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Geographies of Marketization in Higher Education: Branch Campuses as Territorial and Symbolic Fixes

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  • Kleibert, Jana M.

Abstract

The role of higher education institutions as active agents of globalization and marketization remains relatively little explored. Economic geographic perspectives are particularly well placed to investigate globalizing higher education as an important economic sector, in addition to its supportive role in the knowledge economy. Drawing on political economic and cultural economic perspectives on marketization and geographic fixes, the study analyzes the motivations and spatial strategies for geographic expansion of universities through the establishment of branch campuses. Based on qualitative interviews with key decision-makers of English universities, I argue that (international) branch campuses enable a range of geographic fixes for higher education institutions: a territorial fix through the geographic expansion and construction of segmented markets and a symbolic fix through the relocation of campuses to places that promise reputational gains. The rapid growth of British branch campuses abroad and domestically (in the global city of London) involve substantial financial and reputational risks and as fixes constitute only temporary stabilizations. The conceptualization of symbolic fixes, in addition to territorial fixes, may enable a more nuanced understanding of the role of space in the construction of segmented, yet relational markets that combines intersecting political economic and cultural economic logics.

Suggested Citation

  • Kleibert, Jana M., 2021. "Geographies of Marketization in Higher Education: Branch Campuses as Territorial and Symbolic Fixes," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 97(4), pages 315-337.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:espost:251843
    DOI: 10.1080/00130095.2021.1933937
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Susan Christopherson & Meric Gertler & Mia Gray, 2014. "Universities in Crisis," Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 7(2), pages 209-215.
    2. Andy Pike, 2013. "Economic Geographies of Brands and Branding," Economic Geography, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 89(4), pages 317-339, October.
    3. Kleibert, Jana M., 2020. "Brexit geographies of transnational education: uncertainty, ‘global Britain’ and European (re-)integration," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, issue Latest Ar.
    4. Ibert, Oliver & Hess, Martin & Kleibert, Jana & Müller, Felix & Power, Dominic, 2019. "Geographies of dissociation: Value creation, ‘dark’ places, and ‘missing’ links," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 9(1), pages 43-63.
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    7. Andy Pike, 2013. "Economic Geographies of Brands and Branding," Economic Geography, Clark University, vol. 89(4), pages 317-339, October.
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    9. Rachel Brooks & Johanna Waters, 2018. "Signalling the ‘Multi-Local’ University? The Place of the City in the Growth of London-Based Satellite Campuses, and the Implications for Social Stratification," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 7(10), pages 1-16, October.
    10. Gareth Bryant & Ben Spies-Butcher, 2020. "Bringing finance inside the state: How income-contingent loans blur the boundaries between debt and tax," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 52(1), pages 111-129, February.
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    Cited by:

    1. Lo, William Yat Wai & Li, Danling, 2023. "Reimagining the notion of Hong Kong as an education hub: National imperative for higher education policy," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    2. Danya Al-Saleh, 2022. "Who will man the rigs when we go?†transnational demographic fever dreams between Qatar and Texas," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 40(5), pages 1130-1146, August.
    3. Philip Völlers & Thomas Neise & Philip Verfürth & Martin Franz & Felix Bücken & Kim Philip Schumacher, 2023. "Revisiting risk in the Global Production Network approach 2.0 - Towards a performative risk narrative perspective," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 55(8), pages 1838-1858, November.
    4. Avishek Jha, 2025. "Curating an ‘educational environment’: Commercial libraries, new entrepreneurs and shifting geographies of education in India," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 57(5), pages 652-668, August.
    5. Kutay Güneştepe & Deniz Tunçalp, 2023. "Territorial dynamics in organizing resistance: The assistants’ solidarity movement in two universities," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 41(6), pages 1200-1224, September.
    6. Guy Crawford & Jens Christiansen & Fernanda Rojas-Marchini, 2026. "Developing methods for future-gazing economic geographies," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 58(2), pages 303-311, March.
    7. Bobée, Alice, 2025. "Domestic campus expansion in France as a practice of regional dissociation: Advancing reflections on the socio-spatial fragmentation of higher education "at home"," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 159, pages 1-9.

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