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This article reviews two recent books, "Privilege: The Making of an Adolescent Elite at St. Paul's School" by Shamus Khan and "The Tyranny of Merit: What's Become of the Common Good?" by Michael J. Sandel. Both books explore socioeconomic inequalities and their impact on society. Khan argues that attending elite schools does not create a more equitable society, while Sandel critiques the concept of meritocracy and its role in disempowering ordinary citizens. The article also suggests that business schools may contribute to inequality by prioritizing wealth accumulation and promoting neoliberalism. It calls for a better understanding of privilege and inequality in different contexts and questions the exportation of Western norms by business schools. [Extracted from the article]

Scholars posit that lower-income undergraduates experience "cultural mismatch," which undermines their sense of belonging, promotes withdrawal from campus, and limits mobility upon graduation. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 103 undergraduates at an elite university, we examine how students' diverse trajectories to college affect how they identify as members of the community and modulate the relationship between social class and sense of belonging. While upper-income undergraduates find commonalities between themselves and college peers and integrate into the community, lower-income students offer divergent accounts. The doubly disadvantaged—lower-income undergraduates who attended local, typically distressed public high schools—felt a heightened sense of difference, drew moral boundaries, and withdrew from campus life. Alternatively, the privileged poor—lower-income undergraduates who attended boarding, day, and preparatory high schools—adopted a cosmopolitan approach focused on continued expansion of horizons and integrated into campus. Through detailing this overlooked diversity among lower-income undergraduates, our findings expand theoretical frameworks for examining sense of belonging to include boundary work that shapes students' agendas, thereby deepening our understanding of the reproduction of inequality in college. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A distinct education has become a heretical right for urban elites despite educational equality is an official agenda. This has not only widened the gaps between urban and rural counterparts but also developed discriminations amongst different classes of student within the urban schools. To validate this tenet, the facilities offered by various schools were compared. Yet, whether a particular secondary education program has become an exclusive right essentially for urban elites to deprive others; is not widely explored—an investigation of this study. Educational background and some selective socioeconomic status (SES) of 925,617 students; completed their secondary school certificate from 3,315 schools were collected to make comparison through descriptive analysis of secondary data. Findings note that secondary science education has become a popular program amongst the urban elites. Subsequently, they also perform well in the public examination. Furthermore, discussions suggest that science being an international education demands both formal and informal higher budgets. Hence, a greater success of urban elites in secondary science provision helps them to succeed successively in procuring higher education and thereby in job-market. Thus, a policy intervention is required to ensure an effective implementation of educational equity concept. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How do elite universities balance diversity and academics during admissions? We develop a theory-based empirical framework to identify and quantify this potential trade-off, using postentry outcomes. We apply this to matched admission and exam-performance data from Cambridge. Comparing first- versus second-round admits from different demographic groups yields bounds on the trade-off magnitude, which (a) hold irrespective of whether we observe all applicant characteristics and (b) require no information on rejected applicants. We find robust evidence of trade-off between gender balance and future performance in math-intensive subjects but not for state/private school students or for gender in competitive nonmathematical disciplines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chinese universities typically demonstrate a preference for individuals with overseas educational experience in their faculty recruitment policies. However, there is a notable lack of research examining whether and to what extent overseas returnees possess an advantage over domestic graduates in securing employment at higher-ranking universities. To address this research gap, this study employs propensity score matching to compare the probability of being employed as academic faculty by prestigious universities between these two cohorts. This study entails the compilation of curriculum vitae data from faculty members at prestigious universities in China, totaling ~90,000 resumes. The results substantiate a positively skewed influence of overseas education on academics' career advancement. Overseas returnees are more likely to obtain academic positions at higher-ranking universities compared to domestic graduates, with this effect demonstrating a consistent upward trend over time. Further subgroup analyses revealed that the advantage of overseas education varies among faculties graduating from different undergraduate institutions and undergoes changes over time. The latest trend indicates that those who attended Project 985 universities during their undergraduate stage derive the most significant advantages from studying abroad during their doctoral phase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The labor market’s response to the signaling value of multiple qualifications (bachelor’s and master’s degrees) held by master’s graduates influences labor market efficiency and individual decisions to invest in education. Using data from the ‘Sample Survey of Chinese Higher Education Institutions’ conducted in 2017 and 2019, this study analyzes whether master’s graduates with bachelor’s degrees from elite universities earn salary premiums. The findings indicate that bachelor’s degrees from elite universities provide approximately a 12% salary premium for master’s graduates, attributable to both human capital and labor market signaling mechanisms. When accounting for individual human capital differences, the salary premium is approximately 9.1%. Furthermore, the empirical results show that these premiums are statistically significant only for master’s graduates from elite universities. The distribution of salary premiums exhibits a U-shaped trend, increasing from low to high salary quantiles. The signaling/screening mechanism’s salary premiums rise with starting salaries, while negative signaling effects are observed at lower quantiles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT We examine the educational backgrounds of the global elite, using new data on a diversity of organizational leadership roles as well as the population of the super‐rich across the world. Four trends emerge when examining the university education of the global elite. First, we find a small number of globally prestigious universities to take on super prominent roles, suggesting a strongly hierarchical distribution of credentials among the global elite. Second, we find a consistent and unique place for Harvard University within this system. Third, we find evidence for a significant yet variable ‘home‐bias’ in the education of the global elite. This is moderated by the fourth regularity, the hegemony of Anglo‐American credentials. These four global regularities can enhance ongoing research on global elite populations. Our findings are robust to both the removal of all American elites in the sample, to dynamic stratified sampling of the network boundary and to disaggregating the sample into different elite roles. The analysis of this article is the first of its kind to offer a large‐scale descriptive mapping of central tendencies in global elite university education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper extends the scholarship on attainment grouping by focusing on the policy initiatives of streaming and subject‐based banding (SBB) in Singapore. The study is framed by the concept of pragmatic perfectionism, which refers to the continuous and ideals‐oriented drive to improve a system through practical, incremental and paradoxical measures. It is argued that SBB is aligned with setting by giving students the flexibility and choice to study different subjects at varying levels. Mixed‐attainment grouping is also evident, where students are grouped in mixed‐form classes for selected subjects. However, SBB may have inadvertently maintained between‐school segregation for elite and non‐elite schools by supporting the existing policy of school posting based on students' exam scores. This paper contributes to the diverse formulations, adaptations and justifications surrounding attainment grouping. The study also illustrates the usefulness of pragmatic perfectionism in foregrounding the potential and tensions in educational policymaking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses ChatGPT from the perspective of the philosophy of education. It explores ChatGPT's implications for universities, focussing on the intertwined concepts of critical thinking, the crisis of higher education, and humanity. Does ChatGPT sound the death knell for critical thinking and, thus, exacerbate the oft-diagnosed 'crisis in education'? And is ChatGPT really a convenient, but dangerous, tool to outsource humanity to machines?. In addressing these questions, the article's two main arguments offer an alternative to both triumphalist and overly pessimistic narratives: first, ChatGPT can lead to a revitalisation of critical thinking in higher education. However, it arrives at this conclusion not from the triumphalist viewpoint that celebrates ChatGPT's (allegedly) limitless potential, but from the more sober perspective that ChatGPT combines remarkable strengths with considerable weaknesses and built-in limitations. Secondly, ChatGPT can prompt a return to the qualities that distinguish humans from calculating machines and (re)instate critical thinking as the pivotal virtue of higher education. The article arrives at this conclusion by rejecting the overly pessimistic concern with 'outsourcing humanity' and endorsing the idea that ChatGPT lays bare a 'crisis in education' that constitutes, simultaneously, a precious opportunity. Finally, the article stresses that this opportunity inevitably comes at a price. There will be winners and losers of the ChatGPT revolution and there is a danger that ChatGPT reintroduces elitism through the back door. One urgent task of the near future, therefore, will be to keep this danger in check. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies have shown a tendency for educational elites to marry within the elite circle in China. However, little research explores how they find a partner and the platforms' roles in the process. We fill this gap by focusing on an online dating platform targeting alumni of elite universities. We interviewed the core staff of the platform to examine its operations. Through thematic analysis, we analyzed users' self-representations in their dating profiles and the platform's relatively high matching success rate. To achieve assortative matching for its elite users, the platform developed a large elite user base by setting university prestige as a dating threshold, hiring staff from elite universities, and providing profile editing and posting services. Users highlighted their privileged family backgrounds, elite university experiences, time-consuming hobbies, and preferences for a soulmate, as they aimed to attract similar partners. Our research reveals a new form of intra-clan marriage that has emerged with the massification of higher education. This homogamy, based on high levels of cultural capital, forms a social enclosure that may reinforce cultural inequalities beyond higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper estimates the return to an elite-university education over a college graduate's career in contemporary China. After allowing for university selectivity by including individual admission scores, we find a substantial premium for graduating from an elite Chinese university at the job entry that declines quickly in early career before starting to return. Results are entirely driven by cohorts entering college after the 1999 higher-education expansion. The pattern is more pronounced in coastal provinces and in economically more developed regions. The results are consistent with predictions of asymmetric employer-learning models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Integrating human capital theory, social information processing theory, and literature on humble leadership behaviours, this study takes an initial step to investigate the effects of CEO human capital on CEO humble leadership behaviours. We developed a model that explains how experience human capital (career variety) and education human capital (education level and elite education) independently and jointly influence CEO humble leadership behaviours. We examined the proposed model using multi-source data. The data of the independent variables were hand-collected from multiple sources, including the CSMAR database, corporate websites, and press releases. The data of the dependent variable were collected with an online survey from 175 listed companies. We found that career variety positively influenced CEO humble leadership behaviours, while elite education was negatively associated with CEO humble leadership behaviours. Moreover, career variety and education level had a positive interaction effect on CEO humble leadership behaviours, while career variety and elite education had a negative interaction effect on CEO humble leadership behaviours. Our findings highlight that different types of human capital may exert different impacts. Moreover, apart from the direct impact of one specific type of human capital, various types of human capital can interact to influence CEO humble leadership behaviours. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been a movement aiming to teach agents about their privilege by making the information about their privilege as costless as possible. However, some argue that in risk-sensitive frameworks, such as Lara Buchak's (2013), it can be rational for privileged agents to shield themselves from learning about their privilege, even if the information is costless and relevant. This threatens the efficacy of these information-access efforts in alleviating the problem of elite-group ignorance. In response, I show that even within the same framework, in this case David Kinney and Liam Kofi Bright's (2021), the rationality of this information avoidance rests on shaky ground in practice. In this framework, whether an agent should avoid information depends on the precise details of (1) how relevant they expect the information to be, (2) their priors about the value of various options, and (3) their risk attitudes. The model sugests that rationality of elite-group ignorance is a function of structural factors that are pervasive but nonetheless not insurmountable, thus offering a way out of pessimism about elite group education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article interrogates relations between dual senses of economics as ‘discipline’: as a form of knowledge and as a form of training. Scholars have suggested that economics performatively brings homo economicus into being. Yet this has been often posited as a singular figure, while eclipsing the unequal forms of personhood and sociality it instantiates. Through ethnography of elite undergraduate economics education in the United Kingdom, I ask how the ‘representative agents’ of homo economicus are considered ‘representative’, and how they relate to the forms of ‘agency’ that students cultivate. I argue that ambivalent epistemologies in economics oscillate between a‐realism and what I term ‘brutal realism’, which appeals to epistemic prowess yet normalizes the partial perspective of a detached elite masculinity. Students are encouraged to foreclose critique to stabilize these unstable models; thus the multiplicity of representative agents paradoxically contributes to their traction. Meanwhile, students cultivate ethics of efficiency that facilitate this wilful blindness, shaping their trajectories into finance. I demonstrate that the authority of economics emerges through distinct affective, pedagogical, and epistemological forms, and there are multiple mirrors between these forms and the content of economics education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Universities have become increasingly strict with the academic requirements of newly enrolled faculties. It manifests as the credential inflation of new applicants for university academic positions. There is little research that has provided empirical evidence for this phenomenon. This research takes China as a case, aiming to test whether there is credential inflation in universities and the inflation rate. To conduct research, we collect faculty resume information from 802 Chinese universities, including 159,752 resumes. Results confirm credential inflation in Chinese universities' newly enrolled faculties with domestic education. The credential inflation in elite universities, especially for 211 project universities, is the most obvious. On the contrary, those faculties with overseas education can be employed by higher-ranking institutions than local graduates, and the benefits of studying abroad in terms of the employment of university faculty have continuously improved overall. In the professional field of Chinese university faculties, the devaluation of domestic academic qualifications and the appreciation of overseas academic qualifications are relatively apparent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article we analyse the constructed 'free speech crisis' associated with higher education (HE) in the United Kingdom (UK). We examine the media discourses from 2012 to 2022 which led to the establishment of a sense of crisis