Skip to main content

Diversity and Differentiation, Equity and Equality in a Marketised Higher Education System

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Book cover Equality and Differentiation in Marketised Higher Education

Abstract

This chapter outlines some of the common manifestations of marketisation in contemporary higher education and discusses the extent to which the higher education market is a reality or a metaphor for a set of ideologically driven policies and processes—widely striven for but never achieved. It discusses the relationship between marketisation and sector differentiation and the extent to which calls for increased differentiation and diversity represent increased ‘consumer choice’, or whether they signal a scramble for status in which poorer institutions and students are the losers, and claims for equality or fairness are compromised.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 79.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 99.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 99.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Agasisti, T., & Catalano, G. (2006). Governance models of university systems – Towards quasi-markets? Tendencies and perspectives: A European comparison. Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, 28(3), 245–262.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ball, S. (1998). Big policies/small world: An introduction to international perspectives in education policy. Comparative Education, 34(2), 119–130.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ball, S. J., Davies, J., David, M., & Reay, D. (2002). ‘Classification,’ and ‘judgement’: Social class and the ‘cognitive structures of choice of higher education’. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 23(1), 51–72.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bartlett, W., & Le Grand, J. (Eds.). (1993). Quasi-markets and social policy. London: Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bowl, M. (2016). Differentiation, distinction and equality – or diversity? The language of the marketised university: An England, New Zealand comparison. Studies in Higher Education, 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2016.1190961.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brown, R. (Ed.). (2011). Higher education and the market. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown, R., & Carasso, H. (2013). Everything for sale? The marketisation of UK higher education. London: Routledge and SHRE.

    Google Scholar 

  • Canaan, J. E., & Shumar, W. (2008). Structure and agency in the Neoliberal University. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clark, B. (1983). The higher education system. Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Connell, R. (2013). Why do market reforms persistently increase inequality? Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 34(2), 279–285.

    Google Scholar 

  • DBIS. (2011). Higher education: Students at the heart of the system. London: DBIS.

    Google Scholar 

  • DBIS. (2016). Success as a knowledge economy: Teaching excellence, social mobility and student choice. London: DBIS.

    Google Scholar 

  • Deem, R. (2001). Globalism, new managerialism, academic capitalism and entrepreneurialism in universities: Is the local dimension important? Comparative Education, 37(1), 7–20.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dill, D., & Soo, M. (2005). Academic quality, league tables, and public policy: A cross-national comparison of university ranking systems. Higher Education, 49, 495–533.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gale, T. (2011). Student equity’s starring role in Australian higher education: Not yet centre field. Australian Educational Research, 38, 5–23.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hazelkorn, E. (2008). Learning to live with league tables and ranking: The experience of institutional leaders. Higher Education Policy, 21, 193–215.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hazelkorn, E. (2009) Rankings and the battle for world-class excellence: Institutional strategies and policy choices Higher Education Management and Policy 21(1):1–29. Online at: https://doi.org/10.1787/hemp-v21-art4-en. Accessed 21 Jan 2016.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hazelkorn, E. (2014a). Rankings and the global reputation race. New Directions for Higher Education, 168, 13–26.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hazelkorn, E. (2014b). Reflections on a decade of global rankings: What we’ve learned and outstanding issues. European Journal of Education, 49(1), 12–28.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hemsley-Brown, J. (2011). Market Heal thyself: The challenges of a free market in higher education. Journal of Marketing for Higher Education, 21(2), 115–132.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jongbloed, B. (2003). ‘Marketisation in higher education Clark’s triangle and the essential ingredients of markets. Higher Education Quarterly, 57(2), 110–135.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lynch, K. (2006). Neo-liberalism and marketisation: The implications for higher education. European Educational Research Journal, 5(1), 1–17.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marginson, S. (2006). Dynamics of national and global competition in higher education. Higher Education, 52, 1–39.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marginson, S. (2013). The impossibility of capitalist markets in higher education. Journal of Education Policy, 28(3), 353–370.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McCaig, C., & Taylor, CA. (2015) The strange death of number controls in England: Paradoxical adventures in higher education market making. Studies in Higher Education. Published online 7 December 2015. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2015.1113952

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McGettigan, A. (2013). The great university gamble: Money, markets and the future of higher education. London: Pluto Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Meek, V. (2000). Diversity and marketisation of higher education: Incompatible concepts? Higher Education Policy, 13, 23–39.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Molesworth, M., Nixon, L., & Scullion, R. (2011). The marketisation of UK higher education and the student as consumer. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Neave, G. (2000). Diversity, differentiation and the market: The debate we never had but ought to have done. Higher Education Policy, 13, 7–21.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • OECD. (2014). Education at a glance: OECD indicators. OECD publishing. http://www.oecd.org/edu/Education-at-a-Glance-2014.pdf. Accessed 24 July 2014.

  • Pusser, B., & Marginson, S. (2013). University rankings in critical perspective. Journal of Higher Education, 84(4), 544–568.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reay, D., David, M. E., & Ball, S. (2005). Degrees of choice: Social class, race and gender in higher education. Stoke on Trent: Trentham.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rizvi, F. (2013). Equity and the market: A brief commentary. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 34(2), 274–278.

    Google Scholar 

  • Savage, G. C. (2013). Tailored equities in the education market: Flexible policies and practices. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 34(2), 185–201.

    Google Scholar 

  • Slaughter, S., & Leslie, L. (1997). Academic capitalism: Politics, policies, and the entrepreneurial university. London: Johns Hopkins University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Teichler, U. (2006). Changing structures of the higher education systems: The increasing complexity of underlying forces. Higher Education Policy, 19, 447–461.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • UNESCO. (2013). Rankings and accountability in higher education: Uses and misuses. Paris: UNESCO.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Marion Bowl .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2018 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Bowl, M. (2018). Diversity and Differentiation, Equity and Equality in a Marketised Higher Education System. In: Bowl, M., McCaig, C., Hughes, J. (eds) Equality and Differentiation in Marketised Higher Education. Palgrave Studies in Excellence and Equity in Global Education. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-78313-0_1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-78313-0_1

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-78312-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-78313-0

  • eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics