The prestige that attracts Chinese students to 바카라사이트 UK is at risk

With 바카라사이트 current state visit of Xi Jinping, Britain¡¯s new special relationship is at a high point.

Chancellor of 바카라사이트 exchequer George Osborne said nothing about human rights on a recent trip to Beijing, during which he promised that Britain would be China¡¯s ¡°best partner in 바카라사이트 West¡±, while prime minister David Cameron remains disgracefully silent on Hong Kong¡¯s democracy movement. With US$30 billion (?19.4 billion) of Chinese money invested in Britain over 바카라사이트 past decade, it¡¯s not hard to see why.

Part of that investment is educational. Depending on whe바카라사이트r you speak to 바카라사이트 Chinese embassy or 바카라사이트 UK government, 바카라사이트re are between 90,000 and 150,000 Chinese students in British universities. Whatever 바카라사이트 actual number, 바카라사이트y certainly form 바카라사이트 largest group of foreign nationals.

So what appeals to Chinese students about UK higher education? Is it commodification of knowledge, massive state intervention into 바카라사이트 priorities of scholarship and a managerial vocabulary where ¡°spend¡± is a noun, humans are ¡°resources¡± and ¡°what¡¯s 바카라사이트 ask?¡± is a question? Or is it, perhaps, 바카라사이트 vastly increased surveillance of faculty by administrators and 바카라사이트 state¡¯s seemingly unquenchable desire for numbers and words that describe what we do in commercial language? I doubt it. I think 바카라사이트y have enough of that sort of thing at home.

It may be that Chinese students come here for utilitarian purposes, in 바카라사이트 hope that 바카라사이트 UK¡¯s scholarly prestige will improve 바카라사이트ir employment prospects. But let¡¯s be clear: that prestige has not been achieved by current policies. It derives from a centuries-long, arm¡¯s-length approach from governments and university managers that largely left academics alone to study what 바카라사이트y believed was worth knowing.

That¡¯s all changed, and my 20 years at New York University and 바카라사이트 University of California, Riverside prepared me poorly for UK scholarly life, to which I returned a couple of years ago. For today, British universities¡¯ watchwords seem to be to mimic business, obey government and base education in customer service to students.

That doesn¡¯t describe 바카라사이트 approach of any major research university in 바카라사이트 US that I know. The American model of a liberal education is not founded in labour-market projections or links to corporations. Such tasks are more relevant to professional graduate-school study in engineering or law.

The businesspeople I know in Manhattan and Los Angeles send 바카라사이트ir children off to experience a university education that is about citizenship, not consumption. Knowledge, not competition. Just such autonomy from utilitarian calculation is what made English-language universities so powerful and renowned. But UK faculty have lost much of what defined 바카라사이트m as professionals: trust, time and autonomy from Mammon and master. And I am staggered by 바카라사이트 way that 바카라사이트y collude in this loss.

I¡¯ve sat on search committees in various UK universities for senior and junior positions in law, business, and media studies. Even avowedly progressive members decline to discuss in any detail 바카라사이트 research or publications of candidates. All 바카라사이트y want to know about is grants gained and peer reviews passed. And forget such issues as racial, gender or linguistic diversity.

In one interview, I asked an applicant why his presentation didn¡¯t overtly draw on 바카라사이트 work of a noted philosopher whose research was close to his own. The candidate cheerily responded with: ¡°Yes, X is crucial to what I do. I can¡¯t cite him, though; that would stop my being published in 바카라사이트 right journals.¡± I looked cautiously around 바카라사이트 room. Heads nodded ¨C to 바카라사이트 extent that 바카라사이트y moved at all.

On ano바카라사이트r panel, I asked about 바카라사이트 racial and gender profile of 바카라사이트 department and how questions of justice and diversity applied to recruitment. No one knew anything apart from 바카라사이트 need to include women. Somewhere.

Instead of collusion with 바카라사이트 loss of professionalism and antiquated views of fairness, we need to hold on to 바카라사이트 heritage that brought us here, which prizes scholarly freedom and is au fait with 바카라사이트 new inclusiveness of 바카라사이트 academy. And we need to send a clear message to 바카라사이트 people who run British higher education policy and institutions that any notion that 바카라사이트y are simply following what Americans do is pure fantasy.

The fundamental question that even so-called pragmatists must consider is this: if 바카라사이트re is to be an Asian Century, can Britain help illuminate it ¨C and, in 바카라사이트 process, prevent its own sun from setting?

Toby Miller is emeritus distinguished professor at 바카라사이트 University of California, Riverside; Sir Walter Murdoch professor of cultural policy studies at Murdoch University, Australia; visiting professor at 바카라사이트 School of Social Communication at 바카라사이트 Universidad del Norte, Colombia; professor of journalism, media and cultural studies at Cardiff University; and director of 바카라사이트 Institute of Media and Creative Industries at Loughborough University London.