Effects of Neoliberalism on Computing Education Research and Practice

I explore Neoliberalism and its effects on Computing Education and Research. I begin the exploration by analyzing the impact of declining state funding for higher education. I discuss the following mechanisms used by higher-ed institutions to cope with declines in state support: managerial culture, increased students’ fees, privatization of research, adjunctification of teaching professors, audit culture, and Artificial Intelligence agents as teachers. I then explore the commodified state of education and research resulting in a sovereign student, debasement of academic standards, and a perversion of academic subjectivity. I discuss how the commodification results in a dehumanization of faculty and students which produces a compliance culture, loss of professional and pedagogical identities, loss of autonomy and public trust, and marginalization of equity, civic engagement, and critical inquiry. I analyze the reasons underlying a successful permeation of Neoliberalism in academia including portraying Neoliberalism as a class war, categorization of STEM fields as luxury commodities, exploring exploitation of foreign workers, and commenting about the academic Stockholm syndrome. I discuss about a super-cycle of suffering-exploitation caused by Neoliberal pressures. I conclude the discussion with some strategies that can be used by computing researchers and practitioners to salvage the Neoliberal situation.