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| John Holford |
“The lost honour of the Social Dimension: Bologna, exports and the idea of the university” (by John Holford) http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02601370.2013.873210 explains the development and of the
social dimension of the Bologna Process (now the European Higher Education
Area) and how it relates to a European “idea of the university”. It argues
that the elements of Bologna which aim at promoting higher education as an
export business have focused on the youth of social elites, and that its
internal mobility dimensions have had a similar effect within Europe. The
social dimension of Bologna, in contrast, aimed to open HE across the social
spectrum—though it still assumed students would be young. The paper
explains how Bologna’s social dimension has been influenced by debates
within the European Union – leading both to its initial growth and to its
marginalisation since 2008.
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| John Holmwood |
"From social rights to the
market: neoliberalism and the knowledge economy" (by
John Holmwood) http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02601370.2013.873213
argues that public higher education has a long history, with its growth
associated with mass higher education and the extension of a social right
to education from secondary schooling to university education. Following
the rise in student numbers since the 1970s, the aspiration to higher
education has been universalized, although opportunities remain structured
by social background. This paper looks at changing policies for higher
education in the UK and the emergence of a neoliberal knowledge regime.
This subordinates higher education to the market and shifts the burden of
paying for degree courses onto students. It seeks to stratify institutions
and extend the role of for-profit providers. From a role in the
amelioration of social inequality, universities are now asked to
participate actively in the widening inequalities associated with a
neoliberal global market order.
