Peculiarities of development and dynamics of economism and the commercialization of Ukrainian higher education

Abstract

Upon nearly twenty years since the beginning of commercialization of the Ukrainian higher education system, the intensity of discussion of its purposes, results and possible amendments did not decrease neither among experts nor among the interested public. Supporters and opponents of commercialization note that education is the social branch, which participates in the formation of prerequisites of economic growth. The main point of the article is to disclose the essence of the phenomena of economism and commercialization. Economism is seen as part of globalization of education, a global corporatization of education provides training for the global labor market, using human capital economic theories. As noted by George Spring, the human capital, economists argue that investments in education lead to economic growth, reducing income inequality and increasing employment. The article confirms that the state educational policy as a component of social policy is one of instruments of influence of the state on formation of social structure and is directed to the solution of problems of societal level. It performs relevant sociological examination of transformational processes in education and, in particular, results of commercialization. Thus, it is possible to claim that the educational system tests the uncommon influence of globalization, forming and building a peculiar system of the relations and interaction.