Whose Voices Are Heard and How? Understanding Post-Secondary Policy and Agenda-Setting in Canadian Provinces: A Focus on Memorial University of Newfoundland

Abstract

Universities and colleges are impacted by the changing nature of government interaction. Over the past 50 years, governments have moved from a liberal approach to neo-liberal resulting in deliberate involvement of government in the form and function of higher education institutions. From a neo-liberal perspective, this is the result of government’s direct involvement in and manipulation of the market in an economy that has moved from a regional to a global context. Between 2004 and 2010, 8 Canadian provinces held reviews of their respective post-secondary systems. This dissertation examined the post-secondary review that took place in Newfoundland and Labrador in 2004–2005. Guided by the work of Foucault’s notion of governmentality and using a policy archeology case-based methodology, this study investigated the role interest groups played in public policy development and agenda-setting and the impact that it had on the form and function of the university. From a post-structural perspective, this study used the notion of the deconstruction of text to determine a counter history of knowledge and expanded this notion through the influence of Foucault on how power comes to be exercised in the public policy process. An overview of 5 post-secondary reviews that happened in Canadian provinces between 2004 and 2007 is provided. The study sets the framework for the case location, Newfoundland and Labrador, and the case university, Memorial University, by examining how public policy formulation took place in the province, what has influenced the political culture in the province over the past 100 years, and what reviews have taken place impacting the university over the past 30 years. The case study presented provides a unique example of a university–government relationship. The 2005 Foundations for Success: White Paper on Post-Secondary Education (Government of Newfoundland and Labrador [GNL], 2005c) that focused on the public college and university in Newfoundland and Labrador is reviewed, including all available submissions and consultation sessions and external documents from government, university, and the media around the same time period. Ultimately, the aim of the study was to provide an understanding of the dynamics of interest group behaviour and agenda-setting and its impact on the university.