Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

International Policies for Higher Education and Their National Variants: Reconciling Equality and Marketisation in National Policy Texts

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Equality and Differentiation in Marketised Higher Education

  • 406 Accesses

Abstract

This chapter draws on the international higher education literature to present some of the common and contrasting themes around marketisation and equality, as well as some of the contextual specifics which may be dictating policy and practice. It draws on analysis policy documents from four Anglophone countries—Australia, New Zealand, the Republic of Ireland and England—to illustrate the interplay between international and national priorities and to highlight the commonalities and contrasts in the way different national governments express marketising and equality aims.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 79.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 99.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 99.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    Under the Education Act 1989 Wānanga are recognised tertiary institutions in New Zealand. ‘A wānanga is characterised by teaching and research that maintains, advances, and disseminates knowledge and develops intellectual independence, and assists the application of knowledge regarding ahuatanga Māori (Māori tradition) according to tikanga Māori (Māori custom)’. www.nzqa.govt.nz

  2. 2.

    Since 1998, some powers, including education and training, have been devolved to constituent countries of the UK. Legislation on higher education fee setting in England is therefore distinct from that in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

References

  • Agasisti, T. (2009). Market forces and competition in university systems: Theoretical reflections and empirical evidence from Italy. International Review of Applied Economics, 23(4), 463–483.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Agasisti, T., & Catalano, G. (2006). Governance models of university systems – Towards quasi-markets? Tendencies and perspectives: A European comparison. Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, 28(3), 245–262.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Australian Government. (2016). Driving innovation, fairness and excellence in Australian Higher Education. Canberra: Australian Government.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ball, S. (1998). Big policies/small world: An introduction to international perspectives in education policy. Comparative Education, 34(2), 119–130.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bradley, D., Noonan, P., Nugent, H., & Scales, B. (2008). Review of Australian Higher Education: Final report. Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown, R. (2011). Higher education and the market. Abingdon: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown, R. (2014). Everything for sale: The marketisation of UK Higher Education. Abingdon: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Canaan, J. E., & Shumar, W. (2008). Structure and agency in the Neoliberal University. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Codling, A., & Meek, L. V. (2003). The impact of the state on institution differentiation in New Zealand. Higher Education Management and Policy, 15(2), 83–98.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Committee on Higher Education. (1963). Higher education: Report of the Committee appointed by the Prime Minister under the Chairmanship of Lord Robbins 1961–63 (Cmnd. 2154). London: HMSO.

    Google Scholar 

  • Connell, R. (2013). Why do market ‘reforms’ persistently increase inequality? Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 32(4), 279–285.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crawford, R. (2016). History of tertiary reforms in New Zealand: Research note 2016/1. New Zealand Productivity Commission. www.productivity.govt.nz. Accessed 20 Apr 2017.

  • Dale, R. (2005). Globalisation, knowledge economy and comparative education. Comparative Education, 42(2), 117–149.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (DBIS). (2011). Students at the heart of the system. London: The Stationery Office.

    Google Scholar 

  • Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (DBIS). (2015). Fulfilling our potential: Higher education, teaching excellence, social mobility and student choice. London: DBIS.

    Google Scholar 

  • Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (DBIS). (2016). Success as a knowledge economy: Teaching excellence, social mobility and student choice. London: DBIS.

    Google Scholar 

  • Department for Education and Skills (DfES). (2003a). The future of higher education. London: DfES.

    Google Scholar 

  • Department for Education and Skills (DfES). (2003b). Widening participation in higher education. Norwich: The Stationery Office.

    Google Scholar 

  • Department for Employment, Education and Training (DEET). (1990). A fair chance for all: Higher education that’s within everyone’s reach. Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service.

    Google Scholar 

  • Department of Education and Skills (DES). (2011). National Strategy for higher education to 2030: Report of the strategy group. Dublin: Department of Education and Skills.

    Google Scholar 

  • Duke, C. (2005). Values, discourse and politics: An Australian comparative perspective. In T. Tapper & D. Palfreyman (Eds.), Understanding mass higher education: Comparative perspectives on access (pp. 6–27). London: RoutledgeFalmer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Éirann, O. (1997). Universities Act 1997. Dublin: Stationery Office.

