Investment in the self

The government of student financing in Australia

Bibliographic Data

ID4098342
AuthorsSimon Marginson (0000-0002-6738-3128, The University of Melbourne, corresponding author)
Year1997
Volume22
Issue2
Pages119-131
Publication date1997-01-01
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueStudies in Higher Education (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0307-5079 • E-ISSN: 1470-174X
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/03075079712331380994
OpenAlexW2052267600
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited20

Changes in student financing in higher education are normally analysed in the terms of political economy, for example as a shift in the public-private balance of costs. This does not do full justice to neo-liberal reform in higher education, in which methods of government are being transformed, with implications for the identities (subjectivities) of students themselves. Focauldian theory provides one framework for exploring these effects. It suggests that an analysis grounded in political economy needs to be supplemented with the study of government policy discourses, the technologies of financing, and shifts in student identities. In the neo-liberal regime the student is formed and self-formed as an investor in the self-as-human-capital. These postulates are explored by examining recent changes in student financing in Australia, including the Higher Education Contribution Scheme, and the partial substitution of loans and self support in place of quasi-universal grants

Economic growth · Economics · Higher education · Human capital · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Higher Education Governance and Development · Higher Education Practises and Engagement · Higher Education Research Studies · Psychology · Public Administration · Finance

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