'Terre Chérie-Ed U. K. Shone' : a desiring machine for rappin' and extrapolatin' on the monstrosities of academia

In this chapter, Bansel and Linnell take up the theme of the production of monstrous desire in the academia machine. They come together with their inventions, call centre worker/aspiring university student ‘Terre Chérie’ and aging junior academic ‘Ed U. K. Shone’, to form the ranting-and-rapping machine known as ‘Terre Chérie — Ed U. K. Shone’. Taking a line of flight away from the same old track record, through proliferating brand-new numbers such as The Innovation Sensation, Election Hip-Hope and Rejoinder Rap(ture), these four actors stutter and stumble their ways through a landscape where every peak achievement turns out to be yet another plateau. Through their rappin’ and extrapolatin’— they (hip)hope to recalibrate the machinery through which they perform themselves as unbecoming academics. But will the monster that they have created consume them through its bottomless desire for recognition and love

Bullying as Intra-active Process in Neoliberal Universities

The reformed neoliberal universities, with their micromanagement of ever-increasing productivity, competitiveness, and individualization, have recently been described as unhealthy institutions, creating conditions that incite incivility, workplace bullying, and other forms of employee abuse. In this article, the authors employ collective biography as a form of "diffractive methodology" in order to provide new, theoretically driven insights into workplace bullying in neoliberal universities. Drawing on the concepts of intra-activity and performativity, the authors examine bullying in universities as an intra-active process that informs and is informed by the desire of an individual to be recognized and to perform as a viable academic subject-one who is professional, flexible, and accountable within a neoliberal environment. © The Author(s) 2011

Positioning Pathways Provision Within Global and National Contexts

This chapter positions the increase in the provision of pathway programs, including foundation and enabling programs, as a function of global trends shaping higher education and localised responses to social, economic, political and cultural factors. These localised responses play out against a broader global context, in which the increasing mobility of students looms large. Demography, politics, history and economics all contribute to considerable diversity in the structure, financing and market composition of higher education systems. In turn, these factors shape the purpose, design and delivery of pathway programs. This chapter draws upon UNESCO, OECD and World Bank data sets to contextualise relevant examples of African, Australasian, European, Middle East, and North American higher education systems, against each other and other international benchmarks. The trajectory of these education systems across time demonstrates convergence towards higher levels of school participation and massification of higher education participation, but also differential patterns of international student mobility and responsiveness to national contextual factors. The signs are that global forces and national context will continue to shape the evolution of pathway programs internationally