    Google Scholar 

  • Éirann, O. (2006). Institutes of Technology Act. Dublin: Stationery Office.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ek, A., Ideland, A., Jonsson, S., & Malmberg, C. (2013). The tension between marketisation and academisation in higher education. Studies in Higher Education, 13(9), 1305–1318.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ertl, H., & Dupuy, C. (Eds.). (2014). Students, markets and social justice: Higher education fee and student support policies in Western Europe and beyond. Didcot: Symposium Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fairclough, N. (1993). Critical discourse analysis and the marketization of public discourse: The universities. Discourse and Society, 4(2), 133–168.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fairclough, N. (2003). Analysing discourse: Textual analysis for social research. New York/London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gale, T. (2011). Student equity’s starring role in Australian Higher Education: Not yet centre field. Australian Educational Research, 38, 5–23.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gale, T., & Tranter, D. (2011). Social justice in higher education policy: An historical and conceptual account of student participation. Critical Studies in Education, 52(1), 29–46.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grey, S., & Scott, J. (2012). When government steers the market: Implications for New Zealand’s tertiary education system. In Working Paper for NTEU’s Future of Higher Education Conference 22–23 February 2012. University of Sydney.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harvey, A., Burnheim, C., & Brett, M. (2016). Student equity in higher education in Australia: Twenty-five years of a fair chance for all. Singapore: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hemsley-Brown, J. (2011). Market heal thyself: The challenges of a free market in higher education. Journal of Marketing for Higher Education, 21(2), 115–132.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jongbloed, B. (2003). Marketisation in higher education: Clark’s triangle and the essential ingredients of markets. Higher Education Quarterly, 57(2), 110–135.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Knight, J. (2002). Trade in higher education services: The implications of GATS. London: The Observatory on Borderless Higher Education.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leach, L. (2013). Participation and equity in higher education: Are we going back to the future? Oxford Review of Education, 39(2), 267–286.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Loxey, A., Seery, A., & Walsh, J. (Eds.). (2014). Higher education in Ireland: Practices, policies and possibilities. London: Palgrave.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lynch, K. (2006). Neo-liberalism and marketisation: The implications for higher education. European Educational Research Journal, 5(1), 1–17.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marginson, S. (1997). Competition and contestability in Australian Higher Education 1987–1997. Australian Universities Review, 40(1), 5–14.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marginson, S. (2006). The dynamics of national and global competition in higher education. Higher Education, 52, 1–39.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marginson, S. (2013). The impossibility of capitalist markets in higher education. Journal of Education Policy, 28(3), 353–370.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marginson, S. (2016). The worldwide trend to high participation higher education: Dynamics of social stratification in inclusive systems. Higher Education, 72, 413–434.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mautner, G. (2005). The Entrepreneurial University: A discursive profile of a higher education buzzword. Critical Discourse Studies, 2(2), 95–120.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mautner, G. (2010). Language and the market society. Abingdon: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • McGettigan, A. (2013). The Great University Gamble: Money, markets and the future of higher education. London: Pluto Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Meek, V. (2000). Diversity and marketisation of higher education: Incompatible concepts? Higher Education Policy, 13, 23–39.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ministry of Education. (2002). Tertiary education strategy 2002–2007. Wellington: Ministry of Education.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ministry of Education. (2005). Statement of tertiary education priorities 2005–2007. Wellington: Ministry of Education.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ministry of Education. (2008). Statement of tertiary education priorities 2007–2012. Wellington: Ministry of Education.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ministry of Education. (2010). Tertiary education strategy 2010–2015. Wellington: Ministry of Education.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ministry of Education/Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment. (2014). Tertiary education strategy 2014–2019. Wellington: Ministry of Education/Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mok, K. H. (1999). Education and the market place in Hong Kong and Mainland China. Higher Education, 37(2), 133–158.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • National Committee of Inquiry into Higher Education (NCIHE). (1997). Higher education and the learning society (The Dearing Report). London: HMSO.

    Google Scholar 

  • New Zealand Government. (2014). Tertiary education strategy 2014–2019. Wellington. newzealand.govt.nz

  • OECD. (1996). The knowledge-based economy. Paris: OECD.

    Google Scholar 

  • OECD. (2001). Knowledge management in the learning society. Paris: OECD.

    Google Scholar 

  • OECD. (2004a). Internationalisation and trade in higher education: Opportunities and challenges. Paris: OECD.

