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Massification, Marketisation and Loss of Differentiation in Pre-Entry Marketing Materials in UK Higher Education

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  • Elizabeth Knight

    (Faculty of Education, Monash University, Clayton, VIC 3800, Australia)

Abstract

Since the mid-1970s, the higher education system in the UK has massified. Over this period, the government policy drivers for higher education have shifted towards a homogenised rationale, linking higher education to the economic well-being of the country. The massification of higher education has involved a widening of participation from traditional students to new and diverse student cohorts with differing information needs. The increased positioning of students as consumers by higher education means the student choice process has become complex. Drawing on a recently conferred doctorate, this article asks whether the messages sent by institutions about the motivation for undertaking a degree have changed during the recent period of massification of UK higher education. It asks how such changes are reflected, overtly or in coded form, in the institutional pre-entry ‘prospectus’ documents aimed at students. Taking a discourse-historical approach, the work identifies six periods of discourse change between 1976 and 2013, analysing prospectuses from four case-study institutions of different perceived status. The research finds that the materials homogenise gradually over the period and there is a concordant concealment of the differential status, purpose and offer of the institutions, alongside an increase in the functional importance of the coded signalling power of the differential prestige of undergraduate degrees within the UK. This research’s finding that the documents produced by institutions have become increasingly difficult to differentiate highlights equity issues in provision of marketing in terms of widening participation and fair access aims.

Suggested Citation

  • Elizabeth Knight, 2019. "Massification, Marketisation and Loss of Differentiation in Pre-Entry Marketing Materials in UK Higher Education," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 8(11), pages 1-17, October.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:8:y:2019:i:11:p:304-:d:281805
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Kem Saichaie & Christopher C. Morphew, 2014. "What College and University Websites Reveal about the Purposes of Higher Education," The Journal of Higher Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 85(4), pages 499-530, July.
    2. Matthew Hartley & Christopher C. Morphew, 2008. "What's Being Sold and to What End? A Content Analysis of College Viewbooks," The Journal of Higher Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 79(6), pages 671-691, November.
    3. Massimiliano BRATTI & Robin NAYLOR & Jeremy SMITH, 2008. "Heterogeneities in the returns to degrees: evidence from the British cohort study 1970," Departmental Working Papers 2008-40, Department of Economics, Management and Quantitative Methods at Università degli Studi di Milano.
    4. Simon Marginson, 2016. "High Participation Systems of Higher Education," The Journal of Higher Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 87(2), pages 243-271, March.
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