The right students for the job-preparing university An analysis of the dimensioning policy and its effects within the humanities

Conceptualisation of policy Policy as performative  (non-predictable) ontological effects Judith Butler (2010): ”Performative agency”, Journal of Cultural Economy 3(2) Policy as an ‘apparatus’ = measuring agency = constitutive part of phenomena Karen Barad (2007): ”Meeting the Universe Halfway: quantum physics and the entanglement of matter and meaning”, Duke University Press

Ethnographic Field work Observations: More than 30 meetings (study boards, advisory boards, staff meetings) 2 educational activities 10 conversations (staff members, heads of faculty, heads of degree programmes) Interviews: 5 heads of degree programmes or faculty 3 quality unit members 2 representatives of national policy agencies Documents: Policy texts, reports, quality policies and guidelines, study regulations, press material, ministry communication, and much more…

Analytical take on value Value as a doing = valuation: Simultaneously assessing + labelling Fabian Muniesa (2011): ”A Flank Movement in the Understanding of valuation”, Sociological Review, 59(2)

Analytical take on value Value as a doing = valuation: Simultaneously assessing + labelling Fabian Muniesa (2011): ”A Flank Movement in the Understanding of valuation”, Sociological Review, 59(2) Quantitative measure Qualitative ‘story’

Analytical take on value Analysis: How do policies (=apparatus’) measure higher education? What stories are being told about higher education and the humanities across the field? What forms do the valuation processes materialise into – chains of valuation? How is value negotiated?

Policy overview Policy Description Measure Phenomenon The Dimensioning Model Limiting enrolment based on graduate employment to prevent over-production Graduate employment The job-preparing university

The Humanities in the Job-preparing university Unemployment rates: 2012 2013 HUM 22,8 % 21,6 % NAT 12,8 % 12,9 % SOC 11,9 % 10,1 % TECH 10,0 % 10,9 % HEALTH 4,0 % THE HUMANITIES Ministry of Higher Education and Science (2015) ”Aktuel ledighed 4-7. kvartal Uddannelsesvinkel”

The Humanities in the Job-preparing university Unemployment rates: High graduate unemployment = Lower mass 2012 2013 HUM 22,8 % 21,6 % NAT 12,8 % 12,9 % SOC 11,9 % 10,1 % TECH 10,0 % 10,9 % HEALTH 4,0 % THE HUMANITIES Ministry of Higher Education and Science (2015) ”Aktuel ledighed 4-7. kvartal Uddannelsesvinkel”

Policy overview Policy Description Measure Phenomenon The Dimensioning Model Limiting enrolment based on graduate employment to prevent over-production Graduate employment The job-preparing university Taximeter funding Funding university teaching based on number of students Full-time equivalents of students The mass university

The Humanities in the Mass university Growth rates 2000-2010: HUM: 77,5 % NAT: 68,0 % SOC: 67,5 % HEALTH: 32,0 % TECH: 31,5 % Source: Universities Denmark (2013) ”Akademikernes Arbejdsmarked” Higher mass = Higher funding THE HUMANITIES

The Humanities in the Job-preparing university Unemployment rates: High graduate unemployment = Lower mass Lower funding 2012 2013 HUM 22,8 % 21,6 % NAT 12,8 % 12,9 % SOC 11,9 % 10,1 % TECH 10,0 % 10,9 % HEALTH 4,0 % THE HUMANITIES Ministry of Higher Education and Science (2015) ”Aktuel ledighed 4-7. kvartal Uddannelsesvinkel”

The Humanities in the Job-preparing university Irrespon-sible (program + students) Unemployment rates: High graduate unemployment = Lower mass Lower funding 2012 2013 HUM 22,8 % 21,6 % NAT 12,8 % 12,9 % SOC 11,9 % 10,1 % TECH 10,0 % 10,9 % HEALTH 4,0 % THE HUMANITIES Not relevant Low quality Ministry of Higher Education and Science (2015) ”Aktuel ledighed 4-7. kvartal Uddannelsesvinkel”

Degree programme report 2015-2016, RUC ”The Dimensioning further means that it is not an option for the degree programme to grow its way out of these challenges [= a loss of staff]” Degree programme report 2015-2016, RUC

Strategy 1: The professionalised humanist graduate Respon-sible Higher graduate employment = Higher mass Higher funding Regain value through curricular changes Relevant THE HUMANITIES Higher quality

Strategy 2: Recruiting ‘the right students’ Higher mass Accepting the loss of the mass university for the humanities THE HUMANITIES

Strategy 2: Recruiting ‘the right students’ Motivated Effective Excellent Employable Michael Tomlinson (2012): ”Graduate Employability: A Review of Conceptual and Empirical Themes” Higher Education Policy, 25 (4)

Policy overview Policy Description Measure Phenomenon The Dimensioning Model Limiting enrolment based on graduate employment to prevent over-production Graduate employment The job-preparing university Taximeter funding Funding university teaching based on number of students Full-time equivalents of students The mass university Completion bonus Financial bonus for timely completion Number of students finishing within a fixed time frame The graduate producing university Study progress reform Financial fine to universities that do not meet study progress measures Study progress delay

Strategy 2: Recruiting ‘the right students’ Attractive The right students = Higher productivity + higher graduate employment Higher funding Efficient + relevant THE HUMANITIES Higher quality

Interview with head of degree programme, May 2017 ”Behind all of this, there is a struggle to survive, and a part of that is that our students don’t drop out along the way, right? Because this is still an important key figure. And if they are motivated… and feel like taking the courses and finish on time – there is also motivation in those things, right? So if we find the right students, they will behave the way they have to behave in the system, right? That is what we have to look for. We can be idealistic in many ways, but we have to find the right students for the system.” Interview with head of degree programme, May 2017

”Dropouts are expensive after the introduction of dimensioning – it’s a waste of enrolment spots” Document material: Slides on the quality system, SDU ”A delayed student with a mental health diagnosis was talked about as problematic for the key figures” Observation notes, April 2017 ”The dimensioning means half the number of students, and thus, most likely, to a lesser extend a social mix” Observation notes, March 2017

Not a strategy available to all universities Conclusion The effects of the Dimensioning Policy: Regulation  immediate devaluation of the humanities Curricular changes  the professionalised humanist graduate Recruitment strategies  recruiting ‘the right student’ = the resourceful student Not a strategy available to all universities

Not a strategy available to all universities Conclusion The effects of the Dimensioning Policy: Regulation  immediate devaluation of the humanities Curricular changes  the professionalised humanist graduate Recruitment strategies  recruiting ‘the right student’ = the resourceful student End of the mass university? (within the humanities) Implications on the position of the humanities? Social implications? Not a strategy available to all universities