Higher Education and Intellectual Retrogression

This book critically analyses the historical evolution of ideas, perceptions, and principles on higher education and unravels a few of its interlinked aspects -- quality, massification, privatization, and commercialization. It presents an original and penetrative critique of neo-liberal ideas and policies reigning higher education since the World War II across the globe. The volume argues that with the proliferation of 'academic capitalism' the quality of higher education has been...
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This book critically analyses the historical evolution of ideas, perceptions, and principles on higher education and unravels a few of its interlinked aspects -- quality, massification, privatization, and commercialization. It presents an original and penetrative critique of neo-liberal ideas and policies reigning higher education since the World War II across the globe. The volume argues that with the proliferation of 'academic capitalism' the quality of higher education has been inevitably compromised. It presents a meticulous evaluation of global researches reflecting on trends of decline in academic learning -- in its effort, quality, standards, and overall intellectual level and rigour. Finally, it illuminates as to why it is potentially dangerous to contune clinging ideationally to neo-liberal reign in education and thereby evading some of the lasting and universal wisdoms and precepts of the educational reign preceding neo-liberal market-oriented predominancy.  

The book will be of interest to students, teachers and researchers of education, higher education, sociology of education, economics and politics of education. It will also be useful for academicians, higher education administration, policymakers, schoolteachers, and those interested in debates and issues around higher education.