The McDonaldization of Higher Education

The term McDonaldization was coined by George Ritzer in 1993 and is a valuable tool for providing a theoretical and practical debate concerning novel and defining features of our contemporary world. The contributors to this collection, academics and writers from three countries, examine the McDonaldization of higher education in contemporary society. The growing literature on McDonaldization shows the power of the term to describe the extension of industrial rationalization (commodification) to wider society.

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Here is the summary of a book edited by Dennis Hayes and Robin Wynyard, with a chapter by James Woudhuysen – click on this The McDonaldization of Higher Education link to read the full chapter.

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In the context of higher education, one can see the application of Ritzer’s four features of McDonaldization, efficiency, calculability, predictability, and control. For example: higher education is becoming more efficient because it is processing more students by introducing multiple choice exams (US) or by removing exams altogether (UK) and replacing them with forms of continuous assessment, which leads to grade inflation and more students passing.

The contributors to this volume, 15 academics and writers from three continents, examine what can be called the McDonaldization of higher education and the impact this has on the idea of the university as a liberal institution primarily engaged in the pursuit of knowledge.