ABSTRACT
This chapter is about how neoliberalism shapes higher education, in particular, how it sets the conditions for student flourishing, which is defined here as the process of empowering students to be critical thinkers and to be critically engaged with their own learning. The chapter identifies three major interlinked tensions between neoliberal pedagogies and student flourishing: (i) the increasing focus on student-centred learning gradually erodes the important role of the academic educator as the ‘empowering agent’ for the students; (ii) the devaluation of the academic educator as gate-keeper, and guide for students of critical knowledge thinking; and (iii) the pedagogies and practices of learning in the neoliberal university reshape knowledge and student identities with a focus on work skills rather than critical thinking skills. It is argued that the challenge for academic educators is to include critical pedagogies into their teaching and learning activities because these are needed to challenge neoliberal education philosophies and to overcome the identified tensions.
