Academic (un)belonging and the neoliberal university [dataset]

In the UK and many other countries globally, university culture today is shaped by the wider ‘neoliberal’ policy context, which encourages individualism and competition and antagonizes collective values and ways of working. This has significant implications for doctoral students, who often occupy a liminal position between staff and students, and desire to be part of an academic community, but commonly report feelings of isolation and ‘imposter syndrome’. While existing research suggests these feelings are likely to affect doctoral students from minority groups and international students in particular, their lived experiences have gone largely undocumented. Other relevant variables affecting the doctoral student experience include the type of university attended and area of study. In this context, the aim of this research is to explore the lived experiences of academic (un)belonging among a diversity of doctoral students across pre-92 and post-92 (‘new’) universities in England and how these relate to conceptions of the neoliberal university, with a particular concern with the experiences and inclusion of minority ethnic and international groups. A cross-institutional case study research design was used involving focus groups with 30-40 doctoral students across two Midlands universities. The research will involve doctoral students in the project team and advisory group. It was action-oriented towards informing policy and practice, and supporting doctoral students, at the two universities and more widely.

Citation

Lewis, L. (2022) Academic (un)belonging and the neoliberal university [dataset]. http://hdl.handle.net/2436/624980

URI

http://hdl.handle.net/2436/624980

Additional Links

https://educationobservatory.co.uk/academicunbelonging/
http://hdl.handle.net/2436/624981

Type

Research data sets and databases

Language

en

Description

This is a restricted access record consisting of 8 anonymised focus group transcripts, the participant information sheet, and a presentation that were produced for the Academic (un)belonging and the neoliberal university project. Access to the dataset will only be granted with the permission of Dr Lydia Lewis, the principal investigator on the project. The focus group transcripts and participant information sheet are documents created in Microsoft Word, and therefore users will require access to software that can open these file formats. To request permission to access the dataset, please contact wire@wlv.ac.uk. The dataset will be held in WIRE for 10 years from date of last use. Note for library staff: Please check the attached readme file for information regarding management of this record.

Collections

Faculty of Education, Health and Wellbeing