Beyond the dichotomy of students-as-consumers and personal transformation
What Students Want From Their Degrees and Their Engagement With Knowledge
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4096745 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Paul Ashwin (0000-0001-7630-1748, Lancaster University, corresponding author), Benjamin Goldschneider (Virginia Tech), Ashish Agrawal (0000-0003-0156-2171, University of Cape Town), Reneé Smit (0000-0002-0249-3094, University of Cape Town) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 49 |
| Issue | 8 |
| Pages | 1439-1450 |
| Publication date | 2024-08-02 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Studies in Higher Education (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0307-5079 • E-ISSN: 1470-174X |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/03075079.2023.2267589 |
| OpenAlex | W4387492981 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 7 |
| References cited | 36 |
There is widespread concern that students are increasingly becoming passive consumers of education who primarily attend university to obtain the credentials they need for the labour market. To interrogate this view, a longitudinal qualitative study examined what 47 students in three countries wanted to get out of studying for their degree (their personal projects) and how these developed over the course of their undergraduate studies. Our analysis showed that whilst most students had instrumental reasons for studying, they tended to be personally committed to the knowledge they were studying and had a clear sense of the role it would play in their future lives. Where students did not see knowledge as having a key role in helping them to realise their personal projects, they were less likely to value their studies. Also, students who were committed to the knowledge they were studying but did not have a sense of what they were trying to achieve personally with it, appeared to be uncertain about where they were going by the end of their degree. Based on this analysis, we argue that the dichotomy between students-as-consumers and personal transformation is false. Rather what is important is students being clear about how academic knowledge connects them to the world and helps them to shape their plans for the future
Higher education · Mathematics education · Pedagogy · Political science · Public relations · Sociology · Evaluation of Teaching Practices · Higher Education Practises and Engagement · Higher Education Research Studies · Psychology · Social Psychology
Reimagining the first year experience in higher education through a focus on knowledge engagement
Constructing assessment practices for knowledge building in science
Students as partners
Opening the black box of degree classification algorithms
Transformational accounts of students’ undergraduate education are evoked by their engagement with knowledge
International student agency in academic self‐formation
Graduates' conceptions of meaningful work
Transforming University Education
Having, being and higher education
Graduate employability and student attitudes and orientations to the labour market
“It gives you a better chance of getting a good job”
Investigating the relationship between career planning, proactivity and employability perceptions among higher education students in uncertain labour market conditions
Pedagogy, Symbolic Control, and Identity
Degree subject and orientations to civic responsibility
Students
Empowering participants or corroding learning? Towards a research agenda on the impact of student consumerism in higher education
The student experience and subject engagement in UK sociology
Student perceptions of themselves as ‘consumers’ of higher education
The construction of higher education students in English policy documents
Conceptualising transformative undergraduate experiences
Universities, knowledge and pedagogical configurations
The sociology of pupils
College Peer Groups
Her majesty the student
The student-as-consumer approach in higher education and its effects on academic performance
When masses meet markets
Generational Differences in Value Orientations Toward Higher Education
| Citations per year | 3.5 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2024 - 2026 (3) |
| Highly cited | No |