ERIC Number: EJ1096347
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2016
Pages: 15
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-2156-8235
EISSN: N/A
Making the Case for Policy--Persuasiveness in Higher Education, Science and Technology Policy Discourse
Nokkala, Terhi
European Journal of Higher Education, v6 n2 p144-158 2016
Policy texts present problems, propose solutions to those problems and persuade multiple audiences of the legitimacy of the proposed problems and solutions. The rhetorical analysis of two decades of higher education and science and technology discourse in Finland, Germany, UK, Portugal and USA highlights the discursive elements that contribute to persuasiveness of policy, construe it as rational and logical, and create a sense of urgency in bringing it about. I argue that the analytical and hortatory registers of policy discourse foreground competitive and hierarchical relations of countries and their higher education systems. By construing certain state of affairs and courses of action as self-evidently desirable and true, they contribute to the emergence and reproduction of the neoliberal political rationality proposed by the Foucauldian governmentality theory.
Descriptors: Higher Education, Educational Policy, Discourse Analysis, Rhetorical Criticism, Persuasive Discourse, Comparative Education, Technology Education, Science Education, Policy Analysis, Statistical Data, Educational Practices, Educational Indicators, Educational Assessment, Educational Change, Foreign Countries
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Finland; Germany; Portugal; United Kingdom; United States
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A