Danish Production of University Graduates 1950-2020: A Historical Problematization and Experience Analysis of Danish University Education Policy in the Period 1950-2020

Abstract

The master thesis Danish Production of University Graduates 1950-2020 is a philosophical inquiry into the Danish university educations throughout the years 1950 till 2020. At the end of the 1950s, the Danish universities transformed from elite universities to mass universities. In this thesis, I claim that an experience of graduate production emerged alongside this transformation of universities, and since the end of the 1950s, a specific way of relating to university educations as programs for the production of graduates for the labor market developed. The thesis takes this experience as its object of inquiry and considers the history of Danish university educations as the experience of graduate production. Inspired by French philosopher Michel Foucault, I conduct a historical analysis of problematization and experience, and write a history of the present, based on enunciations found in documents ranging from policy papers, research reports, newspaper articles, speeches, to the minutes from deliberations and debates in parliament. The thesis analyses the specific character of the experience of graduate production, its historical development in the period 1950-2020, and what it seems to be in the process of becoming. I have chosen three response-forms in order to describe the character of the experience, respectively the histories of the Dimensioning model, advisory boards, and the competency study programmes. These problematization histories uncover three substantial properties of the experience. The history of the Dimensioning model demonstrates that the experience of graduate production is characterized by an attempt at regulating supply and demand for university graduates. The history of advisory boards shows that the experience is characterized by an agreement that the labor market is best suited to determine what skills and competencies university education should enable and what should be taught. The problematization history of the competency study programs demonstrates that the experience is characterized by a continuous debate on the purpose of university education, what learning outcomes the student should acquire, and how students ought to relate to their university education. In the history of the present, I claim that universities are in the process of becoming vocational schools with study programs coupled more closely to concrete work functions, and where a specific education leads to a specific job. Finally, I reflect on whether this development corresponds to what the experience of graduate production finds genuinely desirable. The thesis thereby provides a philosophical analysis and reflection on the historical development of Danish university educations and their future.