Managerialism in higher education

Sir, – The term "neo-liberalism" has been extensively bandied about in Tom Dunne's recent review of Lynch et al's New Managerialism in Education, and also in letters to the Editor on the same subject from Shaun McCann and Patricia Palmer (June 6th).

Neo-liberalism has become a popular slogan of those on the left, and whatever it generally means to those who use it so freely, it is surely misapplied when it comes to higher education. If we have to identify an “ism” that is the curse of higher education, then managerialism fits the bill much better. There is nothing liberal about what is being done to universities: they are increasingly dictated to by the State and its agencies, notably the Higher Education Authority and Science Foundation Ireland. The voices of academics seem to count for very little.

Of course universities, which rely on taxpayers’ money, have to be accountable. But university autonomy and academic freedom are core (old-fashioned) liberal values which are under threat, not only from the State and its agencies but also from within, as non-academic “managers” gain increasing power and influence.

There is a world of difference between well-managed business corporations and the strangling bureaucracy which passes for management in much of the Irish public sector.

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Neo-liberalism? Give me a break! – Yours, etc,

JOHN SHEEHAN,

Willbrook Lawn, Dublin 14.