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
Article Title

Pulling the strings: the apparatus of university policy production

ERA Journal ID19921
Article CategoryArticle
AuthorsMargetts, Fiona, Whitty, Stephen Jonathan and Taylor, Brad
Journal TitleJournal of Higher Education Policy and Management
Journal Citation46 (3), pp. 321-345
Number of Pages25
Year2024
PublisherTaylor & Francis
Place of PublicationAustralia
ISSN1360-080X
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.

Keywordshigher education, institutional policy, policy-practice divide, managerial discursive dominance, managerial normalisation, managerialism
Contains Sensitive ContentDoes not contain sensitive content
ANZSRC Field of Research 2020390299. Education policy, sociology and philosophy not elsewhere classified
Byline AffiliationsSchool of Business
School of Humanities and Communication
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