Consuming development: Responsibility, citizenship and the corporate university

Abstract

In this article, I explore the recent, dramatic growth of international development studies (IDS) programs in Canada and how this growth relates to debates on neoliberal reform within higher education. I argue that, in the context of increasingly corporate management models, discourses of social responsibility, and specifically global citizenship, are not simply displaced or suppressed in spaces of higher education, but rather re‐worked or re‐packaged by administrations aiming to market university and college services and products to educational consumers. This is accomplished by representing “global citizenship” not only as an ethical‐moral orientation but also as a marketable set of skills and certifications. At the same time, such conceptual framings of citizenship do not go uncontested by professors and students, rather a study of IDS programs highlights the presence of counter‐hegemonic practice and potential within higher education and the need for alternative imaginaries of responsible global praxis.