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Flow of Ideas: articles - Universities in a Neoliberal World

A Capital Friendly Culture for Further EducationA Capital Friendly Culture for Further Education
Academy ChainsAcademy Chains
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Against What We Are WorthAgainst What We Are Worth
Ambassadors of Capital in SchoolsAmbassadors of Capital in Schools
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Brown PFI MonsterBrown PFI Monster
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Communitarianism for SchoolsCommunitarianism for Schools
Compulsory Consumption and Uni-NannyCompulsory Consumption and Uni-Nanny
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Douglas Kennedy: best-selling novelistDouglas Kennedy: best-selling novelist
E-learning for Free at the BBCE-learning for Free at the BBC
Edison Schools in the UKEdison Schools in the UK
Education and Inspections Bill (2006)Education and Inspections Bill (2006)
Education As Culture MachineEducation As Culture Machine
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Education for DebtEducation for Debt
Education IncorporatedEducation Incorporated
Education Markets and Missing ProductsEducation Markets and Missing Products
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Education the HSBC WayEducation the HSBC Way
Education White PaperEducation White Paper
Education, Globalisation and the Learning SocietyEducation, Globalisation and the Learning Society
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Evaluating Different Teaching MethodsEvaluating Different Teaching Methods
Everything Louder Than Everything ElseEverything Louder Than Everything Else
Finance and FearFinance and Fear
Five Endings of DesiresFive Endings of Desires
Foibles, Frolics and PhantasmsFoibles, Frolics and Phantasms
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French New Wave CinemaFrench New Wave Cinema
Full Report Ruth Rikowski[a]s Book Launch for Globalisation, Information and LibrariesFull Report Ruth Rikowski's Book Launch for Globalisation, Information and Libraries
Gender and Spokesperson in Group Work IssuesGender and Spokesperson in Group Work Issues
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Globalisation and Education RevisitedGlobalisation and Education Revisited
Habituation of the NationHabituation of the Nation
Higher Education and Confused Employer SyndromeHigher Education and Confused Employer Syndrome
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Human capital, the knowledge economy and businessHuman capital, the knowledge economy and business
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KM CritiqueKM Critique
Lazy Brit KidsLazy Brit Kids
Learning in the Earthworks of CapitalLearning in the Earthworks of Capital
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Learning to the MaxLearning to the Max
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Lifelong Learning and the Political Economy of ContainmentLifelong Learning and the Political Economy of Containment
LSBU StrategyLSBU Strategy
Marketisation of the Schools System in EnglandMarketisation of the Schools System in England
Marx and Education RevisitedMarx and Education Revisited
Marx and the Future of the HumanMarx and the Future of the Human
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Michele RobertsMichele Roberts
Miss Allison and Novel WritingMiss Allison and Novel Writing
Moneythought in Higher EducationMoneythought in Higher Education
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My Tony BlairMy Tony Blair
New Ideas in Ruth Rikowski[a]s Book - Part 1New Ideas in Ruth Rikowski's Book - Part 1
New Ideas in Ruth Rikowski[a]s Book - Part 2New Ideas in Ruth Rikowski's Book - Part 2
New Labour Policy for SchoolsNew Labour Policy for Schools
Nietzsche[a]s SchoolNietzsche's School
Nihilism and Educational ValuesNihilism and Educational Values
No Learner Left UnhassledNo Learner Left Unhassled
Notes on the Confessions of John DenhamNotes on the Confessions of John Denham
On Education for Its Own SakeOn Education for Its Own Sake
