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The Neoliberalisation of Cambodian Higher Education: Perspectives of Policy Elites and Graduates

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Thesis(1.66 MB)

Date

2023

Authors

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Reid, Lynette
Deerness, Stuart
Divine, Nesta

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Doctor of Philosophy

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Publisher

Auckland University of Technology

Abstract

This thesis examines the neoliberalisation of higher education in Cambodia by analysing the perspectives of policy elites and graduates in the context of the Global South. It examines whether the formation of current policy and practice in the education sector contributes to a developmental pathway that enhances social justice and well-being for all individuals in the nation. This review found that the neoliberal agenda has served the dominant interests of the corporate world, private individuals, and the hegemonic discourses and ideologies of the capitalist world. In some respects, this practice has contributed to the modernisation of quality standards, the expansion of access and equity amongst students, community-wide-collaboration, and flexible options for students in Global South Cambodia. However, it has undermined the long-term needs of the nation for social justice and well-being for all. Neoliberalism in this study reflects a terrain of contest between historical legacies and modernity. Power struggles were evident during policy implementation where emerging policy elites manifested and shaped the rationale for the neoliberal agenda. The affinity space of neoliberalisation in Cambodia reflects an interdependent relationship, and power interplay, involving forces from the historical legacy, and the Global South hegemonic cultural-political project of the West. The historical legacy, together with local socio-cultural norms, and traditions of socio-political practice, have formed strong cultural positions amongst policy elites which manifest and shape the rationale of neoliberalism within the community of practice. This agenda advances through the tyranny of global technology, globalisation transformation, and economic theory based on the homo economicus rationale. Thus, neoliberalism forms a regime of truth where its logic is shaped as and manifested in a cultural belief in the peripheral world that serves a divided economy rather focusing on broader national growth. To elaborate and expand on the theoretical and conceptual framework, this study utilises the analytical tools of Foucault’s genealogy and governmentality (Foucault, 1991a, 1991b), and theories of postcolonialism and globalisation (Andy Green, 1997; Tikly, 2001) to examine neoliberalism’s influential aspects, which are strongly embedded in the historical legacy and postcolonialism of the communities of practice of local higher education institutions (HEIs). This study also casts light on the theoretical lens of ‘thin-communitarianism’ (Olssen, 2004a, 2017) within the Global South. What stands out in this study is the rationale and contextual reality of the policy practice of HEIs. The rationales reflected the cultural position as being rooted in the neoliberal agenda. Emerging policy elites manifest and shape cultural beliefs and rationales through discourses of technology. The resulting materialisation reveals that the education sector is serving the state–corporate interests of professionalisation along with the dominant interests of the capitalist world, rather than serving the mass public. In opposition to these interests, I suggest a state-regulated model framework for Cambodia based on thin-communitarianism (Olssen, 2004a, 2017; Olssen, Codd, & O'Neill, 2004). This framework is further enriched by the concepts of ‘affinity spaces’ (Gee, 2005), local traditions and culture, governmental culture, and contextual realities of the contesting terrain and power struggles, which are limited in Global North settings. It emphasises policy practices that build ‘pastoral power’ amongst the HEIs’ community of practice, especially the learners, for quality local human resources and social democratic reform and well-being for all individuals. The framework strives for a mutually beneficial relationship within the HEIs’ community of practice which is necessary for the advancement of the nation’s long-term needs for more social justice, and well-being for all individuals.

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https://hdl.handle.net/10292/15936

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