Deinstitutionalisation and Renewal in Higher Education

Despite some superficial heterogeneity, higher education institutions around the world share core structures. According to critics such as Ivan Illich, the ossification of these institutional forms has ended up impoverishing the practices they were originally intended to support. This article assess...

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Main Author: Tristan McCowan
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul 2022-02-01
Series:Educação & Realidade
Subjects:
Online Access:https://seer.ufrgs.br/index.php/educacaoerealidade/article/view/117607
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author Tristan McCowan
author_facet Tristan McCowan
author_sort Tristan McCowan
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description Despite some superficial heterogeneity, higher education institutions around the world share core structures. According to critics such as Ivan Illich, the ossification of these institutional forms has ended up impoverishing the practices they were originally intended to support. This article assesses the grounds for these claims and associated construction of alternatives. It identifies three significant features of the institution: gates – the controls on admissions to the university; roles – the distinctions drawn between students, lecturers and other actors; and badges – the processes and artefacts of validation of student learning and scholarship. These three features are seen to have varying forms, levels of rigidity and loci of control, and have ambiguous impacts on equality and fairness, and on the core purpose of the university to promote human understanding. Implications are drawn out for the future of the university, and for current initiatives that are attempting to subvert these structures and create alternative models.
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spelling doaj.art-64b6036600b54d0fb390d90b1f1e82492022-12-22T01:48:33ZengUniversidade Federal do Rio Grande do SulEducação & Realidade0100-31432175-62362022-02-01464Deinstitutionalisation and Renewal in Higher EducationTristan McCowan0University College London (UCL), LondonDespite some superficial heterogeneity, higher education institutions around the world share core structures. According to critics such as Ivan Illich, the ossification of these institutional forms has ended up impoverishing the practices they were originally intended to support. This article assesses the grounds for these claims and associated construction of alternatives. It identifies three significant features of the institution: gates – the controls on admissions to the university; roles – the distinctions drawn between students, lecturers and other actors; and badges – the processes and artefacts of validation of student learning and scholarship. These three features are seen to have varying forms, levels of rigidity and loci of control, and have ambiguous impacts on equality and fairness, and on the core purpose of the university to promote human understanding. Implications are drawn out for the future of the university, and for current initiatives that are attempting to subvert these structures and create alternative models.https://seer.ufrgs.br/index.php/educacaoerealidade/article/view/117607Higher EducationDeschoolingUniversity Reform.
spellingShingle Tristan McCowan
Deinstitutionalisation and Renewal in Higher Education
Educação & Realidade
Higher Education
Deschooling
University Reform.
title Deinstitutionalisation and Renewal in Higher Education
title_full Deinstitutionalisation and Renewal in Higher Education
title_fullStr Deinstitutionalisation and Renewal in Higher Education
title_full_unstemmed Deinstitutionalisation and Renewal in Higher Education
title_short Deinstitutionalisation and Renewal in Higher Education
title_sort deinstitutionalisation and renewal in higher education
topic Higher Education
Deschooling
University Reform.
url https://seer.ufrgs.br/index.php/educacaoerealidade/article/view/117607
work_keys_str_mv AT tristanmccowan deinstitutionalisationandrenewalinhighereducation