Professor Rachel Brooks explores how students are conceptualised across six European countries, challenging assumptions of a uniform student experience and highlighting the influence of national context, discipline, institution and social background.
Assumptions are often made within policy, as well as by academics, that what it means to be a higher education (HE) student in Europe today is common across nation-states – driven by the increase in cross-border educational mobility, the development of a European Higher Education Area, and the widespread impact of marketisation and expansion of higher education. Nevertheless, cross-national empirical evidence is rarely cited in support of such assumptions.
To address this gap, Professor Rachel Brooks conducted research in six European nations (Denmark, England, Germany, Ireland, Poland and Spain) investigating how the contemporary HE student is conceptualised – drawing on perspectives from policy, the media and HE staff, as well as students themselves.
In this lecture, she outlines some key constructions of students that emerged from the project, examining the extent to which dominant constructions across and within nation-states are similar, and engaging with debates about the degree of homogenisation of HE across Europe, and the extent to which nation-states can be considered ‘coherent educational entities’.
Professor Brooks suggests that there are also other important axes of difference to consider – beyond national boundaries and type of social actors – related notably to academic discipline, HE institution, and students’ social background. Finally, she explores the impact of these constructions, maintaining that they are not merely of academic interest, but have direct and material effects.
