HE system of choice: an emerging landscape of post-neoliberal, technocentric and socio-ecological conceptualisations of learning

Powell, Stephen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3906-5867, McCabe, Orlagh ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1095-513X and Ruiz Vargas, Valeria ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0008-0747 (2024) HE system of choice: an emerging landscape of post-neoliberal, technocentric and socio-ecological conceptualisations of learning. Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice, 21 (3). ISSN 1449-9789

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Abstract

The marketisation of education, coupled with a globalised economy of provision, was supercharged by the adoption of learning technology following the COVID-19 pandemic. This has led to changes which have increased the potential for students to have a choice in the pace and place of their learning. What has emerged is the possibility for a diverse, accessible, and economically attractive set of 'learning offers' for globalised students brought about by increased competition between providers with implications for sustainable education. In critique of this new landscape, the project on which this paper reports used Soft Systems Methodology to explore an identified 'problematical situation' of factors influencing student choice about HE in the future. Work included a systematic literature review, running focus groups with expert witnesses including undergraduate students, and practitioner analysis using the Theory of Disruptive Innovation. Applying the scenarios developed, this paper presents a proposed 'Higher Education System of Choice' as a provocation for discussion that identifies an emerging landscape of post-neoliberal, technocentric and socio-ecological conceptualisations of learning.