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On the Capitalisation of Schools in EnglandOn the Capitalisation of Schools in England
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Peter Wilby on School PrivatisationPeter Wilby on School Privatisation
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PlatoPlato
Playgound Risks and Handcuffed KidsPlaygound Risks and Handcuffed Kids
Poems by Gregory RikowskiPoems by Gregory Rikowski
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Post-Fordism and SchoolsPost-Fordism and Schools
Post-Fordism in Primary SchoolsPost-Fordism in Primary Schools
Postmodern Dereliction in the Face of Neoliberal Education PolicyPostmodern Dereliction in the Face of Neoliberal Education Policy
PowerPointlessness in Higher EducationPowerPointlessness in Higher Education
Private Schools as CharitiesPrivate Schools as Charities
Privatisation of Schools in EnglandPrivatisation of Schools in England
Privatisation of Student DebtPrivatisation of Student Debt
Races in the Imperial WarRaces in the Imperial War
Readings for Teaching CourseReadings for Teaching Course
Recruitment and Labour PowerRecruitment and Labour Power
Revealed Recruitment Criteria through the Use-value Aspect of Labour-powerRevealed Recruitment Criteria through the Use-value Aspect of Labour-power
Robotic EthicsRobotic Ethics
Ruth Rikowski Updates (Archives)Ruth Rikowski Updates (Archives)
Ruth Rikowski Updates (Archives)Ruth Rikowski Updates (Archives)
School Fees and the 1944 Education ActSchool Fees and the 1944 Education Act
Schools: Building for BusinessSchools: Building for Business
Science Fiction Films and HorrorScience Fiction Films and Horror
Second Time as FarceSecond Time as Farce
Snowballs and Risk in SchoolsSnowballs and Risk in Schools
Social Contract Theory and Political ObligationsSocial Contract Theory and Political Obligations
Socialism is not DeadSocialism is not Dead
Speed of Life - Part OneSpeed of Life - Part One
Speed of Life - Part TwoSpeed of Life - Part Two
Stroppy Individuals and Oppositional Cultures in SchoolsStroppy Individuals and Oppositional Cultures in Schools
Sustainability Policy at London South Bank UniversitySustainability Policy at London South Bank University
Ten Points on Marx, Class and EducationTen Points on Marx, Class and Education
The Business of Becoming a Business for AcademiesThe Business of Becoming a Business for Academies
The Capitalisation of Schools - Federations and AcademiesThe Capitalisation of Schools - Federations and Academies
The CBI and the Business Takeover of SchoolsThe CBI and the Business Takeover of Schools
The Commodification of EducationThe Commodification of Education
The Education White Paper and the Marketisation of SchoolsThe Education White Paper and the Marketisation of Schools
The Evolution of Federations of SchoolsThe Evolution of Federations of Schools
The Last Parents EveningThe Last Parents Evening
The New Japanisation of SchoolsThe New Japanisation of Schools
The Profit Virus - The Business Takeover of SchoolsThe Profit Virus - The Business Takeover of Schools
The Standards Language-game for Schools in EnglandThe Standards Language-game for Schools in England
The Which Blair ProjectThe Which Blair Project
Three Types of Apprenticeship - Three Forms of MasteryThree Types of Apprenticeship - Three Forms of Mastery
Tony and Caroline BennTony and Caroline Benn
Tony Benn: Letters to GrandchildrenTony Benn: Letters to Grandchildren
TransportTransport
Turney[a]s and PPUTurney's and PPU
Uninspiring TowersUninspiring Towers
Universe of Capital and My SpaceUniverse of Capital and My Space
Universities in a Neoliberal WorldUniversities in a Neoliberal World
Utopia and EducationUtopia and Education
What Can Nietzsche Teach YaWhat Can Nietzsche Teach Ya
When Bullies Roam the SchoolWhen Bullies Roam the School
When the Bowers BreakWhen the Bowers Break
Why Employers Can[a]t Ever Get What They WantWhy Employers Can't Ever Get What They Want
Will Hutton and His E-FossWill Hutton and His E-Foss
Wolf on Marx Without SparksWolf on Marx Without Sparks
Women in World WarsWomen in World Wars






