This edited collection demonstrates how discourses and practices associated with marketisation, differentiation and equality are manifested in UK higher education today. Uniting leading scholars in higher education and equality in England, the contributors and editors expose the contradictions arising from the tension between aims for increased equality and an increasingly marketised higher education. As the authors seek to reveal both the intended and unintended consequences of the intensified marketisation of the sector, they critically examine the implications of these changes. In doing so, they reveal the ways in which institutional policy and discourse are involved in masking the contradictions between an educational marketplace and education as a vehicle for advancing equality and social justice. This pioneering volume will be of interest and value to students and scholars of higher education in England, education policy and the marketisation of higher education, as well as policy makers and practitioners.

This book traces the development of a fully marketised higher education system in England over a 30-year period, and identifies five distinct stages of market reforms culminating in the Higher Education and Research Act. It employs a critical policy discourse analysis and addresses several key aspects of the current higher education landscape.

This book explores the history of higher education in Thailand, and the ways in which excellence and equity have played out over time. Classed as a developing country, Thailand has implemented wide-reaching legislative and regulatory responses relating to the purpose, character of and access to higher education. The authors investigate these changes by interrogating the mechanisms and reciprocities that have operated at the international level to trigger this decision making, and acknowledge that these changes have often run up against long-standing cultural norms and ideologies. Thailand has a highly stratified society, and maintains a strong commitment to the preservation of Thai identity and traditional values: tensions and pressures are likely to arise when history, culture and ideology are not aligned with political decree. Importantly, the push and pull between equity and excellence within the education system are likely to lie at the heart of those tensions.

This book discusses the central role education and research play in generating both value and comparative advantages in the (imageries of) global competition, competitiveness and transnational value chains. They are seen as assets placed at the forefront of developments that are arguably reshaping individuals, society and economy. This edited volume explores these developments in terms of changing relations between society, economy, science and individuals. The idea that we live in global knowledge societies and knowledge-based economies or that present-day productive systems constitute an industry 4.0 have gained currency as descriptions of contemporary society that are said to bear direct and indirect consequences for political, economic, and social orders. In this context, innovation, science and education are central themes in contemporary discussions about the future of modern societies. Innovation is enthusiastically embraced as the panacea for all sorts of societal issues of our times; science is equally deemed to play a decisive role in solving current problems and in heralding a bright future with more wealth and more welfare for all citizens; education is conferred the task to producing individuals equipped with both skills and competences considered key to innovation but also displaying the attitudes and dispositions that will secure continuous innovation and economic growth.

Well-educated populations are important aspects of any contemporary society, as education increases national and global development and the positive expansion of communities to participate actively in civil matters also increases. Educational equality is based on the principles of administrative competence and fairness of access and distribution of resources, opportunities, and treatment, which ensures success for every person. Ensuring equal access to quality education requires addressing a wide range of persistent inequalities in society and includes a stronger focus on how different forms of inequalities intersect to produce unequal opportunities or outcomes that affect marginalized and vulnerable groups. Policy and Practice Challenges for Equality in Education takes a multifaceted look at issues of equality and inequality in education as related to policy, practice, resource access, and distribution. As such, this book explores the potential practices in education that serve to mitigate and transform unproductive practices which have left societies scarred by social and educational inequalities. The chapters provide a critical analysis of the manifestations of inequalities in various educational contexts and discerns how broader social inequalities are informed by education-related matters. This book is ideal for sociologists, administrators, instructors, policymakers, data scientists, community leaders, practitioners, stakeholders, researchers, academicians, and students interested in educational equality and the unique challenges being faced worldwide.

This handbook explores feeling like an ‘imposter’ in higher education and what this can tell us about contemporary educational inequalities. Asking why imposter syndrome matters now, we investigate experiences of imposter syndrome across social locations, institutional positions, and intersecting inequalities. Our collection queries advice to fit-in with the university, and authors reflect on (not)belonging in, with and against educational institutions. The collection advances understandings of imposter syndrome as socially situated, in relation to entrenched inequalities and their recirculation in higher education. Chapters combine creative methods and linger on the figure of the ‘imposter’ - wary of both individualising and celebrating imposters as lucky, misfits, fraudsters, or failures, and critically interrogating the supposed universality of imposter syndrome.