Pulling the strings: the apparatus of university policy production

Article

Margetts, Fiona, Whitty, Stephen Jonathan and Taylor, Brad. 2024. "Pulling the strings: the apparatus of university policy production." Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management. 46 (3), pp. 321-345. https://doi.org/10.1080/1360080X.2024.2344131

Related Output
Article Title	Pulling the strings: the apparatus of university policy production
ERA Journal ID	19921
Article Category	Article
Authors	Margetts, Fiona, Whitty, Stephen Jonathan and Taylor, Brad
Journal Title	Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management
Journal Citation	46 (3), pp. 321-345
Number of Pages	25
Year	2024
Publisher	Taylor & Francis
Place of Publication	Australia
ISSN	1360-080X
	1469-9508
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)	https://doi.org/10.1080/1360080X.2024.2344131
Web Address (URL)	https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1360080X.2024.2344131
Abstract	ABSTRACT University governing bodies, especially academic boards, play a crucial role in policy formation. However, due to the predominance of managerial values over academic values in the policy-making process, a persistent divide exists between policy formulation and implementation. This divide results from the marginalisation of academics and the dominance of managerial authority figures within these bodies. Our study investigates the latter to determine the precise Foucauldian apparatus used by authority figures to influence policy-making meetings. Using an innovative arts-based method, we analyse ethnographic vignettes through a Foucauldian lens and transform them into collages depicting the apparatus used by authority figures: Strategic Managerial Monumentalism, Managerial Historical Revisionism, Managerial Discursive Dominance, Managerial Panoptic Surveillance, and Managerial Normalisation. We contend that only a well-defined separation of governance powers can effectively counter the encroachment of managerialism and uphold the democratic representation of academic values in university policies to bridge the policy-practice divide.
Keywords	higher education, institutional policy, policy-practice divide, managerial discursive dominance, managerial normalisation, managerialism
Is part of	Gripped by managerialism's claw: Power, policy, and resistance in the neoliberal university
Contains Sensitive Content	Does not contain sensitive content
ANZSRC Field of Research 2020	390299. Education policy, sociology and philosophy not elsewhere classified
Public Notes	This article is part of a UniSQ Thesis by publication. See Related Output.
Byline Affiliations	School of Business
	School of Humanities and Communication

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