'A spokesperson for Strathclyde says the university is "committed to world-leading research, education and knowledge exchange'
No disrespect to Strathclyde, but this is material for a Monty Python sketch! To take up just one point in this classic: what is meant by the word 'and' here?
The amount of bullshit-to use Harry Frankfurt's technical term-that management comes out with is hilarious. What is "world-leading" research and what is "knowledge exchange"? Committed to education? So glad to hear that, Stratchclyde!
~~~
This is important: the takeover by managers, accountants, pen-pushers, publicists, self-promoters, consultants and whores is, you think, probably a feature of a number of areas of social and cultural life. What that entails is an exclusive focus on research, league tables, rankings and the number of foreign students you can pull in. Quantification and 'commodification' go hand in hand and so the poor hapless teacher, that grim survivor from the old world, is left clutching at values and approaches to education that stand out like a sore thumb.
'Since perhaps the 1970s, certainly the 1980s, official discourse has become increasingly colonised by an economistic idiom, which is derived not strictly from economic theory proper, but rather from the language of management schools, business consultants and financial journalism. British society has been subject to a deliberate campaign, initiated in free-market think tanks in the 1960s and 1970s and pushed strongly by business leaders and right-wing commentators ever since, to elevate the status of business and commerce and to make ‘contributing to economic growth’ the overriding goal of a whole swathe of social, cultural and intellectual activities which had previously been understood and valued in other terms.' (Stefan Collini)
The 'marketplace of ideas', students who are now 'customers' and research projects that can bring in the dosh. Universities now have to be centres of "excellence" (but of course, who is going to say: "We aim to be a fairly good university"?)
Use the technology, ride the tiger. Can't you teach Shakespeare using only 140 characters? Wikipedia says Shakespeare never existed. Click the 'like' button if you think Descartes is cool. Isn't there a film-version of Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations? If Dante could write a blog what would he say? How to teach African farmers basic English using txt mssgs 4 ex so them :-)
The knowledge economy. There ain't much left of it but, hey, don't let that get you down. Training sessions. Training the trainers, inspiring managers, quality control matrices for dummies. What are the KPIs? (Key Performance indicators, in case you were clueless), the TOCs, the data points? Impact factor: what impact has your research had on society? Suicide rates, for example? Was Ghazali's Refutation better than Dan Brown's Da vinci? Is Islam a religion of peace. True or False? (You will receive bonus marks if you are a Muslim).
The communications revolution (better than that stuffy old Marx's). The revolution is on the horizon. Yale has a course with 160,000 students (and I thought I had grading problems!). In the end we can whittle it down to ten universities. 100 million people studying psychology 101. If you don't like parts of the course you can edit the material yourself. Gold stars are awarded to students who can explain the ontological tension in a Kant-Hegel synthesis of inter-cultural, dialectical a priori objectivity in a cartoon.
An applicant for the Dean position used the following words in his talk:
knowledge economy
cutting-edge research
global player
student-demand
critical thinking
what do employers want
best ethical standards
knowledge transfer activities
innovative strategy
funding opportunities
Blahspeak, Blairspeak.
The next candidate is a bitch who has only made it to the short list because her daddy knows the vice-Chancellor.
In the morning you drive past a sign that reads 'education city'. After that comes another sign, 'Smile, you'll feel better'. It's at times like this that my hand reaches out for someone who could have been my best friend, Johnnie Walker.
No disrespect to Strathclyde, but this is material for a Monty Python sketch! To take up just one point in this classic: what is meant by the word 'and' here?
The amount of bullshit-to use Harry Frankfurt's technical term-that management comes out with is hilarious. What is "world-leading" research and what is "knowledge exchange"? Committed to education? So glad to hear that, Stratchclyde!
~~~
This is important: the takeover by managers, accountants, pen-pushers, publicists, self-promoters, consultants and whores is, you think, probably a feature of a number of areas of social and cultural life. What that entails is an exclusive focus on research, league tables, rankings and the number of foreign students you can pull in. Quantification and 'commodification' go hand in hand and so the poor hapless teacher, that grim survivor from the old world, is left clutching at values and approaches to education that stand out like a sore thumb.
'Since perhaps the 1970s, certainly the 1980s, official discourse has become increasingly colonised by an economistic idiom, which is derived not strictly from economic theory proper, but rather from the language of management schools, business consultants and financial journalism. British society has been subject to a deliberate campaign, initiated in free-market think tanks in the 1960s and 1970s and pushed strongly by business leaders and right-wing commentators ever since, to elevate the status of business and commerce and to make ‘contributing to economic growth’ the overriding goal of a whole swathe of social, cultural and intellectual activities which had previously been understood and valued in other terms.' (Stefan Collini)
The 'marketplace of ideas', students who are now 'customers' and research projects that can bring in the dosh. Universities now have to be centres of "excellence" (but of course, who is going to say: "We aim to be a fairly good university"?)
Use the technology, ride the tiger. Can't you teach Shakespeare using only 140 characters? Wikipedia says Shakespeare never existed. Click the 'like' button if you think Descartes is cool. Isn't there a film-version of Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations? If Dante could write a blog what would he say? How to teach African farmers basic English using txt mssgs 4 ex so them :-)
The knowledge economy. There ain't much left of it but, hey, don't let that get you down. Training sessions. Training the trainers, inspiring managers, quality control matrices for dummies. What are the KPIs? (Key Performance indicators, in case you were clueless), the TOCs, the data points? Impact factor: what impact has your research had on society? Suicide rates, for example? Was Ghazali's Refutation better than Dan Brown's Da vinci? Is Islam a religion of peace. True or False? (You will receive bonus marks if you are a Muslim).
The communications revolution (better than that stuffy old Marx's). The revolution is on the horizon. Yale has a course with 160,000 students (and I thought I had grading problems!). In the end we can whittle it down to ten universities. 100 million people studying psychology 101. If you don't like parts of the course you can edit the material yourself. Gold stars are awarded to students who can explain the ontological tension in a Kant-Hegel synthesis of inter-cultural, dialectical a priori objectivity in a cartoon.
An applicant for the Dean position used the following words in his talk:
knowledge economy
cutting-edge research
global player
student-demand
critical thinking
what do employers want
best ethical standards
knowledge transfer activities
innovative strategy
funding opportunities
Blahspeak, Blairspeak.
The next candidate is a bitch who has only made it to the short list because her daddy knows the vice-Chancellor.
In the morning you drive past a sign that reads 'education city'. After that comes another sign, 'Smile, you'll feel better'. It's at times like this that my hand reaches out for someone who could have been my best friend, Johnnie Walker.
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