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RESEARCH PRODUCT

National Stories, Convergent Trends and Divergent Paths: Discursive Construction of the Higher Education and Knowledge Society – Nexus in Higher Education Policy Texts of Five Knowledge Societies

subject

description

Higher education policy texts construct the relationship between higher education and knowledge society. The higher education discourse in Finland, Portugal, Germany, United Kingdom and United States over the last two decades typically presents the knowledge society as either an existing fact or as a desirable development towards which countries should aspire. The convergent discourse emphasises the importance of information and communication technologies, internationalisation, globalisation, and international context for policy making; the importance of research, science and technology, but also education, learning and skills and their role in bringing about the knowledge society. At the same time, each of the countries has their divergent national stories to tell. This chapter illustrates how countries take the various elements of the nearly hegemonic knowledge society discourse and translate them to suit their own needs and circumstances. The discourse is used to legitimate a range of different, even contradictory policy actions. It is this flexibility and pliability of the notion of knowledge society that contributes to its hegemonic position as the preferred way of the states to refer to themselves. The discourse seems to, implicitly or explicitly, construct a certain kind of converging notion of ‘ideal citizenship’, obligating and responsibilising individuals to have and acquire skills, to be employable, to be an active and responsible citizen.