around speech in universities and, ultimately, to the Freedom of Speech Act in May 2023. We undertake a critical discourse analysis focused on the constructions of universities and university students in two major right‐wing broadsheet newspapers, The Times and The Telegraph, and in the right‐wing magazine The Spectator. We conceptualise the 'free speech crisis' as a discursive formation which is part of broader political efforts of conservative elites to maintain hegemony in Britain. Drawing on populism theory and race critical analyses, we argue that the 'free speech crisis' is an expression of racial liberalism and a placeholder for a deeper white anxiety over the social reproduction of elites in university spaces, and thus over (cultural) hegemony in the public sphere. We understand the desire to regulate 'free' speech in HE as an effort to prevent the emergence of an elite and (counter)hegemony different to the status quo. We make contributions to two emergent and interrelating bodies of literature: firstly, the study of populism in (post)Brexit Britain, and secondly, the study of culture wars, including iterations of the 'free speech crisis' and 'the war on woke'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the unique contributions of parental wealth, class background, education, and income to different measures of educational attainment. We build on recent sibling correlation approaches to estimate, using Norwegian register data, the gross and net contribution of each social origin dimension across almost 3 decades of birth cohorts. Our findings suggest that parental education is crucial for all measures of children's educational outcomes in all models. In the descriptive analyses, we find that while broad education measures remain stable or decrease over time, attaining higher tertiary education and elite degrees is more stable or increasingly dependent on family background, especially parental financial resources. While gross sibling correlation models show somewhat decreasing trends in the contribution of education in all measures of educational outcomes, net models show that the unique contributions of financial resources have increased over time. Our results lend some support to the idea of education as a positional good and suggest that educational inequalities reflect broader patterns of inequality in society. Our results further indicate that the importance of parental education and cultural capital for children's education can be explained by within‐resource transmission but that pro‐educational norms tied to wealth may play an increasingly important role in educational mobility. In summary, this study sheds light on the multidimensional nature of social origins and highlights the role of different factors in shaping educational outcomes over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of English Teaching & Learning is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article discusses the phenomenon of world-class universities and world university rankings in the global higher education system. Many countries have initiated reforms in their higher education systems to develop world-class universities and improve their rankings. These initiatives include heavy public investment, internationalization of higher education, developing research universities, and launching special projects focusing on selected universities. The article provides detailed descriptions of nine cases of academic excellence initiatives in countries such as China, Taiwan, Malaysia, South Korea, Japan, France, Denmark, Germany, and Russia. The success of these initiatives varies among countries, with some achieving significant improvements in rankings and research output. However, there are also concerns about the impact of these initiatives on other universities and the potential for creating differentiated systems. The article emphasizes the importance of cooperation, considering broader aspects of academic excellence, and not viewing these initiatives as substitutes for system-wide reforms. [Extracted from the article]

This article explores the identity of students at an elite high school and how it contributes to privilege and inequality. Thirty‐two students from an elite high school in Israel were interviewed to examine two main questions: What characterizes these students' identity? How does their identity impact the cultivation and fostering of privilege and inequality? The findings identify three components of the elite student identity: (1) entitlement, as a natural experience of privilege and a developed awareness of rights; (2) the emotional burden of a competitive culture, leading to pressure to attain mind and body perfection and evoking feelings of hyper‐self‐consciousness; and (3) consequences of this burden, including pursuing corrective treatments, engaging in ethical transgressions and hazardous behaviors, and internal feelings of emptiness. The discussion interprets these characteristics of the elite student's identity in the context of their learning experience at an elite school, highlighting the consequences of these characteristics for cultivating and maintaining class privilege and social inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a fictional narrative about Professor Sackker, the solitary researcher in the field of Sackker Studies, once known as Management and Organizational Studies. Despite its absurdity, the story portrays Sackker’s dominance, marked by his inevitable rise with record-breaking publications and citations, stifling competition, and leaving him as the ultimate winner and ruler. Through personal reflections, his story explores his career strategies, provides insights into his success, and explains how he shaped, transformed, and eventually (but unwittingly) destroyed the field. This narrative, though fictional, mirrors real concerns in today’s reality: growing inequalities, the dominance of elite scholars, and erosion of meaning in academic careers as a function of hyper-competition. We examine the prevalence of systemic issues plaguing academia. Despite challenges, the article also aims to inspire hope. By illuminating these