Higher Education in Austerity Europe

The financial crisis of 2007/2008 prompted governments across Europe to adopt austerity measures aimed at the reduction of their escalating budget deficits. Higher Education in Austerity Europe explores how the resulting cuts in public expenditure - together with the increasing reliance on the privatisation of services - have impacted on higher education directly through the reduction of public sector provision and indirectly as a result of the social and political consequences of that reduction. Moreover, it explores how the effects of these economic policies have differed markedly across the national regions of Europe, with the result that inequality has increased significantly both within and between national regions, and this, in turn, has led to social and political dislocation within and across communities.

It is only by viewing higher education within this broader context that we can begin to understand the full implications of the austerity measures introduced over the last ten years. Jon Nixon draws together leading scholars to delve into the complexity of impact and response generated by these measures. Part 1 focuses on cross-European perspectives; Part 2 on the impact of austerity measures within national systems; and Part 3 on new perspectives and possibilities. The volume also includes considered responses from 'outsiders' by academics located in Asia, Australia, and the USA, providing an additional dimension to the analysis. As well as analysing the full impact of austerity measures across some of the worst hit national regions of Europe, the contributors also identifying openings and possibilities for renewal.

List of contents

Notes on Contributors
Acknowledgements
Foreword (Anne Corbett, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK)
Introduction: Thinking Within, Against and Beyond Austerity (Jon Nixon, The Education University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong)
Part I: Pan-European Perspectives
1. Higher Education, Welfare States and Austerity: Pressures on Competing Public Institutions (Marek Kwiek, University of Poznan, Poland)
2. Crises, Collisions and Sectoral Defence: The European Governance of Education Policy (Ase Gornitzka, University of Oslo, Norway)
3. ‘Calculemus’: Complex Games of Standardization in Higher Education (Paolo Landri, Institute of Research on Population and Social Policies at the National Research Council, Italy, Rosario Lumino, University Federico II, Italy, and Roberto Serpieri, University Federico II, Italy)
Part II: Europe from the Inside
4. Budgetary Constraints and International Aspirations: Higher Education in Poland (Dorota Dakowska, University of Lyon, France)
5. From Neoliberalism to Austerity: Compounded Inequalities in Croatian Higher Education (Danijela Dolenec, University of Zagreb, Croatia)
6. Hollow Enterprise: Austerity Ireland and the Neoliberal University (Marnie Holborow, Dublin City University, Republic of Ireland, and John O’Sullivan, Dublin City University, Republic of Ireland)
7. Reform, Quality and ‘Brain Drain’: The Shadow of Greek Political Turbulence (Daphne Kyriaki-Manessi, Technological Educational Institute of Athens of Athens, Greece)
8. Austerity in Disguise: Attempts at Reshaping Lithuanian Higher Education (Almantas Samalavicius, Vilnius Gedimanas Technical University, Lithuania)
Part III: Beyond Austerity Europe
9. The Politics of Austerity and Entrepreneurialism: Reflections on the Role of the Humanities (Ari-Elmeri Hyvönen, University of Jyvaskyla, Finland, and Esko Harni, University of Jyvaskyla, Finland)
10. Advocating for Excellence: Stepping Out of the Field of Austerity (Nicole Rege Colet, University of Strasbourg, France)
11. Towards a New Epistemic Order: Higher Education after Neoliberalism (Ourania Filippakou, Brunel University, UK)
Reflections: From the Outside Looking In (Tanya Fitzgerald, La Trobe University, Australia; Manja Klemencic, Harvard University, USA, and Jae Park, The Education University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong)
Index

About the author

Jon Nixon was Honorary Professor in the Center for Lifelong Learning Research and Development at the Education University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, and Visiting Professor at Middlesex University, UK.

Summary

The financial crisis of 2007/2008 prompted governments across Europe to adopt austerity measures aimed at the reduction of their escalating budget deficits. Higher Education in Austerity Europe explores how the resulting cuts in public expenditure - together with the increasing reliance on the privatisation of services - have impacted on higher education directly through the reduction of public sector provision and indirectly as a result of the social and political consequences of that reduction. Moreover, it explores how the effects of these economic policies have differed markedly across the national regions of Europe, with the result that inequality has increased significantly both within and between national regions, and this, in turn, has led to social and political dislocation within and across communities.

It is only by viewing higher education within this broader context that we can begin to understand the full implications of the austerity measures introduced over the last ten years. Jon Nixon draws together leading scholars to delve into the complexity of impact and response generated by these measures. Part 1 focuses on cross-European perspectives; Part 2 on the impact of austerity measures within national systems; and Part 3 on new perspectives and possibilities. The volume also includes considered responses from ‘outsiders’ by academics located in Asia, Australia, and the USA, providing an additional dimension to the analysis. As well as analysing the full impact of austerity measures across some of the worst hit national regions of Europe, the contributors also identifying openings and possibilities for renewal.

Foreword

Focuses on the impact and consequences of post-2008 economic policies on higher education across the national regions of Europe.

Additional text

Ten years since the financial crisis, Higher Education in Austerity Europe, provides a unique view into austerity’s impacts on higher education institutions across distinct national contexts.

Product details

• Authors: Jon Nixon, Jon (The Education University of Hong Kong Nixon, Professor Jon (The Education University of Nixon
• Assisted by: Jon Nixon (Editor), Jon (The Education University of Hong Kong Nixon (Editor), Professor Jon (The Education University of Hong Kong Nixon (Editor)
• Publisher: Bloomsbury
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 30.09.2017
• EAN: 9781474277266
• ISBN: 978-1-4742-7726-6
• No. of pages: 256
• Subject: Humanities, art, music > Education > General, dictionaries