Higher education and the public good: precarious potential?
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Date
2014
Authors
Singh, Mala
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of the Free State
Abstract
Concerns about, and critiques of neo liberal policy regimes in higher education have
heightened the search for alternative normative and organisational models, many
of which have coalesced around the necessity to re imagine and defend the public
missions of higher education. This has given the notion of the public good greater
resonance as an alternative or supplementary frame of reference in debates on higher
education and social change. This article identifies some frequently raised issues in
the analytical literature on the public good in order to indicate the range of conceptual
and operational challenges at stake. It is argued that the ideological constraints and
practical difficulties in moving towards a public good regime make the potential
and prospects of the notion uncertain and almost precarious in constituting a new
foundational basis for considering the social value of higher education. Nevertheless,
resisting or mediating public ‘bads’ and increasing or joining up a variety of public
good interventions remain as necessary and valuable tasks in the face of contending
social purposes of higher education
Description
Keywords
Higher education, Public good, Social change
Citation
Singh, M. (2014). Higher education and the public good: precarious potential?. Acta Academica: Special issue: Rethinking the publics, 46(1), 98-118.