| Samenvatting: | In the wake of recent policy decisions and governmental rhetoric that directly targets Arts and Humanities degrees in the UK, this thesis investigates how Arts and Humanities students perceive their choice of degree subject. Using a conceptual framework that combines the Foucauldian concept of discourse, and the work of Foucault, Bernstein and other authors who explore how power is structured in society, a thematic and critical discourse analysis of the data reveals to what extent certain discourses were present in student’s perceptions. The effect of neoliberalism in Higher Education constructs students as consumers and Arts and Humanities degrees as ‘low value’, intrinsic value directly related to monetary worth. These form the neoliberal discourses addressed in the study. Reflecting upon the marketisation of Higher Education, the study argues that students are unwilling participants in neoliberal imaginings, their perceptions a site of resistance and struggle between interpretations inside and outside the dominant discourse. Overall, the ‘student as consumer’ and ‘low value’ discourses had not, by any means fully embedded themselves within student perceptions. Rather, corresponding with an important and raging academic debate surrounding the purpose of university and the value of degrees, given the realms of their reality, students were able to confidently and imaginatively envision alternative discourses that challenged neoliberal ideals. Such a challenge poses significant questions around how universities are conceptualised and managed going forward, and to what organising principles governments should prioritise for a healthy and happy society.
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