The changing value of higher education in England and Portugal

Massification, marketization and public good

Bibliographic Data

ID21725652
AuthorsMariana Gaio Alves (0000-0001-8895-0796, Universidade de Lisboa Instituto da Educacao, Portugal, corresponding author), Michael Tomlinson (0000-0002-1057-5188, Southampton Education School, University of Southampton, UK)
Year2021
Volume20
Issue2
Pages176-192
Publication date2021-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueEuropean Journal of Educational Research (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1474-9041 • E-ISSN: 2165-8714
PublisherSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/1474904120967574
OpenAlexW3095544601
LanguageEN
Citations received9
References cited16

This article examines how the value of higher education (HE) is currently being (re)framed in two European countries: England and Portugal. HE has been central to a global discourse on the future of knowledge economy, whilst also being subject to the policy framework of New Public Management. Being so, the changing value of HE is related to the ways in which its missions are understood and must be considered within the context of massification, as well as of a growing importance of employability. Drawing on published research and also considering national policy documents and statistical data produced by international organizations, the analysis demonstrates how HE in these two countries is currently being (re)framed, recognizing differences and similarities that express national specificities, as well as exploring how these have evolved within the wider national and pan-national policy context. Overall, the examination demanded going beyond the marketization approach by complementing it with the idea of public good and leads us to stress the importance of the tension between these two approaches as an analytical framework to better understand the changes occurring in different national contexts, within a transnational framework in which the knowledge economy and the central role of HE seems to be indisputably accepted

Employability · Geography · Higher education · Marketization · Pedagogy · Political science · Public policy · Social science · Sociology · Higher Education and Employability · Higher Education Governance and Development · International Student and Expatriate Challenges · Public Administration

Tools

Open DOI