problems and integrating them into scholarly discussions, there lies an opportunity for change, empowering the next generation of academics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This analysis explores a literacy teacher's changing perspective about teaching in a prestigious high school after learning about ahimsa, or holistic nonviolence. Drawing from theories of transformational learning and critical pedagogy in addition to understandings of ahimsa, this article presents some of the participant's new perceptions about her teaching and about the culture of the elite high school where she worked, including perceptions of structural violence. New understandings suggest that in order for schools to be nonviolent spaces, structural violences need to be considered alongside more overtly visible forms of violence. There are also implications for teacher learning. When professional development supports transformational change, it can be both inspirational and unnerving, and might shift participants' perspectives and unsettle their ways of relating to established practices and familiar contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study is the first to examine the gender gap in academic patenting among faculty members in Chinese universities, a critical issue for the sustainable development of scientific research and innovation. Using a unique dataset that includes the patenting activities and professional status of 1,836 faculty members in life science-related departments at 36 top Chinese universities, this research reveals an evolving landscape of patenting dynamics. The trend of male faculty members leading in the annual number of patent applications and patents granted has shifted among newly graduated faculty members. Female faculty submit and receive their first patent applications significantly earlier than male faculty. However, male faculty are more likely to be lead inventors, and this gender gap remains difficult to close, with female faculty more likely to be supporting inventors. This research is contextualized within the broader framework of China's university tenure reform and the growing presence of women in the life sciences. While progress is evident, the study uncovers persistent systemic barriers that prevent women from fully translating their research into patentable innovations. By identifying these social and institutional barriers, our study not only sheds light on the gender gap, but also suggests policy measures to promote gender equity in scientific innovation, making it a critical read for policymakers and academic leaders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The importance of geography in debates around education and labour market inequality is an enduring public policy concern. This paper argues that local economic contexts have a role in shaping the kind of university and career trajectories working-class young people are exposed to. Drawing on multi-sited data on working-class young people in different local contexts across England, it underlines the importance of regional economic development, the geography of elite universities and the spatial patterning of widening participation networks and activity. In the capital, a sophisticated widening participation infrastructure exists – including multiple partnerships between schools and the third and private sectors – which far exceeds the networks and support found elsewhere. Combined with London's high economic capital and elite career pathways, this infrastructure greatly facilitates systems of support designed to drive aspirations to elite universities and careers. Whilst advocating for a fairer distribution of educational opportunities nationwide, we argue that, without acknowledging the origins of spatial imbalances within the UK, any attempt at simply 'spreading out the same' opportunities risks offering a superficial response. If long-term change is to be truly advanced, a more systematic dismantling of how economic functions and social relations are configured spatially must first be achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adam R. Nelson's book, "Exchange of Ideas: The Economy of Higher Education in Early America," aims to engage scholars of education with the study of early American history and make early Americanists care about education. Nelson explores the transition of higher education from mercantilist to republican to nationalistic to a "liberal" market economy. He argues that partisan politics played a significant role in the development of higher education as a marketplace and highlights the interconnectedness of education, power, inequality, and hierarchy. Nelson's book provides valuable insights into the history of education and its relationship to capitalism and early American politics. [Extracted from the article]

The University of Austin, a new private college, has received initial authorization from the Texas state agency overseeing higher education, but still faces regulatory hurdles. The university aims to address issues in higher education and has attracted significant funding and famous names. It plans to offer a unique bachelor's degree program and dispense with traditional requirements. The regulatory process for starting a new university can be challenging, with accreditation being necessary for federal funding and graduate school acceptance. The article discusses the challenges faced by new universities and argues for reforms to promote competition and innovation in higher education. [Extracted from the article]

