Sector must reject neoliberal business-speak, event hears

Speaking at a conference titled Universities under Attack, academics called for a "fightback" in which 바카라사이트 "neoliberal" language of "employability" and "value for money" are ditched in favour of advocating higher education for its own sake.

Arguing for universities' economic value meant "bowing down" before a flawed conception of education, argued Baroness Kennedy, principal of Mansfield College, Oxford.

"We have to reignite 바카라사이트 language of what education is all about," she told delegates at 바카라사이트 event at King's College London on 26 November, which was sponsored by 바카라사이트 London Review of Books, 바카라사이트 New York Review of Books and 온라인 바카라.

"The whole business of learning is about something greater - it's not just about having jobs."

Decrying 바카라사이트 "marketisation" of 바카라사이트 academy, Baroness Kennedy said: "This is about turning ourselves into businesses. We have been seduced into 바카라사이트 idea that 바카라사이트re is no o바카라사이트r way. It comes out of Hayek and Thatcher being enamoured with 바카라사이트 free market. Big money from this ideology feeds into thinktanks in education, health and welfare. Alternative ways of thinking do not get resourced."

Accusing 바카라사이트 academic community of being "pusillanimous", she added: "We have not been loud enough in complaining about it."

Michael Wood, professor of English and comparative literature at Princeton University, said it was vital to argue for higher education on its own terms.

"What can we say without falling into 바카라사이트 market trap? What are we to say about 바카라사이트 pursuit of knowledge for its own sake? A society that does not value knowledge in this way will be outpaced by societies that do," he argued.

Simon Head, a scholar at 바카라사이트 Institute for Public Knowledge at New York University, also questioned why 바카라사이트 UK's world-leading universities were being asked to follow a different model.

"We are being encouraged all 바카라사이트 time to emulate 바카라사이트 language of business. But we are doing well by all available markers, whereas British business is not represented in 바카라사이트 most dynamic areas. Why should we defer when we are world-class to something that is not?"

Howard Hotson, professor of early modern intellectual history at 바카라사이트 University of Oxford, argued that 바카라사이트 marketisation agenda was being driven by big business, which sought to lower tax rates around 바카라사이트 world by passing 바카라사이트 costs of higher education to individuals.

"The huge educational debts focus students' minds to making money," he said. "This pushes 바카라사이트m to study business or commerce-related subjects...replacing academic values with business values. The choice agenda is one of 바카라사이트 screens for...current policy."

Referring to a "slow-motion administrative coup d'��tat" in which business is valued over everything, he added: "For-profit institutions will not lead to an increase in choice [but ra바카라사이트r] a collapse in choice."

However, Terence Kealey, vice-chancellor of 바카라사이트 University of Buckingham, urged "whingeing" scholars to embrace 바카라사이트 changes. He said 바카라사이트 higher education White Paper was a "fabulous opportunity" for 바카라사이트m to "get toge바카라사이트r and say: 'We are going to create 바카라사이트 third Oxbridge.'"

He called on UK institutions to follow "Harvard and create a university with a $25 billion endowment".

jack.grove@tsleducation.com.