‘Where does my £9000 go?’ Student identities in a marketised British Higher Education Sector

SN Social Sciences - Tập 2 - Trang 1-22 - 2022
Alice Reynolds1
1Department of Geography, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, UK

Tóm tắt

Significant evidence highlights processes of marketisation within British higher education since the 1980s, with changes to the funding, management, and expectations of higher education institutions, students, and staff. Through a cross-national and cross-institutional analysis, this paper explores the identities of students within a marketised British higher education landscape, and specifically, explores the identity of the ‘student-consumer’. Using a mixed methods approach with students from 37 higher education institutions across Britain, this research explores the attitudes, expectations, behaviours, and relationships held by students regarding higher education. Student identity orientations are explored, before the extent to which students’ express attitudes of instrumentalism and entitlement is investigated. The paper concludes that whilst there is evidence of consumerist discourses framing students’ relationship to higher education, students challenge the perception that they are passive consumers, and instead recognise the need to remain active co-producers throughout higher education. These findings have implications for policy and have resonance beyond Britain, as the marketisation of higher education is an increasingly international phenomenon.

Tài liệu tham khảo

Barnett R (2011) The marketised university: defending the indefensible. In: Molesworth M, Scullion R, Nixon E (eds) The Marketisation of Higher Education and the Student as Consumer. Routledge, Oxon, pp 39–51. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203842829 Bossick MJ (2009) Student consumerism in higher education: an analysis of relationships with institutions. University of Kentucky, Lexington Braun V, Clarke V (2006) Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qual Res Psychol 3:77–101. https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa Brooks R (2021) Students as consumers? The perspectives of students’ union leaders across Europe. Higher Educ Q. https://doi.org/10.1111/hequ.12332 Brooks R, Abrahams J (2020) European higher education students: contested constructions. Sociol Res Online. https://doi.org/10.1177/1360780420973042 Brooks R, Gupta A, Jayadeva S, Abrahams J (2021) Students’ views about the purpose of higher education: a comparative analysis of six European countries. High Educ Res Dev 40(7):1375–1388. https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2020.1830039 Brown R (2011) Introduction. In: Brown R (ed) Higher education and the market. Routledge, New York, pp 1–5 Brown R (2015) The marketisation of higher education: issues and ironies. University of West London, London Budd R (2016) Undergraduate orientations towards higher education in Germany and England: problematizing the notion of ‘student as customer.’ High Educ 73(1):23–37. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-015-9977-4 Bunce L, Baird A, Jones SE (2016) The student-as-consumer approach in higher education and its effects on academic performance. Stud High Educ 42(11):1–21. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2015.1127908 Carlson S (2005) The Net generation goes to college. The Chronicle of Higher Education, 7 October. http://www.chronicle.com/article/The-Net-Generation-Goes-to/12307. Accessed 11 Mar 2021 Cheal DJ (1979) Hegemony, ideology, and contradictory consciousness. Sociol Q 20(1):109–117. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1533-8525.1979.tb02188.x Ciani KD, Summers JJ, Easter MA (2008) Gender differences in academic entitlement among college students. J Genet Psychol 169(4):332–344. https://doi.org/10.3200/GNTP.169.4.332-344 Clayson DE, Hayley DA (2005) Marketing models in education: students as customers, products or partners. Mark Educ Rev 15(1):1–10. https://doi.org/10.1080/10528008.2005.11488884 Consumer Rights Act (2015) https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2015/15/contents/enacted. Accessed 11 Mar 2021 Cuthbert R (2010) Students as customers? High Educ Rev 42(3):3–25 Davies P, Mangan J, Hughes A et al (2013) Labour market motivation and undergraduates’ choice of degree subject. UK Educ Res J 39(2):361–382. https://doi.org/10.1080/01411926.2011.646239 Dearing R (1997) Higher education in the learning society: report of the national committee of inquiry into higher education. Her Majesty’s Stationary Office, London Delucchi M, Korgen G (2002) “We’re the customer—we pay the tuition”: student consumerism among undergraduate sociology majors. Teach Sociol 30:100–107. https://doi.org/10.2307/3211524 Feiertag J, Berge ZL (2008) Training generation N: how educators should approach the Net generation. Educ Train 50(6):457–464. https://doi.org/10.1108/00400910810901782 Finney T, Finney R (2010) Are students their Universities’ customers? An exploratory study? Educ Train 52(4):276–291. https://doi.org/10.1108/00400911011050954 Foskett N (2010) Markets, government, funding and the marketisation of UK higher education. In: Molesworth M, Scullion R, Nixon E (eds) The marketisation of higher education and the student as consumer. Routledge, Oxon, pp 25–38 Foster JD, Campbell WK, Twenge JM (2003) Individual differences in narcissism: inflated self-views across the lifespan and around the world. J Res Pers 37(6):469–486. