Governing universal higher education through markets: a poststructural perspective on massification

This article engages with poststructural theoretical explorations of markets to present a critical account of higher education governance. To do so, I draw upon a case study of higher education massification in Hong Kong. In less than two decades, as part of efforts to evolve a global knowledge-based economy, participation in higher education in Hong Kong has reached a universal level, fuelled mainly by the expansion of a nonprofit private sector. This article seeks to answer two questions. First, what does it mean to have a higher education market from a critical sociological and poststructural point of view? Second, why, in the postcolonial era, has the growth of higher education occurred through private means, in contrast to the late colonial period, when expansion was driven primarily in the public sector? I call attention to the pivotal roles of governmental rationalities in financing higher education to achieve public policy goals. The article concludes by briefly reflecting on the social justice implications of universal higher education for the rescaled state under globalisation, considering not only redistribution but also the opportunity trap as a structural condition produced by markets and governmental rationalities.