The Anatomy and Price of an Ideational Conquest: On Steady Stifling of Academe Since the World War II

Abstract

The object of the monograph is two-fold: a) to discern directions of ideational changes and policy evolution pertaining to notions, functions, and financing of ‘higher education’ (HE) through a critical evaluation of reports/reviews/books/recommendations of a series of landmark committees/commissions/panels/ideologues especially in UK and USA since WWII; b) to assess the corresponding effects of these ideational (and policy) changes (or conquest) on academic standard/quality as well as overall societal contributions of HE. It is shown that a stark neoliberal policy regime has been established across world both via new theoretical (and ideational) constructs/formulations (mainly) by mainstream (neoclassical) economics profession with an active benefaction of the Bretton Woods institutions and other multilateral agencies. But these pro-market ideas/ideology and reforms in the sphere of HE/university (including privatization) are found to have set off – not surprisingly at all – fairly robust temporal (and global) trends of falling academic standard, rigors, and intellectual contributions/capabilities along with rapid growth of HE both as an industry and prospective propellent of foreign trade and profit. The monograph concludes that it is high time that the global leaders rethink about the future of HE as an academe.