Neoliberal governance towards the non-German-speaking world in Austria's internationalization of higher education
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4179660 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Marion Nao (0000-0001-6300-4867, Open University , Milton Keynes , UK), Dogan Yuksel (0000-0001-9131-3907, Open University , Milton Keynes , UK), Beatrice Zuaro (0000-0003-1464-6614, Open University , Milton Keynes , UK), Paul Wingrove (0000-0003-2733-0213, Chalmers University of Technology , Gothenburg , Sweden), Anna Kristina Hultgren (0000-0003-2379-1290, Open University , Milton Keynes , UK) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 2025 |
| Issue | 295 |
| Pages | 53-77 |
| Publication date | 2025-09-25 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | International Journal of the Sociology of Language (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0165-2516 • E-ISSN: 1613-3668 |
| Publisher | Walter de Gruyter GmbH (PUBLISHER • DE) |
| DOI | 10.1515/ijsl-2024-0122 |
| OpenAlex | W4413182816 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 49 |
As in many parts of Europe, Austria has seen increasing internationalization of its public universities since modernization reforms towards autonomy and accompanying steering-at-a-distance practices of state ministries. Here, we explore the sociolinguistic relevance of such neoliberal governance on this trend. In a novel turn, we invert the common lens on English as an incoming language to examine instead the monitoring of internationalization data from the pluricentric context of the German-speaking DACH region, comprising Austria, Germany, and Switzerland. We expound on this as an imagined speech community, vis-à-vis which Austria can be seen through steering at multiscalar level to rearticulate its very identity as a nation state. As part of an innovative use of process tracing methodology, we consulted policy documentation and monitoring data on DACH internationalization in order to probe key stakeholders at a public case study university and at ministerial level on its relevance. An analysis of stance revealed that steering conversations mutually reinforced a move away from the inbound mobility of students and staff from DACH - a dynamic that was disfavoured as inhibitory of progress, a less real form of internationalization, and unambitious, thereby at odds with neoliberal governance towards performance and competitiveness
Autonomy · Business · Corporate governance · Economics · Geography · German · Higher education · Internationalization · Internationalization of Higher Education · Linguistics · Management · Modernization theory · Political science · Public relations · Sociology · Discourse Analysis in Language Studies · Law · Multilingual Education and Policy · Public Administration · Second Language Learning and Teaching
Enlightened Common Sense
Process-Tracing Methods
English as a Lingua Franca in the International University
Nations and Nationalism since 1780
Global English and Political Economy
Neoliberalism, language, and governmentality
What really happens in higher education governance? Trajectories of adopted policy instruments in higher education over time in 16 European countries
Universities in Imperial Austria 1848–1918
The Special Research Programme
University autonomy and the increasing shift to English in academic programmes at European universities
On the elasticity of centres and the possibility of multiple roofs
Reconstructing multilingualism in the Habsburg state
How to Access Elites When Textbook Methods Fail? Challenges of Purposive Sampling and Advantages of Using Interviewees as “Fixers”
Higher education mobilities
Steering at a Distance
The Idealised Native Speaker, Reified Ethnicities, and Classroom Realities
Political power beyond the State
The linguistic implications of academic performance indicators
New understandings of the rise of English as a medium of instruction in higher education
The pragmatic realization of the native speaking English teacher as a monolingual ideal
A Course in Modern Linguistics
Neoliberalism as language policy
TheNative Speaker
| Unique citing works | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 2 |
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |