For a Public University

The transformation of Higher Education in the UK is at full speed. The cuts in government funding and the simultaneous increase in tuition fees of up to £9000 per year have dramatic implications. While universities emphasise the need to attract private finance, students are pushed towards courses with direct employment possibilities. At the same time, employers ask for closer co-operation with universities not only in relation to research but also in terms of the development of teaching curricula. The main focus is clear; education should be directed towards business interests in order to strengthen the UK economy. One outcome is that Higher Education is increasingly commodified as universities exist in the shadow of the market. The space for critical thinking about society has been eroded, substituting students’ ability-to-learn for consumers’ ability-to-pay. Academics have themselves become subject to the charge of irrelevance unless direct policy-relevance is embraced. The critical theoretician is cast adrift as indolent and idle in the race to inform statesmen, to become prophets for science, to make profits for business.

This workshop has the purpose to analyse the underlying dynamics of the transformation of Higher Education in and beyond the UK, to reflect on the social function of Higher Education, as well as develop alternative ways of thinking about how best to deliver Higher Education in the future. The goal is to re-assert ways in which Higher Education can be retained as a public good, available to all.

Papers are invited for the following themes: 

* analyses of the current transformation of Higher Education; 

* discussions about the social function of Higher Education; and

* interventions on how to organise the future of Higher Education.


This one-day workshop is jointly organised by the Local UCU Association at Nottingham University, the Centre for the Study of Social and Global Justice (CSSGJ), the Centre for Research in Higher, Adult & Vocational Education (HAVE) and the International Political Economy Group (IPEG) of the British International Studies Association. 

It will be held at Nottingham University on Friday, 15 June 2012. All paper proposals should be sent to Andreas Bieler at [log in to unmask] by no later than Friday, 27 April. 

The maximum number of workshop participants will be 25 people, 10 to 12 paper givers plus additional participants. People who want to participate without giving a paper should also contact Andreas Bieler at [log in to unmask] as soon as possible. There is no registration fee and two coffee breaks and lunch are provided free of charge by the organisers.