See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/263059767

The marketisation of higher education and the student consumer, edited by

Mike Molesworth, Richard Scullion, and Elizabeth Nixon

Article  in  Journal of Marketing Management · October 2011

DOI: 10.1080/0267257X.2011.614734

CITATIONS READS

4 1,472

1 author:

Jane Hemsley-Brown
University of Surrey
73 PUBLICATIONS   3,621 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE

All content following this page was uploaded by Jane Hemsley-Brown on 14 October 2018.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

Book Review
The Marketisation of Higher Education and the Student Consumer
Edited by Mike Molesworth, Richard Scullion, and Elizabeth Nixon, (Routledge, Abingdon,
2011) 248 pp., £24.99, ISBN13: 978-0-415-588447-0 (pbk)

In this well-conceived and logically-constructed collection of nineteen chapters in four

sections, the Editors have succeeded in demystifying some of the workings of the
marketisation of higher education (p.6), but having achieved this more modest aim The
Marketisation of Higher Education and the Student Consumer also offers considerable
insight into the effects of government policy on the structure and operation of universities
(back cover) in a global context.

The editors believe the key arguments underpinning the contributions in the book are first,
global and historical perspectives to contextualise the emergence of ‘market-orientation’ in
the relationships between university and government and between universities and society
(p.228). Second, a reflection on the motivations for a critique of marketisation in HE, and
third, what the terms marketisation and consumption mean in the context of higher education.
The book brings together a range of academic perspectives, critical accounts and empirical
research to explore the issues and experiences of higher education in the context of
marketisation and covers: The international and financial context of marketisation; The new
purposes of universities; The implications of university branding and promotion; League
tables and student surveys vs. quality of education; The higher education market and distance
learning; Students as ‘active consumers’ in the co-creation of value and changing student
experiences and demands. The book has contributions from many respected and recognised
authors and academics involved in higher education research including: Ronald Barnett,
Roger Brown, Chris Chapleo, Nick Foskett and Paul Gibbs, and includes an inspired
concluding message from Laurie Taylor in his journalistic guise as an academic at the
University of Poppleton.

The first section explores the major reasons that governments and managers of institutions
turned toward markets as an organising mechanism and is very well balanced with two
introductory chapters taking a largely positive view of the marketing of HE from different
perspectives, followed by a third chapter which examines the two opposing sides of the
argument for and against the market in higher education. The final two chapters in this
section are largely taking a negative view of markets and raise concerns about the teaching
and learning, and the impact on students themselves.

Following the introductory chapter (Chapter 1) by Frank Furedi, Roger Brown’s Chapter 2
provides an excellent starting point for the book and the first section, by discussing what is
meant by marketisation; he distinguishes marketisation from ‘privatisation’; describes the
principal features of a higher education market; and considers how far a number of developed
higher education systems have moved down the market route. The reader is presented with a
logical and well-structured summary of the key concepts of marketisation – not unfamiliar to
scholars of economics, but in this case, in relation to student education, higher education and
universities. Brown offers two concluding comments which summarise the arguments: First
the main drivers of marketisation include the need to accommodate larger numbers of
students without compromising on quality; and second we should not overlook the role of the
state in determining the extent and pace of marketisation. The chapter provides an ideal
opening for a text on this topic. Just when the reader starts to think they might need
reminding about what happened before the march of marketisation in higher education, this
chapter is followed by Nick Foskett’s Chapter (3), which comprehensively but concisely
expands on the issues alluded to in Chapter 2.

Chapter 3 includes a short section on universities and markets over the last 750 years which
provides the reader with a reminder of a period leading up to and beyond the 1980’s and ’90s
when enhanced marketisation emerged following policy and statutory changes. Topics such
as student demand, the promotion of choice and competition, international markets and
globalisation bring the reader to the final conclusion which highlights the important concept
of market risk – a leadership challenge for those involved in managing universities.

