Swinnerton, B orcid.org/0000-0002-4241-4952, Coop, T, Ivancheva, M et al. (5 more authors) (2020) The Unbundled University: Researching emerging models in an unequal landscape. In: Bonderup Dohn, N, Jandrić, P, Ryberg, T and de Laat, M, (eds.) Mobility, Data and Learner Agency in Networked Learning. Research in Networked Learning . Springer , pp. 19-34. ISBN 978-3-030-36910-1
Abstract
As higher education (HE) undergoes a massive expansion in demand in most countries across the globe and experiences financial pressures, the sector is evolving rapidly. Market pressures encourage the search for additional income and new forms of provision, and online programme management (OPM) companies are increasingly entering the sector as they identify market opportunities. At the same time, the HE sector has seen the appearance of many flexible online courses and qualifications delivered by new configurations of providers and partnerships, through a process of ‘unbundling’. This chapter reports on the data on South African HE from the research project ‘The Unbundled University: Researching emerging models in an unequal landscape’. Using a new dataset, mapping or social cartography is employed to bring a novel perspective to uncover patterns of new provision and the partnerships between OPMs and institutions and their relationship to differentiation in the HE sector. Significantly, the maps reveal relationships between universities and OPMs which appear to reflect existing differentiation between institutions, insofar as OPMs presently partner almost exclusively with historically advantaged, traditional universities, with high international ranking and reputation. This chapter argues that such partnerships have the potential to reinforce the power asymmetries already at play.
Metadata
Item Type: | Book Section |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020. This version of the material has been accepted for publication, after peer review (when applicable) and is subject to Springer Nature’s AM terms of use (https://www.springernature.com/gp/open-research/policies/accepted-manuscript-terms), but is not the Version of Record and does not reflect post-acceptance improvements, or any corrections. The Version of Record is available online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-36911-8_2 |
Keywords: | Higher education, South Africa, digital technology, marketisation, unbundling, online programme management companies, inequality, data visualisation, social cartography |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Education, Social Sciences and Law (Leeds) > School of Education (Leeds) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number ESRC ES/P002102/1 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 11 Jul 2019 09:08 |
Last Modified: | 30 Jan 2024 01:51 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Springer |
Series Name: | Research in Networked Learning |
Identification Number: | 10.1007/978-3-030-36911-8_2 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:148326 |