Academic capitalisation in the new millennium: the marketisation and corporatisation of higher education in Hong Kong

Abstract

English Universities and other institutions of higher learning now encounter far more challenges and are subjected to an unprecedented level of external scrutiny. All providers of higher education today inhibit a more competitive world where resources are becoming scarcer, but at the same time they have to accommodate increasing demands from the local community as well as changing expectations from parents and employers. In such a policy context, universities are now much more governed by market ideologies and the corporate discourse of efficiency and effectiveness, which also suggests that the lifestyle of academics is affected as well. This article examines how universities in Hong Kong are affected by the ethos of ‘academic capitalism’, with particular reference to the processes of corporatisation and marketisation of higher education.