Pandemic Privatisation in Higher Education: Edtech & University Reform
— Research on the changing labour conditions of HE staff, using a mixed methods approach of quantitative surveys and qualitative interviewing to report on the effects of digitalisation and datafication on aspects of educators’ work, autonomy and academic freedom. — Identification and exploration of best practices in terms of regulation and safeguards for digital teaching and learning, including research focusing on the creation of standards and ethics frameworks which assesses their appropriateness and adequacy in relation to widespread digitalisation and datafication of HE.
Role of unions Education International members must continue to debate the appropriate intensity of privatisation and commercialisation in education. In particular unions should consider how the evolving HE landscape in their own geographical region is changing workplace conditions and the professional status of academics, teachers and instructors. We are aware that this report is focused on the macro socio-political context of HE privatisation – and is mostly Anglophone in nature. There will be important regional differences and intricacies in how HE privatisation and commercialisation are playing out, and it is important to understand these and act accordingly. It is important for regional contexts to support vernacular research agendas that might provide evidence-informed understanding for member advocacy and union action. Across the globe, we see a pressing need to support the freedom of HE employees and their right to participate in the formulation and implementation of institutional policies around teaching and learning, and the extent to which these are privatised. Moreover, we see unions playing a critical role in promoting greater regulation of private providers as well as the safeguarding of staff and student privacy. Unions have a critical role to play in advocating what they imagine the future of HE to be, and how this vision might promote the right to education for all persons around the world.
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