Building on existing critiques of contemporary arrangements in higher education, this paper focuses on the claim that the human capital model undermines the civic or public role of universities, restricts student engagement with learning and damages the capacity for critical thinking and empathy. Interviews with students studying either Business…

Globalisation and the shift towards a knowledge economy have made researchers among the most sought-after resources. International research mobility has been encouraged at policy levels and has remarkably increased in the past decade. Meanwhile, concerns of policy makers about the possible loss of such human capital are also rapidly growing. This…

Language is a form of human capital. Human capital refers to skills an individual needs to succeed within the labor market. Originating from The Bilingual Education Act of 1968 (Title VII of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1968), one of many purposes of dual language programs (DLPs) was to provide equal access to classroom…

Higher education (HE) scholarship often focuses on the so-called 'entrepreneurial' university as a consequence of new public management reforms. Simultaneously, the remarkable expansion of private HE is said to fragment, specialize, and diversify HE systems. Such diagnoses are misleading as they ignore wider environmental pressures and…

Founded on several highly influential quantitative studies, the past decade has witnessed the OECD and World Bank increasingly converge on the view that cognitive levels of students and education quality, as proxied by international large-scale assessments (ILSAs), are the primary determinant of national economic growth worldwide. More recent OECD…

The title of my contribution to this special 10th year anniversary issue contains the terms "human capitals"--and there is not a spelling mistake--"school mathematics," "making," and "homus oeconomicus." Apparently, the terms do not say much about mathematics and its learning and teaching, but more about the…

Languages and language skills are commonly tagged as a marketable asset, or 'human capital.' The article analyses the implications and social effects of Human Capital Theory. I show that the possession of language skills does not necessarily increase employment prospects, and certainly not in the way envisaged by neoliberal policy-makers in the…

This article examines the nature of neoliberal influences upon educational policy making in the Finnish education system in recent times. The article draws upon key policy documents, government reports, journal articles and media articles about reforms in the early childhood, basic/compulsory school and vocational education and training sectors to…

The broad aim of this paper is to track the evolution of adult literacy policy in the UK across three decades, highlighting convergences between policy phases and the promotion of democratic learning spaces. It is anchored onto the argument that, although it is generally accepted that democratic learning spaces are perceived as beneficial to adult…

The scientific rigor of education research has improved dramatically since the year 2000. Much of the credit for this improvement is deserved by Institute of Education Sciences (IES) policies that helped create a demand for rigorous research; increased human capital capacity to carry out such work; provided funding for the work itself; and…

This paper analyses how the discursive construction, valuation and subjective experience of human capital is evolving in parallel with crises of capital as a world-system. Ideology critique provides tools for analysing policy 'fictions' that aim to sustain investment in human capital through education. Foucauldian analytical tools enable analysis…

Piketty's "Capitalism in the twenty-first century" provides a superb, detailed historical analysis of the evolution of income and wealth inequality. Piketty demonstrates vast and increasing inequality that he argues might possibly be tempered in the future by economic growth and educational expansion supplemented by government…

Latin American countries have evolved over the years. Still, after years of military reign, socioeconomicinstability, and civil wars, the region has been known for its anti-hegemonic economic growth (educationalpolicies) strategies. Central and South America's educational system has long been under investigation by researchers both theoretically…

This paper examines the role of higher education and higher education providers, more specifically, regarding employability. The paper draws upon a three-year research project examining the key stakeholders in this process; from parents, to students, to teachers, to institutions, to employers. The paper offers critical insight and analysis into…

Education, as one of the forms of human capital investment, especially in developing countries, is considered an important way for families to get rid of generational poverty. The contradictory "poverty caused by education" is an education problem in the new era. It is a social phenomenon in which family members (children) receive…