Institutions and ideology of managerialism in higher education and science

Abstract

Reforms in the sphere of higher education and science have significantly changed its institutional structure. Managerialism as a neoliberal ideology was one of the sources of these reforms. Extensive spreading of managerialism stimulated marketization of higher education and science without due regard to professional values and institutions and resulted in the formation of institutional traps. The paper studies the effect of managerialism on the reforms enacted and their outcomes through the prism of discourses between educators and researchers. Methodologically the research rests upon original institutional economics and elements of narrative economics, including quantitative and qualitative analysis of the evolution and transformation of the ideology and theory of managerialism and its effect on management processes in higher education and science. Based on empirical data – questionnaire and in-depth interviews of researchers of the Southern Federal University (Rostov-on-Don, Russian Federation) – we explore the way in which they interpret the optimization of higher education and science. We also establish and assess the role of formal and informal mechanisms of state reform and effects of institutional optimization traps in these areas. Institutional traps analyzed through the prism of debates between the main actors display the key characteristics of the institutional sphere of education and science that impede its modernization and prevent it from enhancing its image globally. To make the reception of the reforms more positive, there is a need for constructive dialog between the governing body and subordinate entities and contact between the main actors and reformers.

Keywords

• managerialism
• institutional changes
• neoliberal ideology
• institutional traps
• higher education
• russia