Chandos Book Publishing
Universities in a Neoliberal World


By Alex Callinicos


Review by Glenn Rikowski
London, 5th March 2007



This pamphlet by Alex Callinicos (2006) is the best thing that a member of the Socialist Workers Party has written on any aspect of education. It is well researched and provides a searing critique of New Labour’s higher education policy. Callinicos shows how higher education fits smoothly into New Labour’s economic and social perspectives, which are grounded by the ideology and governing practice of neoliberalism.

Paul Mackney, former General Secretary of the National Union of Teachers in Further and Higher Education (NATFHE), starts off with a rousing Preface. He notes that:

“We have the obscene spectacle of a Cabinet stuffed with former student radicals who never paid fees, and who were eligible for grants, pulling up the ladder for this generation” (p.3).

Even Tony Blair’s wife has said that it was unlikely that she would have gone to university in her day if the current fees regime had applied then. Mackney pinpointed a number of forces of hope, ranging from the anti-war movement to the struggles against neoliberal education ‘reforms’ and employment laws in Greece and France respectively in 2006.

In the Introduction, Callinicos also sketches out the forces of resistance to neoliberal policies in general and neoliberal education policies in particular. His main substantive arguments are fourfold: that the Tories and now New Labour have pushed through higher education expansion in the UK ‘on the cheap’; that British universities are in the process of being transformed from scholarly institutions ‘into profit centres earning foreign exchange for the economy of the United Kingdom’ (p.5); pursuing ‘knowledge for its own sake’ as the core activity of staff and students has been downgraded in favour of education for business needs; and staff pay and conditions and studying conditions and finance for students have all been under attack. Most significantly in the Introduction, Callinicos provides a definition of neoliberalism:

“Embraced by virtually every government in the world along with the business and media elites since it was pioneered by Ronald Regan and Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s, neoliberalism seeks to subject every aspect of social life to the logic of the market, and to make everything into a commodity that can be privately owned and bought and sold for a profit” (p.6).

This is not a bad characterisation of neoliberalism, though it stresses market relations rather more than I would be inclined to do. Neoliberalism is the ideology and practice of sweeping away barriers to capital accumulation and nurturing conditions for value, surplus-value production and profit through commodification. In the case of schools in England, for example, companies running local education authorities or single schools on a contract do not appear to be interested owning these schools (see Rikowski, 2006). They just want to transform state revenue into private profit. Likewise with higher education; to date there is little evidence that companies want to buy universities off the UK government – though there is some evidence that they might wish to set up their own universities in competition with existing ones (see Thomson, 2006).

The other noteworthy aspect of the Introduction is that Callinicos says that:

“Opposing neoliberalism in higher education should be part of the struggle for a society that really does give everyone an equal chance to realise themselves. Accordingly, my theoretical framework is provided by Marx’s analysis of the capitalist economic system. What neoliberalism ultimately represents is a particularly pure form of the logic of capital. Therefore, the struggle for better universities can’t be separated from the movement against global capitalism itself” (p.7).

It is unusual to witness any Left educational writer overtly bring Marx and Marxism into the picture. Callinicos is to be congratulated on this, though whether he uses Marx’s critical theory particularly effectively is open to question.

The first section is on neoliberalism and the ‘knowledge economy’. Callinicos seeks to situate New Labour’s higher education policy in terms of its adherence to nurturing a knowledge economy. His summary of the main constituents of the knowledge economy is very good (pp.8-9) – in fact one of the clearest and most succinct renderings I have seen. Callinicos’ chilling analysis of relations between higher education and the knowledge economy leads him to conclude that:

“Neoliberalism in higher education means that [the] logic of competition is internalised deep into how universities work. As we shall see, this serves to ensure that they teach growing numbers of students and perform increasingly vital research as cheaply as possible” (p.11).

The second section indicates how knowledge and information produced by and within universities is increasingly being harnessed to profit-making and business interests. Callinicos outlines and critiques the Lambert Report of 2003. This was set up by Chancellor Gordon Brown and headed by Richard Lambert, former editor of the Financial Times and now Director-General of the Confederation of British Industry, to nurture closer university-business relations. Through his analysis of the Lambert Report, Callinicos shows how R&D development of major companies has slowed in the UK. The role of the higher education sector is to increasingly substitute itself for lost R&D capacity. Notes Callinicos, in these conditions: “Lambert argues that it is the job of the universities and the state to pick up the slack left by companies” (p.13). He notes New Labour policy adviser Charles Leadbeater’s urgings that: “Universities should be the open-cast mines of the knowledge economy” (p.15) for the benefit of British capital.

