). Learning as investment: Notes on governmentality and biopolitics. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 38, 523–540.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Slaughter, S., & Leslie, L. L. (1999). Academic capitalism: Politics, policies, and the entrepreneurial university. Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Slaughter, S., & Rhoades, G. (2004). Academic capitalism and the new economy: Markets, state and Higher education. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Trow, M. (1996). Trust, markets and accountability in higher education: A comparative perspective. Higher Education Policy, 9(4), 309–324.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Education, Central University of Kerala, Kasargod, India

    Amruth G. Kumar

Authors
  1. Amruth G. Kumar
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Higher and Professional Education, National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA), New Delhi, Delhi, India

    Sudhanshu Bhushan

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2019 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Kumar, A.G. (2019). Freedom from Autonomy: A Critique on the New Managerialism in Higher Education. In: Bhushan, S. (eds) The Future of Higher Education in India. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-32-9061-7_17

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-32-9061-7_17

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore

  • Print ISBN: 978-981-32-9060-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-981-32-9061-7

  • eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation