Count me in: how quantification shapes knowledge politics in contemporary higher education

The “Higher Education and Research” seminar at Sciences Po is organized by the CSO under the co-direction of Jérôme Aust and Christine Musselin. Its aim is to present and discuss research conducted in France, but also in Europe and other parts of the world, on higher education and research.

It is open to all experts, practitioners, researchers, teacher-researchers and doctoral students interested in these issues. Sessions are configured around a single speaker, French or foreign, leaving plenty of room for discussion.

Webinar November 19, 2024 from 12:30 pm to 2 pm - Link to register

Juan Pablo Pardo-Guerra, Professor in sociology at the University of California, San Diego.

"Count me in: how quantification shapes knowledge politics in contemporary higher education"

Abstract:

How is knowledge organized in higher education? In recent decades, the adoption of market-oriented logics within institutions of research and higher education had notable implications on how the pursuit of knowledge is shaped and rewarded. As documented by a number of authors, for example, the "commercialization of science" had consequences on the quality of knowledge produced in particular research setting. Backed by distinct cultures of quantification and tied to concrete devices measurement and commensuration, the broader audit cultures that embed modern research effectively shape what we know and can know. In this talk, I explore instances of these cultures by looking into the role of research assessments and budget models as mechanisms for shaping and regulating how universities structure their instructional and research operations. Focusing on recent models of research evaluation and budgeting, this talk shows how several techniques of quantification become important for implementing change in higher education with long-lasting consequences for the distribution of knowledge, the organization of the sciences, and the structure of the public sphere.