Copyright of Society: Chinese Journal of Sociology / Shehui is the property of Society: Chinese Journal of Sociology and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The emergence of the "entrepreneurial university model" (EUM), which supports university-based commercialization and entrepreneurship, is almost universally praised. In this study, we take a contrarian view, arguing that the existing EUM does not adequately account for the true costs borne by participating stakeholders. We advance three alternative pathways that take a systems view to address the limitations of the current EUM. Considering alternative pathways is critical because the EUM as currently constructed is not sustainable. These pathways provide possible ways forward with more desirable outcomes for the myriad of university stakeholders, not just the elite universities and their star scientists. Specifically, each proposed pathway considers the inputs, processes, and outcomes for each pertinent stakeholder group. Our research imparts important policy implications for institutions tasked with commercializing scientific discoveries and policy-makers challenged with developing high growth, sustainable models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Contemporary Accounting Research is the property of Canadian Academic Accounting Association and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

We examined the latest decade of Australian sociology PhD completions for differences in the number and quality of research outputs students published during doctoral enrolment. There was no evidence of a statistically significant difference between Go8 PhD students and their non-Go8 PhD counterparts in terms of either the quantity of research publications achieved, or the quality of these publications as measured by high-impact journals. There was also insufficient evidence statistically to conclude that Go8 men and Go8 women differed from one another, or that non-Go8 men and non-Go8 women differed from one another in overall quantity of outputs and publishing in high-impact journals. However, publishing success of men and women, when combined, regardless of whether they were at elite Go8 or non-Go8 institutions, showed gender had a marginally significant effect on publication productivity, men outperforming women, in both publication counts and in publishing in high-impact journals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite private enterprises dominating China's labour market, college-educated workers are still highly concentrated in the state sector. Using data from the Chinese College Student Survey, we find that 64 per cent of students in the sample expressed a strong preference for state sector employment. We also identify several factors associated with receiving job offers from the state sector, including being male, holding urban hukou status, being a member of the CCP, performing well on standardized tests, attending elite universities and having higher household income or high-status parental backgrounds. These findings suggest that despite China's economic transition, the private sector may still struggle to attract highly educated workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on the relationship between elite British boarding schools and the overseas branches ('satellites') that they have established around the world. While British schools are categorised as charities, the satellites are operated as commercial ventures through subsidiaries. The UK-based schools can thus profit from the export of their 'brands', extracting capital from their satellites overseas and channelling it back to the UK. Drawing on interviews with staff of these satellite schools and on documentary analysis (including Charity Commission reports), we use the lens of racial capitalism to analyse the relationships between British elite schools and their overseas branches. We argue that through their overseas operations, British elite schools engage in extractive practices and are complicit in processes of enclosure and dispossession. These processes are premised along racialised lines and ultimately ensure that the promised 'British eliteness' remains out of reach for those who subsidise its social reproduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Too few studies of elite private schools consider how they derive power and prestige from their relationships and interactions with other social and political groups and institutions, including the State. This paper contributes to elite school studies by examining the relationality between the Australian State and private sector schools around how government funds public and private education. Of all Australian students, 35.5% attend private schools. All private schools, including elite schools, receive significant amounts of taxpayers' money. After explaining the complex policy architecture of this funding regime, this paper offers a fresh set of conceptual resources to help deepen the analysis of this situation. We argue that the whole Australian private school sector operates as an accumulation economy, essentially utilising public sector resources to enlarge, enrich and sustain itself. This happens via three dynamics – accumulation by extraction, by mystification and by depletion. We show how elite schools are part of, and benefit from, each. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In England and Wales, fee-charging independent schools can be legally classified as charities and, therefore, receive associated benefits, the most obvious being taxation advantages. The high fees charged by many of these schools create financial exclusivity, which, it will be seen, confers significant social and cultural capital to those who can meet the economic barrier to entry. High fees lead to increased wealth for the schools, which is augmented by their charitable fiscal benefits. In exchange for receiving these charitable benefits, one might expect charity law to place significant social contribution requirements on these schools. However, this paper will argue that this is not the case: the law, in fact, requires very little from charitable independent schools. In practice, charity law cannot mitigate inequalities within elite education nor justify their taxation advantages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the relationship between elite schools, capital, and the state. It discusses how these schools accumulate wealth through various means and maintain close proximity to economic capital. The article also explores the connection between elite schools and the state, highlighting their alignment with state projects of capital accumulation. It delves into the role of elite schools in the formation and reproduction of capital and class. Additionally, the article discusses the commodification of elite education and the mystique surrounding these schools. Overall, it aims to shed light on the complex interplay between elite schools, capital, and the state. [Extracted from the article]

