Repositioning Higher Education as a Global Commodity: opportunities and challenges for future sociology of education work.

This article analyzes the impact of forces for commodification on universities and highlights some of the potential socio-politico, economic and educational implications. Restructuring of funding and governance frameworks which have attempted to develop new modes of functioning in higher education which are more responsive to government intervention and market forces are outlined. Developments in three key areas of higher education are analyzed: access, knowledge reproduction, and knowledge production. It is argued that these developments pose considerable challenges for the field of the sociology of education, especially since it has tended to neglect higher education as a site of enquiry. Implications for future sociology of education work are outlined. The international literature on the restructuring of higher education reveals that there is a global trend away from forms of funding and regulation which were based on the social compact that evolved between higher education, and state and society over the last century. Governments across the world are making concerted efforts to boost participation rates in higher education. The link between higher education and economic development has focused attention on access to higher education in developing countries. The deepening stratification of higher education systems within industrialized countries is mirrored in the divisions in higher education across industrial and developing countries.