Susan Robertson
Susan Robertson is Professor of Sociology of Education and Director, Centre for Globalisation, Education and Societies at the University of Bristol. Her research broadly focuses on the political nature of education in societies, with a particular focus on the ways in which the education sector is deeply implicated in the re/production of social selves and social relations. She is interested in understanding how education is the object and outcome of converging and diverging policies and practices around the globe.
These include the conceptualisation and development of education as a services sector, the commercialisation of education, and the increased role of for-profit actors in the sector. Her research aims to increase the understanding of transformations in the nature of the state, the creation of new (global and regional) platforms for the advance of education projects, the changing role of teachers’ work, the uneven distribution of opportunities for learners, and the implications of these developments for the social outcomes of education.
A closer look: The globalization of higher education
March 17, 2015 | 16:00
A closer look: The globalization of higher education
Susan Robertson, Professor of Sociology of Education, University of Bristol
Universities and higher education systems worldwide are being transformed by new and changing actors, practices, programs, policies, and agendas. The emergence of the concept of the “knowledge economy” in the past decades has reframed higher education as an engine of economic growth, "producing" knowledge and graduates. The globalization of higher education leads not only to increased international collaboration but also to increased international competition, for students and research funding. This is accompanied by increasingly dominant practices such as benchmarking, international rankings and bibliometrics, which emphasize quantitative notions of quality and efficiency in higher education organisations, often at the costs of other important features, which are more difficult to measure and compare. Universities are branching out, using their brand value to expand into new "markets". New, private actors are entering the scene of higher education, furhter changing the landscape of higher education.
Professor Robertson will provide an closer look at the globalization of higher education and research, in particular focusing on the role of different forms of power which are shaping agendas and practices, and on uneven development patterns and outcomes.
This lecture is open to the general public.
