Could the Covid-19 pandemic accelerate the uberfication of the university?
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has radically changed our world. All spheres of social life have been affected by the pandemic. Lockdown and other restriction measures have grinded contact tuition to a hold and we are seeing universities pivot to online learning/teaching. Although authentic online teaching/learning may not be realised in this moment of crisis, online teaching/learning is likely to be expanded post-COVID-19. In this article, I explore the possibility that the COVID-19 pandemic could accelerate the uberfication of the university. The concept of “uberfication of the university” was first mooted by Gary Hall (2016). I argue that although uberfication of the university (or its acceleration) is not preordained, the potential for its actualisation is already embedded in our present social, educational and technological situation. Although the possibility exists that the present situation can also be a carrier of alternatives to uberfication, vectors of escape from the latter will depend on the active construction of counter narratives to uberfication. The article thus sounds a cautionary note to universities.
Downloads
References
Caraher, W. 2017. Uberfication, branding and competition. Archaeology of the Meditteranean World. https://mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com/2017/09/19/uberfication-branding-and-competition/ (Accessed 15 May 2020).
Bond, S. 2017. Dear scholars, delete your account at Academia.edu. https://www.forbes.com/sites/ drsarahbond/2017/01/23/dear-scholars-delete-your-account-at-academia-edu/#3280677e2d62 (Accessed 17 May 2020).
Chappelow, J. 2020. Sharing economy. Investopedia. https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/sharing-economy.asp (Accessed 14 May 2020).
Davids, N. 2020. Opinion: Maybe the coronavirus will set SA on a path to a more equitable education system. https://m.news24.com/Columnists/GuestColumn/opinion-maybe-the-coronavirus-will-set-south-africa-on-the-path-to-a-more-equitable-education-system-20200327 (Accessed 14 May 2020)
Du Preez, P. and L. Le Grange. 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic, online teaching/learning, the digital divide and epistemological access. Unpublished paper.
Foucault, M. 1998. Technologies of the self. In Technologies of the self: A seminar with Michel Foucault, ed. L. H. Martin, H. Gutman and P. H. Hutton. Amherst: The University of Massachusetts Press.
Foucault, M. 2008. The birth of biopolitics: Lectures at the College de France, 1978-1979. London: Palgrave MacMillan.
Haggerty, K. D. 2004. Ethics creep: Governing social science research in the name of ethics. Qualitative Sociology 27: 391‒414.
Hall, G. 2016. The uberfication of the university. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Hanover Research. 2020. “Trends in higher education.” https://my.graceland.edu/ICS/icsfs/2020-Trends-in-Higher-Education_final.pdf?target=b29516df-9bcf-4397-b621-c028cdf683df (Accessed 15 May 2020)
Hodges, C., S. Moore, B. Lockee, T. Trust and M. Bond. 2020. The difference between emergency remote teaching and online learning. https://er.educause.edu/articles/2020/3/the-difference-between-emergency-remote-teaching-and-online-learning. (Accessed 24 April 2020).
Keengwe, J. and T. T. Kidd. 2010. Towards best practices in online learning and teaching in higher education. MERLOT Journal of Online Learning and Teaching 6(2): 533‒541.
Koh, S-Y. 2017. Book review: Platform capitalism by Nick Srnicek. https://researchgate.net/ publication/334557671 (Accessed 14 May 2020).
Lai, C-C., T-P. Shih, W-C. Ko, H-J. Tang and P-R. Hsueh. 2020. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19): The epidemic and the challenges. International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents 55(3). https://doi.org/10.1016/ j.ijantimicag.2020.105924
Le Grange, L. 2004. E learning: Some critical thoughts. South African Journal of Higher Education 18(1): 87 – 97.
Le Grange, L. 2019. On “predatory” publishing: A reply to Maistry. Journal of Education 75: 19‒32.
Peters, M. A. 2013. Managerialism and the neoliberal university: Prospects for new forms of “open management” in higher education. Contemporary Readings in Law and Social Justice 5(1): 11‒26.
Srnicek, N. 2017. Platform capitalism. Cambridge: Polity Press.
This journal is an open access journal, and the authors and journal should be properly acknowledged, when works are cited.
Authors, copyright holders, may use the publishers version for teaching purposes, in books, theses, dissertations, conferences and conference papers.
A copy of the authors' publishers version may also be hosted on the following websites:
- Non-commercial personal homepage or blog.
- Institutional webpage.
- Authors Institutional Repository.
The following notice should accompany such a posting on the website: This is an electronic version of an article published in SAJHE, Volume XXX, number XXX, pages XXX “XXX", DOI. Authors should also supply a hyperlink to the original paper or indicate where the original paper (http://www.journals.ac.za/index.php/SAJHE) may be found.
Authors publishers version, affiliated with the Stellenbosch University will be automatically deposited in the University Institutional Repository SUNScholar.
Articles as a whole, may not be re-published with another journal.
The following license applies:
Attribution CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
