‘Where does my £9000 go?’ Student identities in a marketised British Higher Education Sector

Abstract

Significant evidence highlights processes of marketisation within British higher education since the 1980s, with changes to the funding, management, and expectations of higher education institutions, students, and staff. Through a cross-national and cross-institutional analysis, this paper explores the identities of students within a marketised British higher education landscape, and specifically, explores the identity of the ‘student-consumer’. Using a mixed methods approach with students from 37 higher education institutions across Britain, this research explores the attitudes, expectations, behaviours, and relationships held by students regarding higher education. Student identity orientations are explored, before the extent to which students’ express attitudes of instrumentalism and entitlement is investigated. The paper concludes that whilst there is evidence of consumerist discourses framing students’ relationship to higher education, students challenge the perception that they are passive consumers, and instead recognise the need to remain active co-producers throughout higher education. These findings have implications for policy and have resonance beyond Britain, as the marketisation of higher education is an increasingly international phenomenon.

Immersed in the Transitioning Higher Education Sector: The Impact of Transitions in the Higher Education Sector in England on Staff and Students

“…Recruitment events are re-designed to ensure that the university communicates its brand and provides students with the best possible open-day experience and a plethora of digital recruitment events are introduced to showcase the brand. Messages about student satisfaction data, employment outcomes and work placement opportunities for students are communicated to inculcate students into the brand and to get them to 'buy-in' to the neoliberal discourse (Reynolds, 2022). The shiny campus is sold to students as a crucial part of the neoliberal machinery and students are attracted both to its beauty and to the range of promised experiences.…”

“…The shiny campus is sold to students as a crucial part of the neoliberal machinery and students are attracted both to its beauty and to the range of promised experiences. Students view the whole student experience as a transaction in which money is exchanged for the quality of the student experience and the academic award Tate and Glazzard International Journal of Educational and Life Transitions DOI: 10.5334/ijelt.77 (Lynch, 2015;Reynolds, 2022). The emphasis of the 21 st century university is placed on student experience first and academic learning is given a lesser priority.…”

“…The emphasis is on selling a product which offers students a rich range of experiences and ultimately secures students a highly skilled job at the end of the journey. Students buy into the trappings of neoliberalismthe university brand, the campus, the student experience, and the allure of a graduate job are key parts of the product they have decided to purchase, thus viewing HE as a transactional service (Lynch, 2015;Reynolds, 2022).…”

“…New roles have been established to ensure compliance with the regulators and new facilities spring up like mushrooms to increase the desirability of the product to students, thus feeding a sense of entitlement (Reynolds, 2022). However, these transitions have also resulted in transitions for students, which arguably have led to a reconceptualisation of what it means to go to university and the student identity.…”