Mass higher education in institutional settings: ethnography of academic departments in the Czech Republic

Higher education is becoming increasingly important in knowledge societies and, simultaneously, undergoing a rapid and profound change. The present project explores contemporary transformations
of higher education from below through ethnographic studies of university departments. Conceptually, it is framed by theories of massification of higher education (Trow) and of academic capitalism (Slaughter et al.) which it strives to further develop and critically revise. Research team members conduct ethnographic  fieldwork at five departments selected to represent the diversity within Czech higher education, exploring how the contemporary transformations of higher education play out in the concrete practices of higher education: teaching, learning, research and knowledge transfer.