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Transnational academic capitalism in the Arab Gulf:balancing global and local, public and private, capitals

Findlow, Sally; Hayes, Aneta

Authors

Sally Findlow



Abstract

This article contributes to the emerging theoretical construct of what has been called ‘transnational academic capitalism’, characterised by the blurring of traditional boundaries between public, private, local, regional and international, and between market-driven and critically transformative higher education visions. Here we examine how these issues are reflected in higher education policy in the Arab Gulf, asking: what kinds of capital are being constructed and traded? By and for whom? What is the relationship between higher education competition, governance and the public good? We find contradictory trends, which we see as strategic ambivalence pointing to country-specific readings of similar regional markets and attempts to hedge bets between rival forms of apparent capital. The exploration offers a counterpoint to more widely cited examples, hereby helping to shape new paradigmatic ‘glocalised’ understandings of this field.

Citation

Findlow, S., & Hayes, A. (2015). Transnational academic capitalism in the Arab Gulf:balancing global and local, public and private, capitals. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 37(1), 110-128. https://doi.org/10.1080/01425692.2015.1100531

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Sep 23, 2015
Publication Date Dec 23, 2015
Journal British Journal of Sociology of Education
Print ISSN 0142-5692
Publisher Routledge
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 37
Issue 1
Pages 110-128
DOI https://doi.org/10.1080/01425692.2015.1100531
Keywords transnational higher education, Arab Gulf, academic capitalism
Publisher URL http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01425692.2015.1100531