Academic identities in the managed university - Neoliberalism and resistance at Newcastle University, UK - Liz Morrish & The Analogue University Writing Collective

Oct 15, 2026

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Paper examines how neoliberal reforms in UK universities embed academics in audit and performance management, focusing on training and performance documents that redefine research and produce entrepreneurial, corporate academic identities. Using discourse analysis and archival work, it presents a case study of resistance to metrics-based management at Newcastle University. In 2015, managers introduced “Raising the Bar,” which academics collectively opposed by refusing individual targets and negotiating withdrawal in 2016.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages13

Reading Time33 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Literature review: neoliberal discourse and academic identities

Case study: resistance to “Raising the Bar” (RTB)

Resistance strategies and conclusion

A U S T R A L I A N U N I V E R S I T I E S ’ R E V I E W Academic identities in the managed university Neoliberalism and resistance at Newcastle University, UK Liz Morrish & The Analogue University Writing Collective In an era of neoliberal reforms, academics in UK universities have become increasingly enmeshed in audit, particularly of research‘outputs’. Using the data of performance management and training documents, this paper ﬁrstly offers an analysis of the role of discourse in redeﬁning the meaning of research, and in colonising a new kind of entrepreneurial, corporate academic. In the second part of the paper, we narrate a case study of resistance to management by metrics. In 2015, Newcastle University managers introduced a new set of research ‘expectations’ known as ‘Raising the Bar’, which the academic body were able to act collectively to resist. The collective refused the imposition of individual targets and refused to subordinate academic values to ﬁnancial ones. There was a successful negotiation with management, and in July 2016, Raising the Bar was rescinded in favour of collegial action to work towards research improvement. Keywords: neoliberalism, resistance, performance management, outcomes, targets, metrics, audit culture, academic identities, critical discourse analysis Introduction In the neoliberal era, academics in UK universities have become increasingly enmeshed in systems of metrics. These have moved beyond audit (Strathern, 2000), to the recasting of identities as universities enact markets (Burrows, 2012), and increasingly to the situation in which data itself has become a new exchange value and thus productive of new subjectivities (The Analogue University, 2017) . Driving a new ethos of competition has been the growing influence of university league tables, and in the UK the Research Excellence Framework (REF) which governs the distribution of one tranche of government research money. In an attempt to game this system, institutions have set in place strategies to achieve institutional goals of enhanced national and international league table positions by setting ‘performance’ targets for their staff. Described as The Metric Tide, in a 2015 report for the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), the chair of the review body, James Wilsdon, cautioned against the misuse of metrics as a tool of research assessment or management in UK higher education. He wrote; ‘Metrics hold real power: they are constitutive of values, identities and livelihoods.’ Yet despite such critiques and a widespread awareness that outcomes-based performance-management in the public sector inadvertently produces a whole set of negative outcomes (Lowe & Wilson, 2015), university managers, like the proverbial rabbits trapped in car headlights, seem unable to escape their lure and logic. At the same time, although they critique these developments, academics can often feel despondent or even helpless in the face of them. We might know that the ‘there is no alternative’argument is untrue, but we can often be hard-pressed to point to successful instances of resistance and the embrace of workable alternatives. In this article, we critically examine a recent dispute about one such example of that outcomes-based performance-management, that of‘Raising the Bar’(RTB), vol. 59, no. 2, 2017 Academic identities in the managed university Liz Morrish & The Analogue University Writing Collective 23 A U S T R A L I A N U N I V E R S I T I E S ’ R E V I E W introduced by management at Newcastle University, England. By attempting to channel staff energies into what counts highest in those audit exercises, RTB was explicitly designed to game the system to position the university better in national and international league tables. It sought to do this by a ‘carrot and stick’approach: rewarding academics deemed likely to improve the university’s rankings in competition with others, and disciplining those deemed

FAQs

What neoliberal reforms affect UK academics in this paper?

The paper describes reforms that entangle academics in audit systems, especially performance management of research outputs using metrics.

How did Newcastle University managers introduce “Raising the Bar” in 2015?

Managers introduced new research “expectations” known as “Raising the Bar,” designed to improve league table positions through targets and metrics.

What resistance actions led to RTB being withdrawn?

Academic staff collectively refused individual targets and resisted subordinating academic values to financial ones, resulting in a successful negotiation and withdrawal in July 2016.

Oct 15, 2026

Upload by Ben