The Uberfication of the Doctorate: Higher Degrees in End Times
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.53103/cjess.v4i3.247Keywords:
Higher Education Studies, Doctoral Studies, Uberfication, End times, Generation X, Baby Boomers, MillennialsAbstract
Ideological expectations from the right and the left saturate higher education. With public controversies detailing historic sexual abuse, research misconduct and plagiarism, how is the PhD positioned in a university sector losing its purpose, meaning and momentum? The doctorate is not only indicative, illustrative or representative of wider societal concerns, but also requires nuanced recognition of its distinctiveness from undergraduate degrees. This article activates a thought experiment to consider what is happening in international higher education, and how this history has been shaped and creased through the (post) pandemic environment. Uberfication is a provocative trope that enables the development of a generational modelling of our universities, spanning the baby boomers, Generation X, and millennials. With three generations circulating in higher education, can the assumptions and expectations be managed and aligned?
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