Competition today has become a central policy imperative in higher education. Connected to resource efficiency and scarcity, it remains closely attached to the idea of the market but reaches beyond when related to positional or status orders. In the higher education literature such varieties of competition -- as distinct social processes -- are…

The education sector is fast digitalising all of its operations. A large part is driven by proprietary digital products and services developed and offered by for-profit companies that form the education technology industry. This article aims to introduce a theoretical focus of rentiership and assetization into the study of the political economy of…

This collection of short essays presents and examines six vignettes of organisational change in British, New Zealand and European universities. Drawing on the social studies of economisation literature, formal research projects and auto-ethnographic insights, the authors detail profound changes in how knowledge is produced in universities. They…

The article re-imagines the current developments of Swedish education into a possible future. Historically, education was organized and funded by the state; however, reforms towards privatization in the 1990s implemented school choice, private schools and a tax-financed voucher system with the option of turning profits on education. A new judicial…

Global competition results in an overall demand for higher skills. In the competitive world, China has no choice but to adjust themselves to become more efficient, productive, and flexible. Higher education in China has played a key role in achieving socialist economy and modernization. Since the open-door policy in the 1980s, there has been a…

With increasing influence of illiberalism, freedom should not be considered or interpreted lightly. Post-truth contexts provide grounds for alt-right movements to capture and pervert notions of freedom of speech, making universities battlefields of politicised emotions and expressions (Peters et al., 2019). In societies facing these pressures…

All signs indicate that high school graduation rates will continue to drop due to low birth rates, leading to a potential higher education meltdown that is likely to affect all academic institutions, big and small, in the years after 2024. Higher education is facing a new and potentially grave obstacle. For several decades, there have been plenty…

This contribution discusses some links between the linguistics and the economics of the spirit of entrepreneurship and entrepreneurialism. Whether it is individuals or various social groupings, or even entire societies, a review of policies promoting self-investment in language ability links to a neoliberal economic and political ethos of…

Education reformers have spent decades doggedly working to improve student outcomes in K-12 education by championing policies spanning federal, state, and local jurisdictions. Higher education is a much different story. Policy ideas at the federal level are plentiful; however, state- or institution-level policies are examined and implemented far…

This article features interview excerpts from 10 Black women who worked as educators in marketized cities and schools, including urban charter schools operated by charter management organizations, and independent schools, known as standalone charter schools. Using a critical race policy framework, the article considers the pedagogical implications…

In this paper we examine the normative and strategic impact of the Bologna Process on the New Zealand University system. We argue that, from a normative perspective, Bologna has not resulted in substantive change. Nevertheless, a specific, if low-level, normative response has been evident, driven by perceived market incentives and the market-based…

This paper describes the current state of governance and reforms of Indonesia's higher education system. It seeks to identify the impact of and the constraints on the national higher education reform agenda with respect to institutional autonomy for public universities. Under the prevailing government regulations, 11 public universities have been…

Scientific and professional developments in the coming decade will have profound implications for social work doctoral education and the research and academic careers doctoral students are preparing for. These developments include the knowledge explosion, corporatization of the university and related effects, and the emergence of the Grand…

The first multi-indicator ranking of world universities, "Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU)", was published by the Institute of Higher Education of Shanghai Jiao Tong University in June 2003. Although the initial purpose of ARWU was to find the global standing of top Chinese universities, it has been attracting world-wide…

A growing body of research examines the role of elite networks, power, and race in the advocacy for market-based reforms and their ultimate effects on students, teachers, and communities of color. Yet, less research explores how such reforms interact with gender in the workplace, especially how policies such as school choice, competition, and…