‘Business-facing motors for economic development’: an appraisal analysis of visions and values in the marketised UK university

Abstract

Universities in 2011 find that they must justify their existence in economic terms, not intellectual ones. To this end, mission statements locate the university in an environment of increasing competitiveness and commodification. In this paper, we take a sample of 10 mission statements from the UK research-intensive Russell Group and the business-focused University Alliance. We use appraisal analysis to explore how the evaluative language used in the statement embodies the value of the universities. In the statements examined, we find that differences between the mission groups are realised most notably through appraisal markers of judgement and appreciation. We find a greater emphasis on markers of value in the University Alliance statements. We suggest that these newer universities are required to discursively echo the government's call for universities to ‘add value’ to graduates. The Russell Group, encoding greater use of markers of appreciation: reaction, is perhaps more influenced by the call to demonstrate ‘impact’.