COVID-19’s impact on higher education has been profound. At the peak of university closures, 220 million tertiary education students were affected globally. Higher education institutions have had to resort to emergency measures to continue education remotely. However, this research shows that the widespread pivot to online learning has provided the opportunity for private actors to reconfigure the sector for the long term. Higher education is becoming increasingly and rapidly privatised, commercialised, digitalized and datafied, with concerning consequences for academic freedom, professional autonomy, decent work, data privacy and ultimately, quality education.
By Ben Williamson & Anna Hogan - Feb. 2021