This ethnographic data-driven article investigates the urban political economy of a new form of elite schooling, which is represented by the fee-charging international programs recently established by 'key' public high schools in metro China. Grounding the analysis in Harvey's work on urbanization and neoliberalism, the literature on China's development model, and Bourdieu's theory of capital conversion, this article reveals that the construction of an international program is deeply implicated in the school's social relationships with the state, real estate developers, and urban middle classes. While the program provides wealthy Chinese families with access to international higher education for accumulating desirable capitals at 'world-class' universities, the Chinese elite school generates its own capital. Through theorizing how the creation of the fee-charging international program draws together multiple forms of neoliberal profit-making and multi-scalar capital accumulation, this study adds novel conceptual and empirical insights to the emergent scholarship of elite and international education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Elite schools, long tasked with creating a future national elite, often now find themselves competing in a global education market. This article explores how one such school, in Switzerland, articulates with the global imaginary of its local geography – in particular, with images of luxury tourism and safety – to appeal to a globally wealthy clientele. It unpacks the material benefits derived from this articulation, for both the institution itself and the individuals who attend it. The school, I argue, fostered a 'club effect' that enhanced the social and symbolic capital of (most of) its students, brought into relief by the scholarship students who were excluded from it. This article thus explores what kind of work is being done when a particular vision – that of wealth – is attached to a school, and for whom that work is done. It closes by pointing to ways in which this educational landscape is shifting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Elite schools in the UK are bound to the history of British colonialism. This paper examines the material ties between these schools and the transatlantic slave trade. We combine multiple sources to examine which schools and their alumni accrued substantial economic capital derived from the enslavement of Black people. We find two principal connections: first, in donations and foundations of schools from those who made their fortune in the slave trade; and second, through income of boys attending these schools. Drawing on the Legacies of British Slavery dataset, we show that schools with alumni benefitting from the slave trade include the most prestigious British private schools. Moreover, this paper traces the histories of several secondary schools founded by, or in receipt of, substantial donations from slave-owning families. We argue that extractive, violent forms of colonial capital accumulation have been central to, the formation and maintenance of these elite educational institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since Chinese scholars are playing an increasingly important role in shaping the national landscape of discussion on AI ethics, understanding their ethical concerns and preferred solutions is essential for global cooperation on governance of AI. This article, therefore, provides the first elaborated analysis on the discourse on AI ethics in Chinese academia, via a systematic literature review. This article has three main objectives. (1) to identify the most discussed ethical issues of AI in Chinese academia and those being left out (the question of "what"); (2) to analyze the solutions proposed and preferred by Chinese scholars (the question of "how"); and (3) to map out whose voices are dominating and whose are in the marginal (the question of "who"). Findings suggest that in terms of short-term implications, Chinese scholars' concerns over AI resemble predominantly the content of international ethical guidelines. Yet in terms of long-term implications, there are some significant differences needed to be further addressed in a cultural context. Further, among a wide range of solution proposals, Chinese scholars seem to prefer strong-binding regulations to those weak ethical guidelines. In addition, this article also found that the Chinese academic discourse was dominated by male scholars and those who are from elite universities, which arguably is not a unique phenomenon in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The foundation of new centers for civic education has sparked a new round of debate over the political independence of the public university. Do legal mandates by state legislatures undermine academic freedom? The underlying debate concerns alternative visions of elite formation, as comparing Benjamin Rush and Thomas Jefferson's arguments during the Founding period makes apparent. Both believed that the American constitutional order depended on educated citizens of a certain character, requiring coercive authority in education to instill moral and political commitments. But whereas Jefferson made an exception for educational coercion, Rush viewed education as an aristocratic element that could complement democracy. Rush's prioritizing of duties over rights offers a more helpful framework for the task of reforming elite education today to restore trust between leaders and people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is growing evidence that London's disadvantaged youth have a better chance at progressing to elite universities than their counterparts outside the capital. Drawing on case study research in a disadvantaged East London locality, this article suggests that a convergence of structural factors that favour elite university progression may help explain this high progression. These factors include local schools' valorisation of elite universities and their associated prioritisation of resources and strong framing of university choices to privilege Russell Group progression. Students' apparent advantageous access to the widening participation provision of elite universities and to internship and networking opportunities arising from London's corporate philanthropy also appear to play important roles. The article advocates for greater strategic planning by the regulator and further partnerships across all sectors of the economy to enable a fairer distribution of widening participation opportunities nationwide. It concludes with a call to reflect on the wisdom of privileging elite university progression at all costs and asks whether we should really be championing such a narrow vision of social mobility in the first place. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the reasons for the recent populist assault against elite academic institutions in Hungary and Turkey. After exploring the literature on populism, social mobility, and social pluralism, it focuses on the modalities of the attack against two elite academic institutions established upon the U.S. liberal arts college tradition, the Central European University (CEU) and Boğaziçi University, respectively, and its implications for Hungarian and Turkish politics. Two arguments are put forward: First, such attacks have emerged in the context of a populist narrative against institutions facilitating social mobility. Social mobility undermines the "us versus them" populist narrative where the masses are permanently placed on the "losers" side and therefore depend on the charismatic populist leader. With social mobility facilitated through high-quality academic institutions, these "losers" have the chance to improve their material and non-material well-being through education. Second, these institutions promote social pluralism and critical thinking, cultivating a mode of reflection that contradicts the simplistic populist dichotomies and opposes democratic backsliding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a 22-year study of an elite university's faculty networks and their work activities, we extend network ecology to concern top-down processes of environmental selection and bottom-up processes of individual adaptation. We argue that faculty enact distinct types of collaborative work activity that are central to their role: research training (co-advising), publishing (co-authoring), and financing (co-granting). STEM (hard science) and HSS (humanities and social science) cultures train and expect their members to perform these activities in different ways reflective of distinct networking styles. STEM faculty anchor their work relations in grants and extend those relations liberally to advising and publishing collaborations, forming an egalitarian interdisciplinary network reflective of a guild system. HSS faculty anchor their work relations in advising and layer and extend their ties locally around star faculty to form a restrictive patronage system. However, individual faculty vary in their adherence to these styles, and those adopting the STEM style of networking are more likely to survive in the university and achieve tenure. New faculty increasingly learn and adapt to this, and the STEM model increasingly diffuses and transforms the university social structure, illustrating the salience of top-down and bottom-up processes of network ecology in explaining social structural change. • We advance network ecology in multiple ways. • Multiple types of ties and forms of tie refunctioning are key mechanisms of network formation. • Internal contextual variation within the university corresponds with the distinct networking practices of STEM and HSS faculty. • The university selects faculty for tenure that use a STEM networking strategy and faculty learn to adopt such a strategy. • This results in top-down and bottom-up structural change that dramatically alters the university collaboration network. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the effectiveness of residential and online STEM summer programs in increasing representation in STEM fields. A randomized controlled trial was conducted to compare the outcomes of similar programs provided as residential experiences versus primarily online. The findings indicate that fully residential programs lead to significant increases in STEM degree production and persistence in STEM fields. Both residential and online programs also result in higher attendance and graduation rates from competitive institutions. The study suggests that combining in-person college guidance with online supplementation can be highly effective, even with just a few days of in-person interaction. The cost of the programs varies, with residential programs being more expensive, and the choice of program design depends on the specific goals of policymakers and hosting institutions. [Extracted from the article]

Pakistani educational system is broadly divided into public and private sectors. Due to specific financial and administrative issues, the public sector has failed to produce social capital that could serve as an advocate of human rights. However, elite schools in the private sector are better equipped to educate their students on human rights. Through qualitative content analysis, the present study explores the status of human rights in history textbooks taught in elite schools from grade 6 to O-levels and the International Baccalaureate (I.B.) Middle Years Programme (MYP). It was observed that the human rights issues in Pakistan remained part of the null curriculum in the books published for Pakistani students. In the I.B. books, human rights issues were discussed at the global level, leaving elite students ignorant and oblivious to the state of human rights in Pakistan. It is suggested that human rights should be transformed from abstract and generalized statements to absolute and concrete reality, first stemming from local society and then advancing to a global community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]