الليبرالية الجديدة وأثرها على التعليم العالي المعاصر

Abstract

This study inspects the impact of neoliberalism on the directions of higher education and on the changes ensued in higher education policies transforming from traditional education to education that services globalization and neoliberalism control over market's capabilities and requirements. Despite the increase in higher education institutions and the emergence of private colleges and their branches in different countries, there are several negative aspects in the approach of higher education. Among these effects are the vicissitudes in the structure of academic institutions and their traditional orientations changing universities and academic research for the sake of neoliberalism. This liberal trend directly affects the quality of education, in addition to the commodification of education through the proliferation of private higher education institutions. Lately, contributions of the private sector have increased in support of higher education and the pursuit of its privatization so as to provide a workforce that is professionally trained and capable of managing business, trade and market at the expense of the humanities, social sciences, arts and critical thinking. More importantly, it is evident that the quality of education and its educational outcomes have declined in terms of academic efficiency and scientific research attending to human and societal matters. This situation has created education that reduces creative space and realistic vision, and whose goal is centered on producing graduates who are scientifically or intellectually inefficient, incompetent, and detached from social concerns and democratic intellectual liberation.