Personal Values, Institutional Expectations: How Marketization Affects the Professional Identity of University Admissions Staff

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 74
  In Roundtable Session: Images and Imaginaries: Representations and Perspectives of Higher Education

Abstract

Around the globe, the market turn in Higher Education has changed the role of staff involved with admissions. This paper focuses on England in the context of both a sharp rise in student fees and a tendency for the public university agenda and its associated social priorities, such as diversity, to come up against more commercial drivers. Evidence comes from detailed interviews with admissions personnel across three disciplines within one higher-prestige university. Tensions arise between the traditional model of admissions, based on local knowledge and sensitivity toward underrepresented groups, and the purportedly merit-driven model, as driven by perceived market position. We report the complex and often unexpected ways in which admissions staff reconcile their professed beliefs with their professional practices.

Authors

• Steven Jones, The University of Manchester

• David John Hall, University of Exeter

• Joanna Bragg, University of Manchester