I.12. Whose University is it? Neoliberal Governance: The Challenge to Academic Freedom, Equity, and Critical Thinking

This panel invites critical reflection on the contemporary university and its changing role in society.

Higher Education Institutions are under growing pressure to align their core strategies with market logics and achieve high placements in global rankings. Neoliberalism presupposes that they can optimize their effectiveness and efficiency by adopting the practices and values characteristic of the corporate sector.

Students are increasingly viewed as consumers who "purchase" an education to gain marketable skills, influencing their course choices and creating pressure on universities to attract them with the promise of a high-return investment.

The increasing adoption of digital platforms, data-driven technologies, and corporate-style managerial tools to mediate, manage, and deliver educational, research, and administrative processes, often reflect and reinforce market logics and performance accountability.

These potent external influences creates a significant tension within the academic mission. Specifically, the strong drive for market alignment poses a substantial risk of marginalizing alternative knowledges and restricting access for underrepresented groups. Concurrently, the intense focus on operational efficiency and immediate utility can ultimately diminish the university's capacity for fostering critical thinking and deep intellectual exploration.

How can the university maintain its independence, academic freedom and commitment to democracy when financing is dictated by performance efficiency and market appeal? How can we defend the university as a place for critical thought, equity, social inclusion, and public responsibility?

We seek theoretical and empirical contributions that rigorously explore these dynamics. Submissions should specifically address the tension between institutional survival and ethical mission.