Analysis of the process of commodification of education with specification of higher education

Abstract

The analysis of the process of commodification of education with the specification of higher education was the subject of the bachelor’s thesis, which the purpose was to explain this phenomenon and its detailed description. The subject restricted the scope of main problem to higher education because of formal limitations of bachelor’s thesis and the volume of issues. The main research problem was to find the answer to the question to what extent and how the commodification of education affects the chances of educating to young people. Characteristics of the phenomenon took into account the problems concerning the consequences of the commodification process and its elements. The following chapters of bachelor’s thesis contained an explanation of the significance of the phenomenon, key concepts and the context of the appearance of commodification in the area of education. It was also important to pay attention to the reverse process which is decommodification. There were specify the forms which take decommodification of education and its advantages and disadvantages. The analysis also included the consequences of the commodification and decommodification process, which contained among others the lowering of the value of diplomas. To explain the purpose and research problems of bachelor’s thesis, a secondary data analysis was use and include literature, scientific papers and reports, including the Polish Central Statistical Office and Eurostat. The analysis contained reports and data on Poland as well as other European countries, which made it possible to compare important aspects of commodification in education between countries and outline the situation of universities in Europe. Based on the analysis of data, the most important consequences of the commodification process in the higher education that were signalize included: broadening the diversity among the population, the growing number of people with higher education, the emergence of alternative forms that enable the acquisition tertiary, converting academic knowledge into the knowledge taking the form of the commodity. The process of commodification of higher education is undoubtedly noticeable at universities, which has been documented in bachelor’s thesis by describing its individual components and consequences.