Ukrainian Higher Education as a Peripheral Laboratory of Neoliberal Transformation: an Ontology of Blandness vs/and Epistemology of Blindness
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31874/2309-1606-2025-31-2-2Keywords:
Ukrainian higher education, peripheral laboratory, neoliberalism, simulacra, hyperreality, world-systems analysis, educational “European-style” renovation, managerialism, commodification of knowledge, epistemological trap, Jean Baudrillard, human productionAbstract
Relevance. This article provides a philosophical and sociological analysis of the transformation of the Ukrainian higher education system, which the authors view as a “peripheral laboratory” of global neoliberal reforms. The purpose of this article is to carry out a philosophical and sociological analysis of Ukrainian higher education as a “peripheral laboratory” in order to reveal the ontological essence of its transformation and the epistemological limitations of its understanding. Methods. Using a world-systems approach, the authors argue that the weakening of traditional institutions in the Ukrainian context has allowed the logic of the market, managerialism, and commodification to materialize in its most radical, “ideal-typical” form. This, according to article, makes Ukraine not a case of backwardness, but rather a leading model of crisis, revealing the possible future of the university on a global scale. Novelty. The article argues that the ontological essence of the crisis lies in the substitution of the essence of education (Bildung) for the production of simulacra. This process is revealed through the metaphor of educational “European-style renovation” – the imposition of new managerial surfaces on the old foundation without genuine transformation. Drawing on J. Baudrillard’s theory, the authors demonstrate how key elements of the system – diplomas, metrics, accreditation reports – become simulacra, signs divorced from the referents of real knowledge and competence, circulating in a self-sufficient hyperreality. Hyperreality is analyzed as a reality generated by models, no longer connected to any original, where the map precedes the territory. Conclusion. At the epistemological level, the authors identify a systemic trap: the very language of description and critique of education is occupied by managerial discourse (“service”, “KPI”, “stakeholder”, “efficiency”). This makes it virtually impossible to formulate alternatives in categories that go beyond the neoliberal paradigm. The conclusion argues that studying the Ukrainian case is a central task for global critical theory, as this “laboratory” reveals with alarming clarity the anthropological risks of the ultimate victory of simulacrum over essence in the sphere of knowledge production and the human subject.
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