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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Sociol.
Sec. Work, Employment and Organizations
Volume 10 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fsoc.2025.1492863

Social goals under a neoliberal agenda: Measures to promote equality in European higher education read through a Foucauldian lens

Provisionally accepted
BACIU LORENI ELENA BACIU LORENI ELENA LAZAR ANDREI THEOFILD LAZAR ANDREI THEOFILD *TOTAN IUNIA RALUCA TOTAN IUNIA RALUCA
  • West University of Timișoara, Timișoara, Romania

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    In this study we draw on Foucault's work on governmentality and examine the power dynamics involved in establishing and implementing policies that promote equality in European higher education. Using a qualitative case study design, we selected 17 public universities situated in 13 European countries, from which we collected information about (1) the way these institutions problematize inequality in reference to participation in higher education, by labeling and categorizing vulnerable students; and (2) the modes of governing and power tools (designed as support measures) they employ to address inequality. The results of the study show that the most typical profiles of vulnerability with which the universities in the sample engage include: students with disabilities, students from low-income backgrounds and students with children. Additionally, most universities use targeted support measures (as opposed to mainstreaming strategies) which consist in a mix of financial aid and support and adaptation services. The critical analysis of these measures reveals their power to shape students' identifies and actions, through processes of subjectification, categorization, normalization and responsabilization. In the last section, we discuss the tension that appears between the European universities' social dimension and the neoliberal policies that shape their functioning.

    Keywords: social dimension, European higher education, Vulnerable students, governmentality, Foucault European higher education policies, Social dimension of higher education, Neoliberal policies

    Received: 08 Sep 2024; Accepted: 10 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 ELENA, THEOFILD and RALUCA. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: LAZAR ANDREI THEOFILD, West University of Timișoara, Timișoara, Romania

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