The Knowledge Economy in Higher Education

This study analyzes scientific production and discourse on the knowledge economy in higher education (HE) (2018–2025), focusing on conceptualizations, challenges, actions, drivers, and barriers across selected countries. This study employs a simultaneous mixed-methods approach that combines bibliometric and hermeneutic analyses. Using VOSviewer and RStudio, 205 documents were analyzed to map scientific output and collaboration networks. Concurrently, a hermeneutic analysis was conducted based on a selection of twenty-three articles that reported on the discourse regarding how countries address challenges, actions, drivers, and barriers. Bibliometric trends confirm a steady expansion of research into the Knowledge Economy, characterized by a shift toward “academic capitalism” and neoliberal educational frameworks. The research reveals growth in scientific production through 2023, driven by international agendas and digitalization, thereby consolidating universities as hubs of ”academic capitalism.” The results highlight that the knowledge economy is linked to each country’s economic system and faces distinct challenges, such as postindustrial pressures in open-market economies and internationalization in mixed economies to prevent brain drain. The study identifies critical tensions, such as the accelerated obsolescence of skills and social inequalities that place greater importance on global demands than on local ones. It concludes that the knowledge economy should be more oriented toward social transformation and ethics than toward market interests and that it should achieve a balance between international knowledge and the ability to solve local problems.