MANAGING THE ACADEMICS - COMMODIFICATION AND CONTROL IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF UNIVERSITY-EDUCATION IN THE UK

The paper analyzes a number of major developments in higher education in the U.K. during the past decade or so. It explores the connection b etween changes in the organization and control of academic labor proce sses (e.g., teaching, administration, and research) and pressures exer ted by the dynamics of capitalist development to commodify and control the work of academics. The first section considers the relevance of l abor process analysis for understanding these changes. Attention is th en paid to the historical development of academic work and, in particu lar, to the role played by the University Grants Council in providing academics with a significant measure of protection from commodifying p ressures. In the remaining sections of the paper, the focus is upon ma jor developments of the past decade or so: (i) the context, character and impact of the 1981 cuts in university expenditure, (ii) the resear ch selectivity exercises of 1986, 1989, and 1992, and (iii) the work o f the CVCP's Academic Audit Unit. A central theme of the paper is that the commodification of academic labor and the managerial control of a cademic work results from politico-economic pressures to demonstrate t hat funds are being directed in ways that are ostensibly congruent wit h the commodifying logic and priorities of capitalism.