Reconsidering the social and economic purposes of higher education

Abstract

In this article I seek to reconsider the social and economic purposes of higher education. It begins with the premise that there appears to be a general trend towards governments positioning higher education primarily in terms of the economic role that it can fulfil. Such a trend, however, has attracted considerable criticism. In this article I argue that the problem for higher education is not it having an economic role, but the narrowness of the way in which that role is often conceptualised. Drawing on critical theory I explore the interrelation of economic and social factors within higher education and the wider society in which it is situated. This article argues for a redefinition of the purposes of higher education to ensure that both universities and workplaces are sites of human creativity and that the profound and exciting work within institutions of higher education benefits all members of society.

Keywords:

• commercialisation
• critical pedagogy
• critical theory
• employability
• purposes of higher education

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Paul Ashwin, Murray Saunders and Paul Trowler for their helpful comments on earlier drafts. Thank you also to the three anonymous reviewers, including the one who really didn't like this paper and worked hard to change it. One thing I'm sure we can agree on is the value of such disagreement to academic life.