COMMERCIALIZING HIGHER LEARNING THROUGH THE DISCOURSE OF SKILLS IN UNIVERSITY CO-OPERATIVE EDUCATION: TENSIONS AND CONTRADICTIONS

Oct 15, 2026

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The article examines co-operative education (co-op) in Canadian universities as a mechanism through which higher learning becomes commercialized. Drawing on conceptual work and selected empirical data from a multi-case study, it shows how students enter co-op to manage financial burdens, then are drawn into competitive market processes. “Skills” operate as discursive currency, shaping entrepreneurial self-definition. The study finds limited institutional support to address harms such as tacit or explicit sexism and devaluation of sociocultural skills.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages36

Reading Time1 h 31 min

AccessFree to download

Commercialization and reform context

Co-operative education as an overlooked site

Key concepts: commercialization and privatization

Commercialization in academic capitalism

Privatization and finance restructuring

Micro-level effects and tensions

COMMERCIALIZING HIGHER LEARNING THROUGH THE DISCOURSE OF SKILLS IN UNIVERSITY CO-OPERATIVE EDUCATION: TENSIONS AND CONTRADICTIONS Peter Milley, University of Ottawa The last 3 decades have witnessed the rise of reforms aimed at conjoining Canadian universities to the economic system. Critics have pointed out how reforms have emphasized economic utility in universities to the detriment of their sociocultural mission, producing negative effects. One curricular innovation that has spread in tandem with reforms is co-operative education (co-op), which is seen to improve economic utility but has not attracted critical scrutiny. This article offers a socially critical perspective on co-op that draws on conceptual work and a sub-set of empirical data from a multi-case study conducted in one university. A tentative portrait emerged of a previously unexplored avenue of commercialization that is mediated through co-op. The process began with students enrolling to deal with personal financial burdens and to feel more secure about their economic futures. Once in co-op, students were exposed to competitive market processes that immersed them in the commercial activity of packaging, exchanging, and accumulating their human capital, using “skills” as discursive currency. Students internalized the discipline of the market, taking an entrepreneurial stance towards their self-definition and presentation. Programmatic features did not to enable students to reflect on or remediate negative experiences (e.g., tacit or explicit sexism) or distorting effects (e.g., devaluation of sociocultural skills) . Their experiences highlighted areas for further critical investigation: the devaluation of the liberal arts; power dynamics andasymmetries between employers, administrators, and students; and patterns of social relations (e.g., the exercise of gendered power) in labour markets, workplaces, and universities. The article concludes that a rebalancing of economic and sociocultural purposes is needed in co-op, and the scope of critical inquiries into economistic reforms should be extended to include micro-level effects produced through the market-driven processes at the heart of co-op. Throughout their secular history, Canadian universities have sought to play asociocultural role in furthering the principles of a progressive, just, democratic society , and they have strived to make contributions to the vocational development of individuals and the economic well-being of communities and the nation (Axelrod, 2002; Harris, 1976; Katz, 1985; Kirby, 2011) . A dynamic set of tensions—in policy, philosophy, governance, curriculum, and soon—have existed in how university communities have pursued these twin purposes through teaching and learning, research, and community service and in light of broader political, cultural, and economic forces. The last 3 decades have witnessed the rise of reforms (e.g., de-regulation, marketization, corporatization, performance measurement) aimed at conjoining universities to the economic system and infusing them with more business-like cultures (Hyslop-Margison & Leonard, 2012; Polster, 2005) . Critics have pointed out how the accretion of reforms has over-emphasized the economic utility of higher education to the detriment of its sociocultural mission, producing some negative effects in and beyond university communities (e.g., loss of academic values, standards, and freedoms; vocationalization of the curriculum; distortions in knowledge production and ethics; and threats to democracy, citizenship, and social cohesion) (Adamuti-Trache, Hawkey, Schuetze,& Glickman, 2006; Axelrod, 2002; Axelrod, Anisef, & Lin, 2001; Côté & Allahar, 2011; Newson, Polster, & Woodhouse, 2012; Polster, 2000; Turk, 2000, 2008; Woodhouse, 2009) . Nonetheless, a view prevails in state and society that such reforms are needed to address ongoing changes in the economy and labour markets and to enhance competitiveness at individual, institutio

FAQs

What is the article’s main focus regarding co-operative education?

It analyzes co-op as a pathway for the commercialization of higher learning, mediated through skill-based market processes in university settings.

How does the study describe students’ entry into co-op?

Students enroll to address personal financial burdens and to feel more secure about their economic futures.

What critical concerns does the article raise about co-op experiences?

It highlights that programmatic features may not enable remediation of negative experiences such as sexism, and it identifies devaluation of sociocultural skills along with power asymmetries among employers, administrators, and students.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Muffet