The third section focuses on the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE): the main method by which the state distributes research money to universities. Through judicious and effective use of statistics, Callinicos show the inequalities between universities that the RAE fosters. These inequalities have dire consequences for the majority of higher education institutions and students not in the elite corps of top universities. Callinicos shows alarmingly how the bulk of research funding is concentrated in a relatively small number of ‘world class’ universities. He also charts the rise of managerialism within the higher education sector, with its implications for power relations in the academy, the drive (expressed in a variety of ways) to make universities into businesses and increasing inequalities of pay and conditions between the top university managers and the rest.

The fourth section addresses the ways in which lecturers are being proletarianised and how the social existence of both staff and students is becoming precarious. Again, Callinicos has some sound and clear definitions of proletarianisation and precarity. Questions of academic salaries, student finance and expansion of higher education on the cheap are tackled with some very useful statistics thrown in to illustrate key points. Callinicos also explores the ways in which the higher education system reinforces the social class system and increasingly places students in a situation where they become debt-laden. It was good to see him have a look at the relationships between students earning and learning, too.

In the concluding section, ‘Resistance is not futile’, Callinicos points to a range of struggles against neoliberalism. In particular, he focuses on the wonderful victory of French youth and students in the spring of 2006 against the draft CPE law which ‘would have allowed employers to sack workers aged under 26 without explanation during the first two years of their contract’ (p.35). Callinicos notes that neoliberal restructurings in universities are attempts to ‘subordinate them very directly to the needs of neoliberal capitalism’ (p.38). His conclusion is powerful and sums up the problems progressive forces in higher education face today:

“What neoliberalism has done has been to isolate and enforce a very pure form of the logic of capitalism itself. This, as we have seen in the case of universities, is a logic of competition and profit. Challenging this logic means pursuing a different kind of worlds, governed by different priorities – those, for example, of social justice, environmental sustainability and genuine democracy. Preserving and developing what is valuable in existing universities can’t be separated from the broader struggle against capitalism itself” (p.39).

However, for me, this process is at its very early stages. Neoliberalism has a stronger grip on universities than it does on schools in England, but traditions of collegiality, the public sector ethos (especially in the post-1992 universities) and scepticism about and criticism of business outlooks, methods and processes coming into the academy still show signs of resilience. Challenging the logic of neoliberalism in universities is in the interests of students. Some students in some departments in some universities receive only 5 or 6 hours direct contact with lecturers now. This is a consequence of the neoliberal logic that the ‘consumers’ of higher education are likely to object to, and is one of the many bases for joint staff/student action.


Conclusion

Although Callinicos’ claims regarding linking his analysis to Marx and Marxism are not as strong as he asserted in the Introduction, and despite a few other reservations (e.g. his stance on ‘elitism’ in higher education is under-developed, and he has a mainstream, sociological – not Marxist – view of social class, and some hot air about equality and social justice), this is a tremendous pamphlet. Furthermore, as he notes himself, many of the trends he charts are working themselves out in many other countries – so his analysis has applicability well beyond the UK. This is a thought-provoking and stirring pamphlet by Alex Callinicos.


References

Callinicos, A. (2006) Universities in a Neoliberal World, November, Bookmarks Publications: London.

Rikowski, G. (2006) On the Capitalisation of Schools in England, Education Studies, School of Education, University of Northampton, 1st November, online at: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=articles&sub=On%20the%20Capitalisation%20of%20Schools%20in%20England

Thomson, A. (2006) US firm to set up UK for-profit institution, Times Higher Education Supplement, 24th November, p.4.




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