ABSTRACT
This chapter examines linguistic manifestations of neoliberal discourse as it continues to be introduced into university teaching. Government policy seemed to be guiding the elite universities of the UK to follow their counterparts in Australia and start charging variable fees which have little to do with teaching quality and everything to do with accrued reputation – something which Success as a Knowledge Economy claims it wishes to dismantle. Investment and teaching quality are linked discursively to justify the assertion of information about the latter translating into a guarantee of the former: ‘The quality of teaching should be among the key drivers of a prospective student’s investment’. Evans critiques the key assumptions that such ‘competition’ from private institutions would offer value for money, create diversity in the sector, or offer better teaching. University managers may well make noises about disrupting student expectations of learning and teaching, but will hold individual lecturers responsible for any drop in satisfaction scores.
