‘Prestige politics’ and elitism: Consequences of the ‘massification’ of higher education in the global north, 1945 onwards?

Conference presentation delivered at the <a href="https://socialhistory.org.uk/conference/shs-annual-conference-2023/">Social History Society Annual Conference, Colchester, England (July, 2023)</a>. Presently, elitism in higher education (HE) is understood as a by-product of class dynamics and exclusive practices that impact educational opportunities, alongside often unspoken assumptions about connections between institutional prestige and scholarship quality. Myths have persisted throughout history that those from ‘elite’ universities are better scholars and therefore more worthy of our attention and more deserving of a platform to disseminate their work. However, elitist ideology necessarily excludes those less privileged and overlooks underlying structural issues that can limit opportunities to attain positions in these institutions – as students or faculty – thereby reaffirming by consequence other prejudices like sexism and racism. What are the historical roots of these intersectional dynamics, and of the assumed connections between elitism and prestige in HE? Drawing on preliminary archival research, the following questions are addressed: What consequences came from post-war political developments aimed at ‘opening up’ HE opportunities to a more diverse student body, notably in the US, the National Defence Education Act (1958) and the Higher Education Act (1965), and in the UK, the Robbins Report (1963) and the Further & Higher Education Act (1992)? In what ways did the creation of public/community colleges and the upgrading of institutions (e.g. Polytechnics) to university status lead to the creation of new hierarchies replacing old ones? Moreover, amid academic fields being diluted and the status of ‘elite’ universities becoming less secure, what role did faculty play: as active agents or bystanders? Answering these questions will help to understand the stubborn persistence of elitism in HE.