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      Discursive Battles about the Meaning of University: The Case of Danish University Reform and its Academics

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      European Educational Research Journal
      Symposium Journals

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          Abstract

          The meaning of university and, subsequently, academics' working conditions are rapidly changing as knowledge economy and globalisation discourses continue to deepen across the Western world. Higher education and research agendas are increasingly staged in the discursive universe of knowledge economy language: common strategies and harmonisation within Europe (the Bologna process), integration of universities into national knowledge economy strategies that adapt to signals from the World Trade Organisation, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development and the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement, etc. Illustrated by the case of Danish university reform, this article traces the transition from a vanishing ‘democratic and “Humboldtian”’ university discourse‘ toward an emerging ‘market and efficiency oriented university discourse‘. Universities are being turned into organisations with self-ownership, which allegedly increases their freedom of operation on the research and education ‘market‘. On the other hand, universities are under increased pressure to satisfy government demands, often at hitherto unknown levels of detail. Seen from the point of view of the academic worker, these processes become visible through a host of new social technologies that individualise and totalise researchers simultaneously through complex processes. The article highlights the point that constructive critique and fruitful counter-strategies must incorporate an in-depth understanding of the radicality of changes that are taking place in order to make a difference.

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          Most cited references31

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          Discipline and punish: The birth of the prison.

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            Audit Cultures: Anthropological studies in accountability, ethics and the academy

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              Bachelor of What, Master of Whom? The Humboldt Myth and Historical Transformations of Higher Education in German-Speaking Europe and the US1

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                Author and article information

                Journal
                European Educational Research Journal
                European Educational Research Journal
                Symposium Journals
                1474-9041
                1474-9041
                September 2006
                July 20 2016
                September 2006
                : 5
                : 3-4
                : 210-220
                Affiliations
                [1 ]The Danish University of Education, Copenhagen, Denmark
                Article
                10.2304/eerj.2006.5.3.210
                013dc4ae-ce0c-4510-b834-db0015bde14d
                © 2006

                http://journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license

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