Say ‘No’ to commodification of universities – Kennedy

Higher education professionals should highlight and oppose the commodification of their education institutions and universities, Britain’s Baroness Helena Kennedy told delegates at the European Association for International Education, or EAIE conference in Glasgow, Scotland last week. She argued that ensuring higher education is accessible for all, rather than just those who can afford it, brings all nations collective wealth.

Baroness Kennedy, a celebrated human rights lawyer and principal of the University of Oxford’s Mansfield College, opened the EAIE’s 27th conference to a packed auditorium. The conference, attended by more than 5,000 delegates from 90 countries, took the theme ‘a wealth of nations’, a nod to Scottish economist Adam Smith’s work, The Wealth of Nations and the rich and diverse range of talents assembled by EAIE members and delegates.

Kennedy feared that a focus on building revenues was worsening problems of student debt and weakening universal access to higher education.

“This year I spent time with academics from an Ivy League institution and they were weeping over what had happened to their institution. They felt that income generation had become paramount. Making money was taking precedence over academic enquiry and scholarship,” claimed the lawyer.

Subjects which have no obvious revenue streams are falling out of favour, she said, with the humanities at risk in some universities. Meanwhile, many students are being saddled with debt. “My burning conviction remains that this experience should be available to anyone who wants it without being saddled with overwhelming debt,” she said.

“Our students must never be seen as cash cows, delivering something,” she added. “We have to make sure that we don’t end up spending more time on maximising revenues than we do on bringing students together; on building that humanity that in the end will be the way of ending conflict in our world.

“The only way we can change it is by calling it ‘Out’ and telling the stories about why it is not working.”

Diverse topics

Kennedy’s opening plenary was among the highlights of the conference, which included more than 150 sessions and 21 workshops on diverse topics including how blended and mobile learning can facilitate global change; managing an international office; sourcing funding; and identifying fraudulent documents.

Two debates were particularly relevant to the conference’s theme: one asked how Adam Smith’s work related to higher education, while another discussed how international students can generate revenue and be agents of social, economic and political change.

But according to Laura Howard, president of EAIE, one of the key benefits for participants, many of whom may have been engaged in joint research or exchange programmes, was meeting and deepening working relationships. “People often meet here for the first time,” she said. “But of course it’s not just about networking. It’s also about learning new things, hearing how other people do things, finding out new information about how to do the job better.”

Participants also discussed the plight of refugees desperately seeking safe passage across borders. Kennedy called for universities to do more to help fellow academics escape, and to help students to finish qualifications in European Union countries.

She reminded delegates that the work of internationalisation was essential in helping break down barriers and helping prevent future conflicts.

“You are the caretakers of our great institutions; you are involved in international work that I think is vital to the work that in the end will make our world safer and more just,” she said.

The conference was closed by hostage negotiator and humanitarian, Terry Waite, who spent four and half years in solitary confinement in Lebanon during the 1980s after being taken hostage by a militant cell linked to Hezbollah.

He had a clear message for lecturers: “Encourage the young to think critically; it is so important,” he said. “Encourage the development of creative imagination, encourage the love of language. Those are to me absolutely pivotal points in enabling me to survive my experience.”

He also criticised politicians’ failure to prevent the current refugee crisis. “This a global and EU problem and what is needed, and what seems to me to be sadly lacking in Europe, is a co-ordinated policy. We should have seen this coming and we should have developed a policy to deal with it,” he said.