…and the market created the student to its image and likening. Neo-liberal governmentality and its effects on higher education in Ireland

Abstract

The article looks at two important documents in the context of education policy in Ireland: the Higher Education Authority's Strategic Plan 2008–2010 and the Government's report, Building Ireland's Smart Economy. It demonstrates how the entrepreneurial student is fabricated out of particular truths told about the present and the obligations that flow from this. Utilising governmentality theory, it examines the reconstruction of students’ subjectivities by focusing on three dimensions of government: rationalities, technologies and ethics. It concludes that higher education is framed in economic terms and other important aspects of education such as criticality, solidarity and social engagement are undermined in our race towards economic progress.

Keywords:

• higher education
• affective inequality
• governmentality
• student subjectivity