Ld. Berg et Mm. Roche, MARKET METAPHORS, NEO-LIBERALISM AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF ACADEMIC LANDSCAPES IN AOTEAROA NEW-ZEALAND, Journal of geography in higher education, 21(2), 1997, pp. 147-161
New Zealand's far-reaching experiment with neo-liberal economic and so
cial policies has become a model for many right-leaning economic comme
ntators-and some governments-throughout the 'developed' world We are h
ighly critical of such sentiments, noting that the 'New Zealand experi
ment' has been anything but good for New Zealand itself: Our argument
focuses upon the way that neo-liberal rhetorics of 'competitiveness' h
ave reconstituted the landscape of academia in New Zealand. We suggest
that such competition metaphors, which construct universities as 'kno
wledge businesses' and students as 'consumers', provide a wholly inapp
ropriate model for university education. Instead, we suggest a reconst
ituted notion of 'collegiality' might provide the basis for a more inc
lusive construction of university education.