The past fifteen years have witnessed an extraordinary increase in the involvement of global management consultancy firms (including EY, Deloitte, PwC, KPMG and McKinsey) in the management and governance of public higher education. While this trend is particularly evident in the UK, the US and Australia, it has spread to other countries.
Analysing a series of consultancy reports on university futures published between 2012 and 2023, Cris Shore examines how these firms have embedded themselves in universities and cemented their expertise, profitability and power. Examining the future scenarios they imagine, he argues that these reports signal a new phase in the development of academic capitalism, one characterised by deepening financialisation and consultancy-driven strategies for unbundling, marketizing, and capturing university assets.
Shore asks, what are the implications of these interventions for the mission and meaning of the public university and academic freedom?
Program
13:00 – 13:10 Welcome
13:10 – 14:00 Guest Lecture
14:00 – 14:10 Coffee Break
14:10 – 14:45 Panel Discussion with Tereza Østbø Kuldova, Kåre Hagen, Kim Gunnar Helsvig and Øyunn Syrstad Høydal
14:45 – 15:00 Q&A
15:00 – 15:30 University Futures: Scenario Exercise with Audience
About Cris Shore
Cris Shore is emeritus professor of anthropology at Goldsmiths University of London and Co-Chair of the UK Association of Social Anthropologists. From 2003-2018 he was professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. His research interests are in political and legal anthropology, particularly the anthropology of policy and organisations, European integration, corruption, and the state. He has also published extensively on higher education reform and public management. His current research examines the effects of marketisation, metrics and managerialism on academic life. Cris is author and co-editor 18 books including Policy Worlds: Anthropology and the Analysis of Contemporary Power (2011), Death of the Public University? (2017), and Audit Culture: How Indicators, Rankings and Ratings Re-order the World (Pluto 2024).
Organizers
The event is organized in collaboration between the Qualitative Research Forum (Oslo Metropolitan University) and the Norwegian Sociological Association.
