Higher education systems and institutional structures

Higher Education (Globalization)

Medina, a. (n.d.). The Impact of Globalization on Higher Education. Retrieved October 28, 2009, from http://www.umbc.edu/llc/PDFfiles/theimpactofglobalization.pdf/

Medina's literature review argued that higher education, as a cultural institution, simply reproduces the social system in which it is entrenched. This she was able to do by presenting the neoliberalist school of thought as far back as the era of Enlightenment with which education is seen as an apparatus to serve the interest of the dominant class and that the transmission of information and cultural values perpetrates the unequal power distribution in the society. Knowledge is then seen as playing a key role in maintaining power. It goes as far back as the Church's dominance during the 18th century. Medina surrenders to the fact that economic interests are the main key drivers of globalization -- with policies favoring the private sector over the public. Market policies are then borrowed and implemented in the universities: such as in the case of financial cutbacks and privatization which takes away the autonomy of the academe resulting to the subordination of humanities and social sciences to technoscience.

Medina's arguments very much echo the sentiments of Kwiek (2001). These two authors have argued against the economic forces in a globalized economy getting in the way of educational institutions. Such is the case because it is believed that market forces strip away the autonomy and nation-state ideals propagated in the university. This in turn results to the subordination of education to market forces. Consequently, subordination of education to the hegemonic forces of the economy can be expected. Medina's literature review is also helpful in our consideration of our research method. Medina demonstrated two ways of approaching this subject matter. Firstly, the researcher can tackle this issue by employing the method of historical discourse analysis of education and globalization for the purpose of conceptual clarifications. Another way would be to conduct this study utilizing the framework of power. Medina's successful demonstration of hegemonic apparatuses and conflict perspective showed how fruitful one's research task can get.