Towards a Market-Based Vision: Canadian Universities in the Era of Neoliberalism

Canadian universities are widely considered to be a public good. Social and economic benefits are often touted by media, teachers, and others. However, over the last few decades, Canadian universities have been undergoing a neoliberal transformation. As a political-economic theory and ideology, neoliberalism is evident through corporate-like policies and practices in Canadian universities such as business-based governance models, increased tuition rates, and elevated student debt loads. In this paper, I cast a critical lens and investigate Canadian universities in the present context and uncover the ways that neoliberalism shapes Canadian universities. I briefly trace neoliberalism from a socio-historical context and examine its dissemination worldwide as well as its permeation in Canadian universities specifically. Drawing from expansive literature, I argue that Canadian universities are aligning their aims with market forces.