    Google Scholar 

  • OECD. (2004b). Review of national policies for education: Review of higher education in Ireland: Examiners’ report. Paris: OECD.

    Google Scholar 

  • OECD. (2008). Higher education to 2030, volume 1: Demography. Paris: OECD.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • OECD. (2014). The state of higher education 2014. Paris: OECD.

    Google Scholar 

  • Olssen, M., & Peters, M. A. (2005). Neoliberalism, higher education and the knowledge economy: From the free market to knowledge capitalism. Journal of Education Policy, 20(3), 313–345.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reay, D. (2013). Social mobility, a panacea for austere times: Tales of emperors, frogs and tadpoles. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 34(5–6), 660–677.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Robertson, S. L. (2005). Reimagining and rescripting the future of education: Global knowledge economy discourses and the challenge to education systems. Comparative Education, 41(2), 151–170.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Savage, G. C. (2013). Tailored equities in the education market: Flexible policies and practices. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 34(2), 185–201.

    Google Scholar 

  • Savage, G. C., Sellar, S., & Gorur, R. (2013). Equity and marketisation: Emerging policies and practices in Australian education. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 34(2), 161–169.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scheutze, H. G., & Slowey, J. (2002). Participation and exclusion: A comparative analysis of non-traditional students and lifelong learners in higher education. Higher Education, 44, 309–327.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shattock, M. (Ed.). (2008). Entrepreneurialism in universities and the knowledge economy: Diversification and organizational change in European higher education. Buckingham: SRHE.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shumar, W. (1997). College for sale: A critique of the commodification of higher education. London: Falmer Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Slaughter, S., & Leslie, L. (1997). Academic capitalism: Politics, policies, and the entrepreneurial university. London: Johns Hopkins University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Strathdee, R. (2011). Educational reform, inequality and the new structure of higher education in New Zealand. Journal of Education and Work, 24(1–2), 27–48.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, S. (1997). Critical policy analysis: Exploring contexts, texts and consequences. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 18(1), 23–35.

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, S. (2004). Researching educational policy and change in ‘new times’: Using critical discourse analysis. Journal of Education Policy, 19(4), 433–451.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Teichler, U. (2006). Changing structures of the higher education systems: The increasing complexity of underlying forces. Higher Education Policy, 19, 447–461.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • UNESCO. (2004). Higher education in a globalised society (UNESCO Education Position Paper). Paris: UNESCO.

    Google Scholar 

  • Varman, R., Saha, B., & Skålén, P. (2011). Market subjectivity and neoliberal governmentality in higher education. Journal of Marketing Management, 27(11–12), 1163–1185.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Walsh, J. (2014). A contemporary history of Irish higher education 1980–2011. In A. Loxey, A. Seery, & J. Walsh (Eds.), Higher education in Ireland: Practices, policies and possibilities (pp. 33–54). London: Palgrave.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Wardley, L. J., Belanger, C. H., & Leonard, V. M. (2013). Institutional commitment and traditional and non-traditional aged students: A potential brand measurement? Journal of Marketing for Higher Education, 23(1), 90–112.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Whitty, G., & Edwards, T. (1998). School choice policies in England and the United States: An exploration of their origins and significance. Comparative Education, 34(2), 211–227.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • World Bank. (1994). Higher education: The lessons from experience. Washington, DC: World Bank.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • World Bank. (2003). Lifelong learning for a global knowledge economy. Washington, DC: The World Bank.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • World Bank. (2011). Learning for all: Investing in people’s knowledge and skills and promoting development. World Bank Group education strategy 2020. Washington, DC: International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/World Bank.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Education, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK

    Marion Bowl

Authors
  1. Marion Bowl
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Marion Bowl .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom

    Marion Bowl

  2. Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield, United Kingdom

    Colin McCaig

  3. The Open University, Milton Keynes, United Kingdom

    Jonathan Hughes

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2018 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Bowl, M. (2018). International Policies for Higher Education and Their National Variants: Reconciling Equality and Marketisation in National Policy Texts. In: Bowl, M., McCaig, C., Hughes, J. (eds) Equality and Differentiation in Marketised Higher Education. Palgrave Studies in Excellence and Equity in Global Education. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-78313-0_2

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-78313-0_2

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-78312-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-78313-0

  • eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation