Papers by Simon Marginson
Globalisation, Societies and Education, 2021
The paper compares Anglo-American and Chinese approaches to the outcomes of higher education, pri... more The paper compares Anglo-American and Chinese approaches to the outcomes of higher education, primarily but not solely collective outcomes, by examining the Western domain of 'public good' and 'public goods' and parallel or near parallel activities in China. It reviews scholarly discourses of society, state and higher education in the respective political cultures ('traditions'), including individualism and collectivism, university autonomy, the critical function, higher education in civil society, and global tianxia and global common good. A key issue in symmetrical cross-cultural comparison is the position from which it is made; and as well as elucidating similarities and differences the paper develops what Sen calls a 'trans-positional' view based on integrating the two positional views. The two traditions are not closely aligned. However, aside for the Anglo-American public/private dualism in economics (which occludes collective outcomes), all ideas in both traditions can contribute to transpositional understanding of the individualised and collective outcomes of higher education.
The Promise of Higher Education, 2021
The 70th year of the IAU has been marked not only by the Covid-19 pandemic but by the geopolitica... more The 70th year of the IAU has been marked not only by the Covid-19 pandemic but by the geopolitical tension between the United States and China. After almost four decades of cooperation, which began in shared opposition to Soviet Russia and a shared interest in China’s modernisation, the leaders of each country have become strident critics of the other. The escalating war of words has led to disruptions in trade, communications and visas and now threatens the vast and fruitful cooperation between universities and researchers. Much is at stake. Many US universities are in China, such as Stanford with its state-of-the-art centre at Peking University and NYU with a branch campus in Shanghai. Chinese universities benefit from visits in both directions, from bench-marking using American partner templates and from the return of US-trained doctoral graduates. US-China links in science are focused on crucial areas like biomedicine and epidemiology, planetary science and ecology, engineering,...
Since the 1960s there has been a major expansion in the number of people in Australia holding pos... more Since the 1960s there has been a major expansion in the number of people in Australia holding post school educational credentials and the proportion of the full time work force with those credentials.'The penalties of not holding credentials, in terms of the incidence and duration of unemployment, are increasingly severe. At the same time, there has been a long term decline in the income associated with degree and trade qualifications, relative to all incomes. One source of claims about declining educational standards is that the need for eaucation is coinciding with declining returns from education. Within the long term trend there has been some fluctuation, with the 1980s showing increases in the incomes associated with academic degrees. However, this trend is thought to be only temporary because increases in numbers of graduates have been more rapid than the growth of total employment. The notion of credentialism and positional good explains that if educational demand and supply don't rise in tandem, and if the value of that education is not held high in the labor market, quality increases in education do little to influence the economic benefits of having higher education. Contains 18 references. (Author/GLR)
Higher Education Quarterly, 2004
In the last decade there have been many attempts to mount online distance higher education progra... more In the last decade there have been many attempts to mount online distance higher education programs on a global scale, led by the e-learning industry and university companies and consortia, some with government support: e.g.
International Organisations Research Journal, 2015
Research is now organized on the basis of a global science system, articulated by English languag... more Research is now organized on the basis of a global science system, articulated by English language journals, which partly subsumes national systems and is the source of most innovations. To be effective, national science institutions must be closely and continually engaged in, and contributing to, this global system. "Science and technology in one country" is no longer a strategic option. Russian science is characterized by very low rates of publication, citation and joint international authorship, relative to system and university size. The total number of papers produced each year is declining. Only Lomonsov Moscow State University is ranked in the first 750 universities in the world on the volume of published science in English. Between 1995 and 2012, the number of internationally coauthored papers increased by 168% worldwide but 35% in Russia. The closed door to international links is a legacy of the Soviet period. The situation in Russia contrasts with the spectacular growth of science in China and East Asia, powered by active and focused states with an internationalization drive. This article discusses the trajectory of East Asian science. While Russia cannot replicate the East Asian family or political culture, a vigorous internationalization policy would kick-start the transformation of national science.
OECD Education Working Papers, 2007
fue investigador y profesor en diversas universidades e institutos australianos; miembro de varia... more fue investigador y profesor en diversas universidades e institutos australianos; miembro de varias asociaciones académicas internacionales como la Society for Research into Higher Education del Reino Unido, y la Association for Studies in Higher Education de Estados Unidos. Ha publicado varios libros, cientos de artículos especializados y dado conferencias sobre educación superior. Actualmente es profesor en el Centre for the Study of Higher Education at the
Journal of Studies in International Education, 2007
From 1990 to 2003, Australia’s share of the global market in cross-border degrees grew from 1% to... more From 1990 to 2003, Australia’s share of the global market in cross-border degrees grew from 1% to 9%. Full fee-paying foreign students now constitute one quarter of enrolments, and education is Australia’s third largest services export. Positioned as an Anglo-American system on the edge of Asia, Australia has differentiated itself from the United States and United Kingdom on price, location, safety, and climate, not academic content. The supply side keys to growth are deregulation and prolonged reductions in the public funding of universities. However, the Shanghai Jiao Tong University survey of research performance finds that Australia is less strong in research than cross-border degrees. Australia’s policy may have negative implications for its longer-term global standing and limit the range of position-taking strategies available to its universities. These themes are explored in the context of the emerging worldwide market and Australian policy changes that have enhanced institut...
Higher Education Dynamics, 2011
Education has long been considered as a corner stone in economic development. The twenty-first ce... more Education has long been considered as a corner stone in economic development. The twenty-first century has brought new challenges and opportunities for higher education. In the wake of the transition from elitist to mass education, universities worldwide are under pressure to enhance access and equity, on the one hand, and to maintain high standards of quality and excellence, on the
The f:ee market human capital discourse and its associated material practices now play a signific... more The f:ee market human capital discourse and its associated material practices now play a significant role in education. This discourse assumes that education is an economic site in which individuals invest in the acquisition of qualifications in order to maximize their future earning power. It demands the full privatization and deregulation of education. The development of the discourse is analyzed as follows: from 17th century scientific and liberal conceptions of the individual, society, freedom, and market equity; through Adam Smith's human capital doctrine and the second development of human capital ideas by Keynesian and neoclassical economists; to the free market human capital arguments of Milton Friedman and his successors. The policy claims of Friedman's Australian followers are examined, and the paper closes with consideration of the implications of free market practices. Appended are 44 references. (Author/LMS)
Higher Education Management and Policy, 2007
The Development of Higher Education Research in Europe, 2013
Australia is a nation of 23.1 million people (ABS, 2013a) occupying the whole of an island contin... more Australia is a nation of 23.1 million people (ABS, 2013a) occupying the whole of an island continent at the west end of the Pacific Ocean in the Southern Hemisphere. It is a British settler-state based on the forcible appropriation of the land of the indigenous inhabitants, akin in that respect to Canada (the nation it resembles most closely) and the United States. Like the North American countries it is a federation based on the unification of originally separated colonial enclaves.
Simon Marginson argues that universities need to regenerate their role in the wake of neoliberal ... more Simon Marginson argues that universities need to regenerate their role in the wake of neoliberal policies.
When will the 'education revolution' really begin? Is the nation ready for the challenges... more When will the 'education revolution' really begin? Is the nation ready for the challenges of the global knowledge economy and the emerging centres of innovation around the world? What are the key problems and where are the policy solutions? These are the questions addressed in 'Education, Science and Public Policy', in which nine policy practitioners and educators shape the knowledge economy into bite-sized chunks for public policy debate. Contributors include Terry Moran, Maxine McKew, Collette Tayler, Barry McGaw, Shih Choon Fong, Simon Marginson, Michael Gallagher, Margaret Gardner and Ian Chubb.
ABSTRACT The paper opens with discussion of the problems of international education in two instit... more ABSTRACT The paper opens with discussion of the problems of international education in two institutions at opposite ends of the status and resource hierarchy in Australian higher education. One is a post-1987 institution with a minor research mission, in the international market a volume-driven provider. The other is a research intensive university which has maintained itself at medium size and tends to operate at the top end of the international market (that is, in comparison with other Australian institutions, though not in comparison with US institutions). It recruits international students of good academic quality including a high number of
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Papers by Simon Marginson