The Neoliberal University as a Space to Learn/Think/Work in Higher Education

Abstract

This article examines the conditions that have given rise to the neoliberal university, along with the conditions of being a subject of such an institution–whether as educator, student, or manager on the shop-floor of the “edufactory.” Where the liberal university was recognized as a space for critical thought, slow contemplation and transformative becoming for both student and university worker, the imperative of the neoliberal university is to continuously increase performance–measurable in ultimately economic terms, imposing a new auditable disciplining, and quickening pace, of learning, thinking and working. We argue that the model of the neoliberal university is unsustainable if left to continue in its current form, and which Covid-19 has done little to decelerate or dismantle. There is an urgent need to resist, rethink, and reclaim the space to learn/think/work.