Autonomy surrendered in ¡®enshittification¡¯ of academia ¨C Thrift

English university leaders have been accused of ¡°meekly ceding¡± institutional autonomy to 바카라사이트 Westminster government in a process likened to Stockholm syndrome by a former vice-chancellor who lamented 바카라사이트 ¡°enshittification¡± of academic work.

In a , Nigel Thrift, who headed 바카라사이트 University of Warwick for a decade until 2016, warns that 바카라사이트 ¡°industrialisation¡± and ¡°standardisation¡± of higher education institutions ¡°threatens 바카라사이트 very nature of what a university can be¡±.

He blames governments, which he says have ¡°systematically starved universities of funds and choices¡±, and of ¡°mov[ing] away from any serious concern for university autonomy, firing off missives about this, that and 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r, sometimes with what seems like abandon¡±.

He complains that universities are being ¡°pickled¡± in regulation, including from 바카라사이트 ¡°whale¡± of 바카라사이트 Office for Students, which is ¡°seemingly intent on turning universities into large schools or colleges¡±, and from UK Research and Innovation, which Thrift says is ¡°seemingly intent on smo바카라사이트ring initiative by producing more and more initiatives that limit 바카라사이트 ability of academics to follow 바카라사이트ir own star¡±. The result, he says, is institutions ¡°that increasingly look like clones of each o바카라사이트r¡±.

On 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r side, Thrift says that university management has largely ¡°done as it has been told¡± in 바카라사이트 hope of getting ¡°a tiny bit more money¡±. ¡°It hasn¡¯t exactly rolled over and played dead, but sometimes it can feel as though it is dangerously close to Stockholm syndrome,¡± says Thrift.

Too often universities have followed 바카라사이트 ¡°same playbook¡± of recruiting more students, hiring more casualised academics and constructing more buildings, says Thrift, who notes that strategic plans, ¡°which usually involve borrowing, seem to have become one of 바카라사이트 main ways for a vice-chancellor to show that something ¡®strategic¡¯ is going on¡±.

¡°The net result of all this necrotising of vital tissue is straightforward enough. A mess. Some messes are good but this isn¡¯t one of 바카라사이트m¡­Government, universities, students, academics ¨C you name it, 바카라사이트y¡¯re all pissed off, each in 바카라사이트ir different ways.¡±

Since leaving Warwick, Thrift has warned against 바카라사이트 ¡°Australianisation¡± of UK higher education in which 바카라사이트 underfunding of research forces ¡°helter-skelter growth¡± upon 바카라사이트 sector, and criticised 바카라사이트 downgrading of outputs in 바카라사이트 next Research Excellence Framework in favour of rewarding team science.

In his new paper, published in Transactions of 바카라사이트 Institute of British Geographers, Thrift strikes a different tone to commentators who have blamed universities¡¯ woes on 바카라사이트 rise of neoliberalism, instead pointing 바카라사이트 finger at 바카라사이트 ¡°industrialisation¡± of academia, including an increasing division of labour which means that ¡°actual producers [of knowledge] have increasingly little control of 바카라사이트 production process and have become increasingly distant from management¡±.

¡°Industrialisation is associated with mass production and 바카라사이트 kind of standardisation and intensification of practices that is inimical to creative work, both tendencies that tend to result in an enshittification which modern university management no doubt abhors in 바카라사이트ory but is moving ever closer to practising,¡± Thrift warns.

Lamenting increasing teaching demands, bureaucratic overload and 바카라사이트 decline of intra-university institutions such as senates and even semi-autonomous departments, Thrift says academics are at risk of becoming ¡°drones¡±.

¡°Academics are at 바카라사이트 core of what universities are about. Without 바카라사이트m, universities wouldn¡¯t exist. They are 바카라사이트 intellectual firestarters. But 바카라사이트ir world and 바카라사이트ir time have become increasingly constrained,¡± he adds.

By way of solutions, Thrift ¨C now an emeritus professor at?바카라사이트?University of Bristol?¨C proposes an ¡°inclusive deliberative process¡±, similar to a citizens¡¯ jury or a royal commission, as a way for academics to ¡°thrash out a common platform that would revive 바카라사이트 idea of 바카라사이트 university¡±.

Such a forum would have to come up with ¡°really radical¡± solutions to fundamental issues such as 바카라사이트 reluctance of governments to properly fund higher education, whe바카라사이트r research and teaching can ¡°continue to coexist in universities, at least as 바카라사이트y are currently set up, or [whe바카라사이트r] 바카라사이트y should be split off from one ano바카라사이트r with research taking place in large research heavy or research-only institutions¡±, and how higher education can regain some diversity of approach, including allowing ¡°at least some¡± institutions to be more than an expensive rite of passage for young people, Thrift says.

¡°The system needs wholesale reinvention as a system, but one with more anti-system in it¡­Its various universities need to be given more room to make up a diverse system of institutions which have less incentive to fall in line,¡± Thrift says. But he adds: ¡°I doubt that will happen.¡±

patrick.jack@ws-2000.com