Consuming higher education : why learning can't be bought / Joanna Williams.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Williams, Joanna, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Education, Higher--Aims and objectives.

Education, Higher.

Education, Higher--Economic aspects.

Education, Higher--Marketing.

Higher education and state.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (x, 166 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

London : Bloomsbury Academic, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2013.

Summary:

Consuming Higher Education explores the status of students within the university and society, and the funding and purpose of higher education, drawing on empirical data, UK and USA government policy documents, speeches by policy makers and media representations of students. Joanna Williams moves beyond the debates surrounding fees to consider the impact of the consumption model on universities, learning, knowledge, and student identity. While consumer status initially appears to empower students, Williams argues that it ultimately erodes students' autonomy and reduces learning to an instrumental focus on credit accumulation. At the same time, in giving students consumer status, lecturers are encouraged to avoid intellectually or emotionally challenging content so as not to upset student consumers, which could promote dissatisfaction. Williams draws these themes and arguments together to consider what it means to be a student and to explore alternative conceptions of higher education

Contents:

Introduction: it's not about the money

Students within a changing university

The rise of the student consumer

Constructing consumption

Teaching consumption and consuming learning

A question of identity

Customer care

Beyond entitlement.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781472552839

1472552830

9781441193377

1441193375

9781283853385

1283853388

9781441163257

1441163255

OCLC:

820036787