Marketised Higher Education: Implications for Corporate Social Responsibility and Social Licence to Operate

Abstract

The process of global marketisation and deregulation of higher education (HE) raises issues about how this increasingly marketised sector can identify its contribution to public interest goals of the nation-state and the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). To clarify this issue we examine the evolution of, and synergies between the concepts of corporate social responsibility (CSR), Triple Bottom Line (TBL), stakeholder engagement and social licence to operate (SLO) through the lenses of corporate status and business models of HE providers. We leverage Marginson’s conceptualisation of the “state quasi-market” form of delivery as a dominant paradigm and core construct allowing insight into how HE providers deliver a mix of public and private goods, exploring the implications for stakeholder relations. We suggest that this state quasi-market environment can be further understood through Godfrey and Lewis’s model that suggests stakeholders agree an appropriate ethical perspective of social good through pragmatism, incumbent upon their pluralistic engagement. We add that in this state quasi-market mix stakeholder power is both dynamic and synergistic, dependent on political and economic context, the mix co-evolving pragmatically to achieve an SLO. Stakeholder power driving the state quasi-market mix is explored across developed and developing countries to demonstrate themes that influence the SLO of private HE providers. These themes include the synergised approaches of the state and private sector to: meeting demand, access and equity goals; achieving quality standards; and, leveraging appropriate investment. We identify implications for the growth and sustainability of private providers and for shaping community perspectives around HE contribution to social and economic goals at a local, national and global level. We identify perceived skills and mindsets of HE stakeholders that can shape this state-quasi market relationship through mixes of state and private investment to facilitate critical and pragmatic engagement that meets local, national and global HE agendas. This objective reflects the intent of SDG17 that requires effective partnerships between governments, the private sector and civil society to achieve SDGs.