Between 2003 and 2016, the percentage of undergraduates taking at least one course online nearly tripled, increasing from 15.6 to 43.1. Initially, that enrollment was concentrated in the proprietary, or for-profit, higher education sector. In response, and to make up for declining numbers of "traditional" college students and the…

The rapid rise of online enrollments in public universities has been fueled by a reliance on for-profit, third-party providers--especially online program managers. However, scholars know very little about the potential problems with this arrangement. We conduct a mixed methods analysis of 229 contracts between third-party providers and 117…

Outsourcing or privatising services in higher education is a common practice, but what do we really know about it? Is outsourcing effective? It is imperative that these questions be addressed since outsourcing is becoming a norm in higher education institutions. Scholars, institutional administrators and policymakers need to understand the…

The dynamics of higher education funding present unique challenges and opportunities for administrators. One method university administrators employ to contain expenses and provide additional revenue is privatization of academic and non-academic services. The purpose of this quantitative study was to investigate the specific factors considered in…

In Britain and New Zealand the neoliberal assault on universities has shifted from new public management and funding models to the special status of the public university. The project aims to complete neoliberal business initiated 25 years ago by more fully marketising and financialising universities, starting with 'unbundling' and outsourcing and…

England for the foreseeable future is stuck with a one-track government that knows only the crisis measures with which Margaret Thatcher responded to the 1970s crisis of capital accumulation. Deregulation of all public services with privatization of provision on the contracting-out state model is seen as the solution to every problem and is a part…

Managerial changes to Australian universities have had considerable impact on employees. In this article, we consider some of these changes and apply a theory known as the democratic deficit to them. This theory was developed from the democratic critique of managerialism, as it has been applied in the public sector in countries with…