Investigation into the complicity of British university students and teaching staff in the reproduction of neoliberal agendas within higher education

The UK Higher Education landscape has experienced significant change since the later stages of the 20th Century. The sector has seen a widening of participation to include those that have not traditionally engaged with such a level of education as well as the continual marketisation of the sector via Neoliberal policy, with the introduction and significant increase of tuition fees. Given such a context there has been much literature exploring how the role of the student has changed from one of being solely a learner to a consumer of education. Such changes have been exacerbated via a recent focus, via the Office for Students and university league tables, on student satisfaction and graduate outcomes. Such a state of play has implications for the choices students make in what to study, the process of navigating a degree as well as a contemplation of graduate destinations within a precarious labour market.

This research project is to explore the lived experiences of university students, from a range of backgrounds and disciplinary settings, and their perceptions on the role of the student and the influence of the marketisation of education. The project is to be longitudinal in nature to follow such experience across degree programs and beyond to include a career development dimension. This dimension is to scrutinise how social position may influence perceptions of learning, career trajectory and how this shapes the navigation of educational and work experiences. The project is to take a decolonial, sociological, political and philosophical approach to its enactment and analysis, to provide useful observations and findings to inform the literature, policy and practice.