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0092-6566(03)00026-6 Fromm E (1976) To have or to be? Continuum, London Government of the United Kingdom (2017) Higher Education and Research Act 2017 [Online]. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2017/29/contents/enacted. Accessed 11 Feb 2022 Gramsci A (1971) Selections from the prison notebooks. International Publishers, New York Greenberger E, Lessard J, Chen C et al (2008) Self-entitled college students: contributions of personality, parenting and motivational factors. J Youth Adolesc 37(10):1193–1204. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-008-9284-9 Hemsley-Brown J, Oplatka I (2015) University choice: what do we know, what don’t we know and what do we still need to find out? Int J Educ Manage 29(3):254–274. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJEM-10-2013-0150 Hirschman AO (1970) Exit, voice, and loyalty. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA Hoover E (2007) Here’s you looking at you, kid: study says many students are narcissists. Chron Higher Educ 53(27):53 Jayadeva S, Brooks R, Gupta A, Abrahams J, Lažetič P, Lainio A (2021) Are Spanish students customers? Paradoxical perceptions of the impact of marketisation on higher education in Spain. Sociol Res Online 26(1):185–204. https://doi.org/10.1177/1360780420968577 Jongbloed B (2003) Marketisation in higher education, Clark’s triangle and the essential ingredients of markets. High Educ Q 57(2):110–135. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2273.00238 Kalafatis S, Ledden L (2013) Carry-over effects in perceptions of educational value. Stud High Educ 38(10):1540–1561. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2011.643862 Kaye T, Bickel R, Birtwistle T (2006) Criticizing the image of the student as consumer: examining legal trends and administrative responses in the US and UK. Educ Law 18(2–3):85–129. https://doi.org/10.1080/09539960600919779 King K (1993) Education policy in a climate of entitlement: the South African case. Perspect Educ 14(2):199–208 Labaree D (1997) Public good, private goods: the american struggle over education goal. Am Educ Res J 34:39–81. https://doi.org/10.3102/00028312034001039 Lane L (2017) Introduction: students as co-creators or consumers? In: Dent S, Lane L, Strike T (eds) Collaboration, communities and competition: International Perspectives from the Academy. Sense Publishers, Rotterdam, pp 171–178 Lomas L (2007) Are students customers? Perceptions of academic staff. Qual High Educ 13(1):31–44. https://doi.org/10.1080/13538320701272714scho Marginson S (2006) Investment in the self: the government of student financing in Australia. Stud High Educ 2(2):175–244. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079712331380994 Mawji S (2016) The consumer rights act and higher education. https://www.matchsolicitors.com/news/2016-11-02-the-consumer-rights-act-and-higher-education. Accessed 11 Mar 2021 McCulloch A (2009) The student as co-producer: learning from public administration about the Student-University relationship. Stud High Educ 34:171–183. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075070802562857 McCollough MA, Gremler DD (1999) Guaranteeing student satisfaction: an exercise in treating students as customers. J Mark Educ 21(2):118–130. https://doi.org/10.1177/0273475399212005 Molesworth M, Nixon E, Scullion R (2009) Having, being and higher education: the marketisation of the university and the transformation of the student into consumer. Teach High Educ 14:277–287. https://doi.org/10.1080/13562510902898841 Morrison A (2016) The responsibilized consumer: neoliberalism and english higher education policy. Cult Stud Crit Methodol 17(3):197–204. https://doi.org/10.1177/1532708616672675 Morrow W (1994) Entitlement and achievement in education. Stud Philos Educ 13(1):33–47. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01074084 Muddiman E (2018) Instrumentalism amongst students: a cross-national comparison of the significance of subject choice. UK J Sociol Educ 39:607–622. https://doi.org/10.1080/01425692.2017.1375402 Naidoo R, Jamieson I (2005) Empowering participants or corroding learning? Towards a research agenda on the impact of student consumerism in higher education. J Educ Policy 20(3):267–281. https://doi.org/10.1080/02680930500108585 Naidoo R, Shankar A, Veer E (2011) The consumerist turn in higher education: policy aspirations and outcomes. J Mark Manage 27(11–12):1142–1162. https://doi.org/10.1080/0267257X.2011.609135 Neary M, Winn J (2009) The student as producer: reinventing the student experience in higher education. In: Bell L, Stevenson H, Neary M (eds) The future of higher education: policy, pedagogy and the student experience. Continuum, London, pp 126–138 Nixon E, Scullion R, Hearn R (2016) Her majesty the student: marketised higher education and the narcissitic (dis) satisfactions of the Student-Consumer. Stud High Educ 43(6):1–21. