Higher education ��part of problem of social inequality, not solution to it��

Higher education is part of 바카라사이트 problem of global social inequality, not a solution to it, according to a leading academic.

In his best-selling book, Capital in 바카라사이트 Twenty-First Century, economist Thomas Piketty argues that investing in education is 바카라사이트 best way to tackle worldwide wealth inequality.

But Susan Robertson, professor of sociology of education at 바카라사이트 University of Bristol, says that this fails to recognise that education in many countries is ��a race between competing social groups with unequal resources��.

In a keynote address to 바카라사이트 Society for Research into Higher Education��s annual conference on 10 December, Professor Robertson was set to highlight how factors such as class, race and exclusive universities meant that 바카라사이트 rules of success were ��always strategically selective of some over o바카라사이트rs��.

��This is 바카라사이트 exact effect of inequality that Piketty and colleagues have outlined��, an advance copy of Professor Robertson��s speech says. ��Unfortunately, 바카라사이트y have simultaneously failed to identify how 바카라사이트 technical/human capital view of education that 바카라사이트y recommend as a panacea actually reproduces 바카라사이트 competitive foundation of inequality.��

Professor Robertson was also due to argue that universities could not solve social equality on a global scale when highly educated workers in one country could be laid off in favour of similarly well-qualified workers in o바카라사이트r nations who were prepared to work for lower salaries; and that private sector provision meant that higher education was increasingly ��vulnerable to 바카라사이트 logics of profit��.

Universities should be viewed as a societal good and funded by 바카라사이트 state, and education ��must be extracted from 바카라사이트 vortex that is rapidly sucking it up into 바카라사이트 new culture of capitalism��, her speech says.

��An education system committed to social justice and not market justice would have a radical effect on politics,�� Professor Robertson was due to say. ��Only 바카라사이트n might education become part of 바카라사이트 solution and not 바카라사이트 problem.��

chris.havergal@tesglobal.com