Fast food for thought: how to survive and thrive in the corporate university

Michael Oakeshott warned in 1950 that the very existence of the university as a place of learning and scholarship was under threat from corporate interests, and that the provision of education was being replaced by the sale of qualifications. By the end of the century, Bill Readings had pronounced that the university was in ruins, just as nurse education in the UK was making the move into higher education. It is against this backdrop of a corporate university sector that is increasingly coming to resemble a fast-food business that nurse academics are struggling to assert their values and make a difference to nursing practice through education, research and scholarship. As it becomes ever more difficult to make our way in the university with any degree of integrity, this paper offers some thoughts and suggests some strategies for not only surviving in the corporate university, but for thriving both personally and professionally in ways that do not compromise our commitments and values as healthcare professionals and human beings. It is offered as a personal reflection, based on nearly 40 years of experiences in UK universities, firstly as a student and latterly as a lecturer and a professor of nursing. As such, it is delivered from a particular geographical and disciplinary perspective, the only perspective I can talk from with any real authority and authenticity. However, I believe that these ideas, thoughts and suggestions can be applied with a degree of success to other healthcare disciplines in other parts of the world.