International Students as Exporters of the Neoliberal Political Project

Abstract

The International Business Curriculum taught by Higher Education Institutions around the globe prepare graduates for the business world. There has been strong and continued criticism of these curricula from many perspectives, including HEIs reflecting the neoliberal project, the curricula reflecting Western knowledge often dominated by white, male academics. This paper seeks to explore how the knowledge created within the Business Curricula is exported globally. To do this, we use the neo-Gramscian concept of hegemony to analyse the perspective of international business students studying at a Central London campus. How students view western education, their experiences of decolonising the curriculum and how they plan to use their knowledge post graduation are situated within the current debates on the values of the university, the business curriculum and the skills graduates gain from business degrees.