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2016.1196353 Ng ICL, Forbes J (2009) Education as service: the understandings of University experience through the service logic. J Mark High Educ 19(1):38–64. https://doi.org/10.1080/08841240902904703 Obermiller C, Fleenor P, Raven P (2005) Students as customers or products: perceptions of faculty and students. Mark Educ Rev 15(2):27–36. https://doi.org/10.1080/10528008.2005.11488902 Office for Students (2022) National Student Survey—NSS. https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/student-information-and-data/national-student-survey-nss/. Accessed 18 Jan 2022 Sacks P (1996) Generation X goes to college: an eye opening account of teaching in postmodern America. Open Court, Chicago Saldaña J (2016) The coding manual for qualitative researchers. Sage, London Saunders DB (2015) They do not buy it: exploring the extent to which entering first-year students view themselves as customers. J Mark High Educ 25:5–28. https://doi.org/10.1080/08841241.2014.969798 Saunders M, Lewis P, Thornhill A (2012) Research methods for business students. Pearson, Harlow Schwartzman R (2013) Consequences of commodifying education. Acad Exchange Q 17(3):1096–1463 Sharif AM (2014) Students as Prosumers. https://universitybusiness.co.uk/Article/students_as_prosumers/. Accessed 11 Mar 2021 Shankar A, Fitchett J (2002) Having, being and consumption. J Mark Manage 18(5):501–516. https://doi.org/10.1362/0267257022683721 Shaw S, Fairhurst D (2008) Engaging a new generation of graduates. Educ Train 50(5):366–378. https://doi.org/10.1108/00400910810889057 Silverio SA, Wilkinson C, Wilkinson S (2021) The powerful student consumer and the commodified academic: a depiction of the marketised UK higher education system through a textual analysis of the ITV drama cheat. Sociol Res Online 26(1):147–165. https://doi.org/10.1177/1360780420970202 Singleton-Jackson JA, Jackson DL, Reinhardt J (2010) Students as consumers of knowledge: are they buying what we’re selling? Innov High Educ 35(5):343–358. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10755-010-9151-y Stewart K (2009) Lessons from teaching millennials. Coll Teach 57(2):111–117. https://doi.org/10.3200/CTCH.57.2.111-118 Svensson G, Wood G (2007) Are university students really customers? When illusion may lead to delusion for all! Int J Educ Manage 21(1):17–28. https://doi.org/10.1108/09513540710716795 Tavares O, Cardoso S (2013) Enrolment choices in Portuguese higher education: do students behave as rational consumers? High Educ 66(3):297–309. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-012-9605-5 Telling K (2018) Selling the liberal arts degree in England: unique students, generic skills and mass higher education. Sociology 52(6):1290–1306. https://doi.org/10.1177/0038038517750548 Tight M (2013) Students: customers, clients or pawns? High Educ Policy 26:291–307. https://doi.org/10.1057/hep.2013.2 Tomlinson M (2017) Student perceptions of themselves as ‘consumers’ of higher education. UK J Sociol Educ 38(4):450–467. https://doi.org/10.1080/01425692.2015.1113856 Trout PA (1997) What the numbers mean: providing a context for numerical student evaluations of courses. Change Mag Higher Educ Learn 29(5):24–30. https://doi.org/10.1080/00091389709602333 UCAS (2022) Postgraduate fees and funding. https://www.ucas.com/postgraduate/postgraduate-fees-and-funding. Accessed 02 Mar 2022 University of Edinburgh (2022) How much will it cost? https://www.ed.ac.uk/studying/undergraduate/fees-finance/scotland/cost. Accessed 28 Feb 2022 von Alberti-Alhtaybat L, Abdelrahman N, Al-Htaybat K (2017) The effect of different higher education fee policies on education: a comparison between England and Germany. Int J Public Sect Manage 30(2):189–208. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPSM-04-2016-0085 White NR (2007) “The customer is always right?”: student discourse about higher education in Australia. High Educ 54:593–604. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-006-9012-x Williams J (2013) Consuming higher education: why learning can’t be bought. Bloomsbury, London Wright K (2005) Researching Internet-based populations: advantages and disadvantages of online survey research, online questionnaire authoring software 68 packages, and web survey services. J Comput-Mediat Commun. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1083-6101.2005.tb00259.x Zandstra R, Dunne E (2009) Students as change agents: new ways of engaging with learning and teaching in Higher Education. http://escalate.ac.uk/8242. Accessed 31 Mar 2021