Human existence has become rather complex; it is nowadays composed of a number of societal relationships such as marriage, close family, extended family, church / mosque / synagogue, school, university, sports and recreation organizations, civil society, the state, government, and also organizations formed for the express purpose of doing business, promoting commerce and managing finances.

In principle, each of these societal relationships has its own unique internal purpose and set of functions. We have noticed in recent times, however, a tendency for business, commercial and financing principles to be applied to (some of) the other non-business societal relationships, to societal relationships that in principle have no primary business, commercial and financing interests or purposes.

An example of this is the university which was originally instituted to be a societal relationship of students and professors for the purpose of advancing academic knowledge in particular scientific fields and of imparting such knowledge to the upcoming generations of students as future academics. Due to internationalization, a reduction in monetary and other resources, synergies between know-how and experience, a possible lack of insight among university managers regarding the true purpose and goal of the university, a goal-oriented business orientation seems to have become the modern approach to the management of these institutions. This has occurred to such an extent that many universities are now being run more as businesses than as academic institutions. The same seems to have happened to some of the other modern day institutions.

The 2017 BCES Conference affords us with an opportunity to examine this phenomenon from various academic perspectives. Some participants might prefer to examine it from a more philosophical point of view in that they might focus on the primary goals of education, schools and schooling, academia and universities, and the effects of Neoliberalism thereon. Others might examine it from a historical perspective in that they might look into the factors and forces that could have resulted in managerialism, performativity, and the business and audit culture in education.

Of primary importance is the comparative perspective: how do different societal institutions and education systems respond to this problem, if indeed it is a problem? The conference theme also calls for other perspectives, including management, school organization, research and research education, the curriculum, educational psychological and sociological perspectives. In brief, the conference theme provides us with an opportunity to examine the state of education around the world to see how and to what extent the current business and economics discourse has impacted on education.

XV BCES Conference Theme: Current Business and Economics Driven Discourse and Education: Perspectives from Around the World.

From 2017 onward, the BCES Conference Books will be published online only

Call for Papers

Current Business and Economics Driven Discourse and Education: Perspectives from Around the World 2017 BCES Conference Theme as proposed by Prof. Dr. Johannes L van der Walt.

For more information, please see the conference website...