The Kafkaesque Pursuit of ‘World Class’: Audit Culture and the Reputational Arms Race in Academia

Since the 1980s universities have been subjected to a seemingly continuous process of policy reforms designed to make them more economical, efficient and effective, according to yardsticks defined by governments and university managers. The pursuit of ‘excellence’, ‘international standing’ and ‘world class’ status have become key drivers of what Hazelkorn (High Educ Pol 21(2):193–215, 2008) has termed the ‘rankings arms race’ that now dominates the world of academia. These policies are changing the mission and meaning of the public university and, more profoundly, the culture of academia itself. While some authors have sought to capture and analyse these trends in terms of ‘academic capitalism’ and the ‘enterprise university model’, we suggest they might also be usefully understood theoretically as illustrations of the rise of audit culture in higher education and its effects. Drawing on ethnographic examples from the UK, Denmark and New Zealand, we ask: how are higher education institutions being reconfigured by these new disciplinary regimes of audit? How are ranking and performance indicators changing institutional behaviour and transforming academic subjectivities? What possibilities are there for alternative university futures? And what insights can anthropology offer to address these questions

Stories of Value: The Nature of Money in Three Classic British Picture Books

Much of the literature on children’s economic socialisation focuses on exploring three questions: at what point do children acquire a “good grasp of economic reality,” do they become “responsible economic agents,” and do they need to be considered “economically literate” (Furnham, 2014, p. 118)? These concerns often imply a pragmatic understanding of money as a quantitative commodity that facilitates transaction, accounting, and the storing of value (Belk & Wallendorf, 1990). Yet they also imply an appreciation of what is considered to be ‘literate’ and ‘responsible’ behaviour, supposedly informed by a ‘good grasp’ of ‘reality’. Finally, it assumes unproblematic knowledge of what is ‘valuable.

Ecological divergence of Chaetopteryx rugulosa species complex (Insecta, Trichoptera) linked to climatic niche diversification

Climate is often considered to be an important, but indirect driver of speciation. Indeed, environmental factors may contribute to the formation of biodiversity, but to date this crucial relationship remains largely unexplored. Here we investigate the possible role of climate, geological factors, and biogeographical processes in the formation of a freshwater insect species group, the Chaetopteryx rugulosa species complex (Trichoptera) in the Western Balkans. We used multi-locus DNA sequence data to establish a dated phylogenetic hypothesis for the group. The comparison of the dated phylogeny with the geological history of the Western Balkans shows that lineage formation coincided with major past Earth surface and climatic events in the region. By reconstructing present-day habitat conditions (climate, bedrock geology), we show that the lineages of C. rugulosa species complex have distinct climatic but not bedrock geological niches. Without exception, all splits associated with Pliocene/Pleistocene transition led to independent, parallel split into ‘warm’ and ‘cold’ sister lineages. This indicates a non-random diversification on the C. rugulosa species complex associated with late Pliocene climate in the region. We interpreted the results as the diversification of the species complex were mainly driven by ecological diversification linked to past climate change, along with geographical isolation

The new political economy of higher education: between distributional conflicts and discursive stratification

The higher education sector has been undergoing a far-reaching institutional re-orientation during the past two decades. Many adjustments appear to have strengthened the role of competition in the governance of higher education, but the character of the sector?s emerging new political economy has frequently remained unclear. Serving as the introduction for the special issue, this article makes the case for a multidimensional strategy to probe higher education?s competitive transformation. In terms of conceptualizing the major empirical shifts, we argue for analyzing three core phenomena: varieties of academic capitalism, the discursive construction of inequality, and the transformation of hierarchies in competitive settings. With respect to theoretical tools, we emphasize the complementary contributions of institutional, class-oriented, and discourse analytical approaches. As this introduction elaborates and the contributions to the special issue demonstrate, critical dialog among different analytical traditions over the interpretation of change is crucial for improving established understandings. Arguably, it is essential for clarifying the respective roles of capitalist power and hierarchical rule in the construction of the sector?s new order

Методология синтеза архитектуры программно-технического комплекса автоматизированной системы мониторинга обстановки

Предложен подход к проектированию архитектуры программно-технического комплекса автоматизированной системы мониторинга обстановки в реальном времени, основанный на классификации решаемых функциональных задач на основе методов кластерного анализа и выбранного множества признаков подобия. Разработанный подход позволяет из множества функций системы выделить подобные (по определенным признакам) и объединить их в архитектурные компоненты (унифицированные функциональные модули).Запропоновано підхід до проектування архітектури центру обробки інформації автоматизованої системи моніторингу середовища в реальному часі, що заснований на класифікації функціональних задач на підставі методів кластерного аналізу і обраної множини ознак схожості. Розроблений підхід дозволяє вибрати із множини функцій системи схожі (за певними ознаками) і поєднати їх в архітектурні компоненти (уніфіковані функціональні модулі).The approach to designing architecture of the information processing complex of the automated real time conditions monitoring system based on classification of functional tasks on the basis of methods of cluster analysis and the chosen set of similarity attributes is offered. The developed approach allows to allocate from a set of functions the systems similar (on certain attributes) and to unite them in architectural components (unified functional modules)

What’s new with numbers? Sociological approaches to the study of quantification

Calculation and quantification have been critical features of modern societies, closely linked to science, markets, and administration. In the past thirty years, the pace, purpose, and scope of quantification have greatly expanded, and there has been a corresponding increase in scholarship on quantification. We offer an assessment of the widely dispersed literature on quantification across four domains where quantification and quantification scholarship have particularly flourished: administration, democratic rule, economics, and personal life. In doing so, we seek to stimulate more cross-disciplinary debate and exchange. We caution against unifying accounts of quantification and highlight the importance of tracking quantification across different sites in order to appreciate its essential ambiguity and conduct more systematic investigations of interactions between different quantification regimes