Ronald Barnett makes an important point in Chapter 4 when he observes that ‘The marketised
university polarises opinion’ (p.39). He goes on to further remind the reader that the ‘issue
of the market is an ideological site’ (p.39) and that ‘ideologies have both pernicious and
virtuous aspects’ (p.49). He provides an excellent and delicately balanced argument that
explores these two polarised viewpoints. He concludes that the market – ‘the devil – has the
best tunes’ (p.50) and warns readers that the pernicious elements of the market might
dominate unless countervailing measures are taken (p.50). However, he focuses throughout
on a positive note which is that at the heart of the market are the student-consumers and the
pedagogical relationship.
Section One concludes with two chapters: Chapter 5 where Gibbs attempts to compare the
notions of time implicit in education with that implicit in consumerism; and Lewis Elton’s
Chapter (6) which focuses on complexity, collegiality and professionalism. Both authors are
concerned that education, learning and the student should not be trampled on in the march of
marketisation and the demands placed on academics.

Section Two of the book focuses specifically on some of the manifestations of a marketised
higher education in practice (p.229) and covers vision and values; league tables; branding;
widening participation; student demand; and the consumer metaphor.

Chapter 7 is well written, and fascinating to read, and reports on the results of a study of a
corpus of university mission statements – Table 7 showing a noun frequency list is
particularly illuminating. Authors Helen Sauntson and Liz Morrish identify three sub-
corpora which represent the three earliest ‘mission groups’ (p.75). The authors find that the
mission statements are dominated by neo-liberal discourse which extols marketisation,
commodification and globalisation (p.83) and noteworthy differences emerge between
mission groups despite the thematic and discursive similarity. The authors were encouraged
by glimmerings of resistance to what they describe as the ‘dominant discursive discourse’,
however as the authors note: such words as intellectual, liberal, freedom and radical occur
infrequently (p.84).

Neo-liberalism is also a theme in the following Chapter (8) by authors Stella Jones-Devitt and
Catherine Samiei who claim that the unchallenged acceptance of a neo-liberal approach in
higher education threatens the autonomy and independence of the university, and may result
in unintended consequences that compromise the fundamental principles and values of higher
education (p.98). The authors construct a convincing argument which challenges a number
of key assumptions in terms of markets, which they argue should be examined critically by
all stakeholders. The chapter provides a rich source of counter-arguments to the marketisation
of higher education in terms of current practice and examines the roles of the state, the
privileging of individualism and escalating regulation.

The third section which focuses on the students, consumers and citizens (Johan Nordensvärd
(Chapter 13); Joanna Williams (Chapter 14); Helen Haywood, Rebecca Jenkins and Mike
Molesworth (Chapter 15); Elizabeth Nixon, Richard Scullion, and Mike Molesworth (Chapter
16); Mike Neary and Andy Hagyard (Chapter 17)) shows how a marketised higher education
environment may create dominant student identities based on the way they engage with
 consumerism. The authors focus on some of the metaphors, consequences – intended and
unintended – of consumerism and students as consumers of higher education, although they
acknowledge that it is a positive move to put the student at the centre of within a market-
oriented context (p.230). The final chapter in the previous section (Section 2, Chapter 12)
however, also focuses on the metaphor of the student consumer (p.142). Felix Maringe seeks
to provide both an appraisal and critique of the consumer metaphor and traces its emergence
from the Total Quality Management (TQM) movement (p.154). Chapter 13 describes and
explains the usage of neo-liberal metaphors; elaborates on this to define the roles of students
within the consumer framework, and discusses citizenship in comparison with a neo-liberal
consumer framework. The two authors do not use the prior work of one another, and it is not
easy to see why the two chapters are placed in different sections of the book, although they
do cover different aspects of consumerism.
The overall themes in the book are logically presented and the sections are clearly defined,
although one Chapter does seem a little out of line with the main themes of the book:
Chapter 11 focuses on summer schools and the international student market in Ireland, which
has less overlap with the more generic themes in the book and the challenges of
marketisation, consumerism and neoliberalism. The author notes, however, that in terms of
Summer Schools, conceptualising students as consumers is problematic. Consumption of
educational products may be influenced by many factors.

The theme of neo-liberalism in the text works well and is addressed from a number of
standpoints throughout the book; however, the theme of student as consumer and the
consumer metaphor are less strong and less coherent across the various chapters, with the
possible exception of Nordensvärd (Chapter 13) which is a concise, tightly written and
logically argued chapter addressing some of the central themes of the book. Despite these
very minor criticisms of the book my well-thumbed copy will continue to be referred to for
academic purposes and I congratulate the authors and the Editors on providing a thought-
provoking series of chapters in a coherent and logical volume that provides critical but
constructive perspectives on the marketisation of higher education and the student consumer.

Jane Hemsley-Brown

View publication stats