School of Education

Thursday 27th October, 12:30pm-1:30pm

Room 432, St Andrew's Building, 11 Eldon Street, Glasgow G3 6NH

 

Should universities serve the nation? Problematising higher education enrolment policies in Australia and Taiwan

Over the last four decades, higher education enrolments have been perceived as various types of ‘problems’. Some governments, for example, have widened university access to respond to the problem of growing student demand, while others have sought to resolve the problem of an insufficiently skilled workforce. A robust body of literature has analysed the effectiveness of policies in resolving these and other problems as outlined by governments; however, few studies have delved deeper to explore the conceptualisations of the problems themselves.

In this talk, Ren-Hao will explore the problematisations of higher education enrolment policies in Australia and Taiwan from 2008 to 2017. Drawing on postructural and comparative frameworks and 40 interviews with politicians and key stakeholders, his research examines the unique articulations of policy problems across both countries to better understand how different ideas, beliefs, and norms are sanctioned and (may) ultimately lead to diverse policy directions. This presentation will focus specifically on notions of ‘national competitiveness/development’ and how the state, universities, individuals, and the broader population are instrumentally operationalised and intimately intertwined. His research posits that higher education enrolment is not merely a straightforward figure that shows how many students enter a university system; rather, it reflects how various historical-political contexts shaped the very nature of higher education and its complex relationships with society.

 

About the speaker

Ren-Hao (Leo) Xu is an advanced Ph.D. candidate at the University of Sydney, Australia, and a Visiting Fellow at Sciences Po, France. A winner of the prestigious Taiwan Government Scholarship, Ren-Hao worked previously in a variety of educational reform and policy settings, including facilitating the 12-Year Basic Education Reform for the Department of Education, Taipei City Government. His research focuses on educational policies and higher education, particularly enrolment policies in Australia and Taiwan, and can be found in the Journal of Education Policy, Australian Universities (Sydney University Press, 2022), and Using Theory in Higher Education (Springer Nature, 2023). He tweets at @Leo_RenHao.

 

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First published: 13 October 2022