Management tools do more than manage and organise - they classify and contribute to the construction of education-as-concept. This article shows how tendering-based procurement, used by Swedish municipalities to outsource adult education to non-public providers, works to commensurate 'education' into measurable tender evaluation criteria. Drawing…

Doctoral education is transforming, along with societal changes, as it is no longer solely aimed at academic careers. A new landscape with various models for doctoral education is emerging with an increased alignment with industry. This study aims to deepen research by critically exploring industrial PhD education collaboration in Sweden. The…

The aim of this study is to examine how a particular object for consumption, professional development for teachers and principals, is marketed to schools, and what propositions and understandings are embedded in such offers. Adopting a conceptualization of marketing as a "perpetual questioning machine," the study deploys and develops a…

Contemporary vocational education and training (VET), both initial and higher, is strongly market oriented, and governments shape systems with significant roles for employers. The study presented in this article aims at examining how employers are positioned in the practice of VET provision in such a system. Specifically, it recognises and…

This study focuses on what people working in edu-business want to achieve. The aim is to explore (1) how the edu-business sector is discursively constructed as a work-place and part of the education system, and (2) how this discourse is organized within an affective economy -- that is how the valuation of emotions distinguish what are considered…

Growing demands on evidence-based teaching, combined with increasing business involvement, constitute a transformation of education in which research and research collaborations have become commodities and selling points for companies. This article, building on interviews with 30 Swedish edupreneurs, explores how the discursive trope of the Triple…

The aim of this study was to explore how consequences from a university-wide partnership unfolded at various levels within a university and induced intra-organizational dynamics. This was achieved via an in-depth investigation of "The Bridge," a collaborative partnership between the young mid-range Swedish Linnaeus University…

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore the benefits and barriers for learning in industrial PhD education through the perspectives of industrial PhD students. A work-integrated learning (WIL) approach is applied to highlight key issues that university and industry need to consider promoting mutual learning. Design/methodology/approach:…

This article focuses on the participation of industrial and corporate actors in science and technology education in Sweden. Opening up schools for the participation of industrial actors may be seen as a means of making education more connected to society. However, it may also contribute to the emergence of tensions related to ensuring values of…

This paper presents the Sandwich model workshop, a novel approach that strengthens the integrated pedagogy of theory and practice. Designed to provide academic and industry knowledge in an experiential and layered manner, the workshop is an effort to mitigate previously experienced challenges where simultaneous exposure to theory and practice was…

Collaboration between industry and universities is a driving force for scientific and technological advancements. Due to the role of AstraZeneca (AZ), a British-Swedish multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company, in combatting the COVID-19 pandemic, an analysis of the collaboration between the company and universities in the UK is of…

Purpose: Technological advancements and global societal changes reshapes manufacturing industry emphasizing needs for competence development of industrial professionals. The purpose of this paper is to study how organizational learning supports the development of academic structures, creating agile and sustainable formal educational models meeting…

This article provides new insights into the consequences of university-industry collaboration for the content and conduct of academic research by analysing the Swedish research funding programme for the so-called 'materials consortia', in place between 1990 and 2000. Using secondary sources, the analysis highlights the causality in…

Context: Swedish Higher Vocational Education (HVE) is organised as state-funded programmes provisioned by both public and private education providers in close relation to employers. In HVE programme managers have responsibilities like those that often are vested in vocational teachers. They are responsible both for the day-to-day work of provision…

Australia's system of vocational education and training (VET) is based on the principle of partnerships between key stakeholders: governments (Commonwealth, state and territory), training providers, employers and employees. Industry representation and governance in the VET sector in Australia has undergone several transformations in the past, and…