ABSTRACT
The Russell Group constitutes an association of 24 elite British public universities, and plays a leading role in influencing the values, ambitions, and practices of domestic and international higher education institutions. Correspondingly, this quantitative content analysis examines the latest education strategy statements of said group’s individual members to identify pedagogic and institutional trends and trajectories. Findings show that these statements are predominantly rife with neoliberal discursive inflections of global competitiveness, instrumentalism, employability, and customer satisfaction, which effectively and principally equate a university education with professional development and research with economic utility. Conversely, virtually absent from the majority of these statements are the traditional university mission and goals of nurturing intellectual curiosity, promoting academic freedom, generating pure scientific knowledge, and fostering character and conscientious citizenship. This study suggests that the Russell Group’s current and long-term plans for pedagogy and research strongly reflect the language of the neoliberal policy agenda for higher education, and have largely abandoned the academy’s historically humanist and enlightenment principles and commitments. What this indicates for teaching and learning in British universities is further discussed.
