Browsing by Subject "työllistävyys"

The Big Wheel education reform, downsizing and restructuring processes has left the university of Helsinki in a confused state. The goal of this study was to better understand the reasons and justification of the Big Wheel and to examine the process as part of a neoliberal university scene. In this context, neoliberal university is seen as an institution driven by global economic and market forces. Neoliberal universities emphasize on global markets, individual freedom of selection, degrees based on expectations set by working life and resource-efficient practices. In this study I will examine the discourses and speech of the reasons and justification of the Big Wheel. My research tasks are 1) What are the reasons and justifications for the Big Wheel education reform? and 2) What discourses are produced in the speech on reasons and justifications. I collected the data on Flamma, which is the intranet of University of Helsinki. My data consisted of all the bulletins and materials that dealt with the Big Wheel reform (N=32). As my research approach, I chose discourse analysis that I utilised in constructing the discourses. By discourses, I mean different manners of speaking, that are used in construing a social reality. I analysed the data and construed three hegemonic discourses. The dimensions of the discourse of internationality are recruiting best students, renewing marketing, profiling (University of) Helsinki and attractive education programs. The discourse of effectiveness composes of resource-wise planning, perfusion of students and freedom of choice. The discourse of employability is about the employability of degrees, know-how based degrees and taking into consideration the changing working-life. The fourth discourse, the discourse of knowledge as an instrumental value, summarized the first three and was seen throughout the data. According to this study one can conclude that the Big Wheel education reform produces and reproduces neoliberal university policies.