Bowl, M. (2018). Diversity and differentiation, equity and equality in a marketized higher education system. In M. Bowl, C. McCaig, & J. Hughes (Eds.), Equality and differentiation in marketized higher education: A new level playing field (pp. 1-21). Massey, New Zealand: Palgrave Macmillan.
The edited collection presents works on the marketization of higher education (MoHE), and the current chapter can help answer the essay’s question by examining how MoHE may impact diversity, differentiation, equity, and equality among students. For example, the author proposes that if learners accept being consumers who have to pay for services offered by sellers-universities, the less affluent individuals would have to choose the least resourced and stable institutions. The paper assesses some features of a marketized higher education, such as increased competition, and considers some consequences for students.
Bulaitis, Z. H. (2020). Value and the humanities: The neoliberal university and our Victorian inheritance. Manchester, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.
The book explores value and motivation in higher education and explains how universities turn into players in the market. The author suggests that when students assume the role of customers, the learning process becomes endangered and educational facilities produce consumers but not citizens. The source can assist in answering the essay’s question by investigating educational facilities under the scope of neoliberalism and how the concept impacts pupils.
Bunce, L. (2019). The voice of the student as a ‘consumer.’ In S. Lygo-Baker, I. M. Kinchin, & N. E. Winstone (Eds.), Engaging student voices in higher education: Diverse perspectives and expectations in partnership, (pp. 55-71). Guildford, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.
The author of the chapter assesses the power of student-consumers and how MoHE impacts learners’ voices. For instance, in marketized HE, students can express their preferences and have their interests protected, while employees can reflect on and advance their teaching practices. The paper can be useful in responding to the essay’s question by examining both positive and negative aspects of the HE marketplace and providing insight into students’ perspectives on being considered customers.
Díaz-Méndez, M., Paredes, M. R., & Saren, M. (2019). Improving society by improving education through service-dominant logic: Reframing the role of students in higher education.Sustainability, 11(19), 1-14.
The article can help answer the essay’s question by widening the discussion regarding MoHE and arguing that viewing students as consumers and teachers as providers negatively affect instruction in the long term. For instance, the authors note that perceiving the learners as customers contradicts the fundamental purpose of education and diminish their identities. The paper states that higher education is a complex system that offers more than knowledge and competencies and in which students should be regarded as actors participating in the co-creation of societal value.
Ma, G. (2019). Sparking interdisciplinarity: Let’s take framing students as customers in higher education seriously. Interdisciplinary Science Reviews, 45(4), 1-15.
The source can assist in responding to the essay’s question by exploring MoHE and explaining a long-standing debate about whether students are consumers. The author suggests that regardless of pupils’ perception of themselves as customers, accepting universities as participants in the marketplace is important to increase learners’ satisfaction, but it can also produce problems. Ma proposes that the marketization of educational facilities may encourage them to meet the needs of the consumers-students but is likely to cause differences in charging the clients based on profit potential to institutes. The paper comprises several perspectives on considering higher education as a marketplace and pupils as its customers, providing both advantages and disadvantages of the views.
Maisuria, A., & Helmes, S. (2020). Life for the academic in the neoliberal university. Abingdon, UK: Routledge.
The book explores the impact of neoliberalism on higher education and discusses the marketization of universities alongside the position of students as consumers. The authors imply that higher education as a marketplace hinders the learning process that is focused on the exchange of money rather than creative ideas. The writers suggest that while students-customers are likely to have the power to demand a specific level of services, institutions may concentrate on accepting more pupils to gain profit rather than prioritize quality. The book can help answer the essay’s question by assessing how marketized higher education may impact those who pursue a certain degree and those who seek knowledge.
Yarrow, D. (2019). Lecturers aren’t to blame for university grade inflation – the government is. The Guardian.
The article can be useful in responding to the essay’s question by explaining the drawbacks of higher education being a marketplace. The author proposes that MoHE education is simply an experiment that has failed without achieving expected goals and states that are viewing students as consumers hinders the main purpose of attending universities. The paper describes how the HE marketplace is not allowing students to be challenged, thus diminishing their opportunities for improvement and causing trouble for the instructors.