Abstract
This paper analyses the ranking of universities within the socio-political context of neoliberalism and the organisational context of new managerialism. It examines the forces that have facilitated the emergence of the ranking industry and the ideologies underpinning the so-called 'global' university rankings. What the paper shows is that rankings are a politically inspired mode of governance; they are designed to ensure that universities are regulated and con- trolled in accordance with market values. The seemingly objective character of rankings, in par- ticular the use of numbers, creates an impression that what is of value in education can be simply counted, hierarchically ordered and uncontrovertibly judged. The simplicity and accessibility of rankings deflects attention from their political and moral purposes. Rankings are reconstituting the academy, for both academics and students; they are a new mode of external governance through which market values are reframing the social relations of education. They have altered the cognitive and moral frames through which university education is being appraised. The paper calls for a debate on the public interest objectives of universities in the context of growing market regulation.
Highlights
This paper analyses the ranking of universities within the socio-political context of neoliberalism and the organisational context of new managerialism
The history of Universities shows that they have varied in their purposes historically1, they have always been ‘communities of scholars’ who worked to defend their academic freedom (Hamlyn 1996)
In the United Kingdom (UK), private higher education providers are regarded by government as a mechanism for reducing the cost of higher education to the exchequer (Ball 2012, p. 21), and university education is increasingly defined as a market commodity (Slaughter & Leslie 1997)
Summary
The history of Universities shows that they have varied in their purposes historically, they have always been ‘communities of scholars’ who worked to defend their academic freedom (Hamlyn 1996). Independence of intellectual thought is a defining attribute of Universities, enabling scholars to pursue research and teaching outside the control of powerful interest groups That is why Newman, in his enunciation of ‘The Idea of a University’, was adamant that the university ‘contemplates neither moral impression nor mechanical production’ While the public know that knowledge and research conducted by profitdriven operations and/or by other powerful interests within the State can be and are often subject to political influence, it is assumed that this is not the norm in the university. Even in pro-market countries such as the USA, between 70 and 80% of university life sciences research is publicly funded (Lieberwitz 2005)
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