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The Idea of ‘Marketising’ the University: Against Magical Thinking

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Public Universities, Managerialism and the Value of Higher Education

Part of the book series: Palgrave Critical University Studies ((PCU))

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Abstract

The ascendancy of a neo-liberal frame in higher-education policy dates from the early 1980s. Until then government-supported mass higher education was the ‘dominant template’ both in Europe and the English-speaking countries except for America where the situation was more complex. This template included free tuition and high levels of recurrent budget support for the normal teaching and research functions of universities (Marginson 2004: 179). Then from the 1980s on, neo-liberal policy-makers began to redefine higher education as a higher-education market selling an individual private good: in Australia policy-makers even began to talk about higher education as an ‘export industry’.1

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Global, Urban & Social Science, RMIT University, Australia, Melbourne, Australia

    Rob Watts

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Watts, R. (2017). The Idea of ‘Marketising’ the University: Against Magical Thinking. In: Public Universities, Managerialism and the Value of Higher Education. Palgrave Critical University Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-53599-3_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-53599-3_5

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-137-53598-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-137-53599-3

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