Higher education institutions in the Global South and the Global North are an extension of the country's political economy. As such, higher education processes and management cannot be divorced from national and international politics. Universities' asymmetrical social and economic dynamics have perpetuated social and economic inequalities and questionable legitimation processes, weakening their role as public good institutions (Unterhalter and Allais, 2020; Davids and Waghid, 2016; East, Stokes and Walker, 2014; Ndaba, 2023). For example, institutions in the Global South gain legitimacy through trends imposed by Global North institutions, such as promoting a preoccupation with rankings  (Brankovic et al., 2018; Hazelkorn, 2011; Marques and Powell, 2020) or productivity, competition and accountability (Marques et al., 2017; Powell, 2018; Powell and Dusdal, 2017), leading to the commodification of education, especially but not exclusively in higher education. Besides geopolitical asymmetries, increasing right-wing trends and polarisation in many Global North contexts give rise to neocolonial tendencies. This makes the pursuit of global social justice highly improbable.

From an organisational education perspective, we understand higher education institutions as dynamic and performative: they are both the ‘effect’ of these discourses and at the same time engage and bring forth discourses (Gond et al. 2016). Yet, being performative also means being able to transform and learn as an organisation (Spicer, Alvesson & Kärreman 2009; Wieners & Weber 2020). In response to these challenges, higher education institutions are the best place to reflect on a) what kind of society we want to have and b) what kind of citizens we want higher education institutions to produce (Weber & Wieners 2023). However, the literature, focusing the nexus between organisational education and higher education remains limited. Opperman et al. (2018) and Tippelt and Kadera (2018)  map the field of organisation education in terms of regionalisation, internationalisatoin and transnationalisation of higher education, whereas Euler (2018) explores the areas and types of pedagogical activity of individuals at universities as learning organisations in societies.

In this symposium, we discuss the role of higher education in advocating for social justice in the context of marketisation, climate change and migration, leading to increasing inequality, injustice and polarisation. We explore these questions in relation to existing debates with special attention to intersectional and postcolonial perspectives (Bergold-Caldwell 2023). By doing so, we advocate for a socially just future for (higher) education, charting a different way for organisations and organisational practices. The individual papers focus on the role of (higher) education institutions in social justice in response to

a)                  The role and responsibility of universities (Jörg Schwarz, Sarah Wieners)

b)                  The role and responsibility of universities in light of

• Marketisation and inequality (Sara Black)
• Climate change and injustice (Eva Bulgrin)
• Migration and polarisation (Marcina Singh)

Bergold-Caldwell, Denise (2023): Die Kolonialität der Bildung. Formation und Konstituition eines Macht- und Herrschaftsverhältnisses. In: Yalız Akbaba und Alisha Heinemann (Hg.): Erziehungswissenschaften dekolonisieren. Theoretische Debatten und praxisorientierte Impulse. Weinheim: Beltz Juventa, pp. 93–109. Euler, D. (2018). Hochschulen als Orte organisationspädagogischer Forschung und Praxis. In M. Göhlich, A. Schröer, & S. M. Weber (Eds.), Handbuch Organisationspädagogik (pp. 767–777). Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden. Opperman, C., Schröer, W., & Wolff, S. (2018). Inter- und Transnationalität als Gegenstand der Organisationspädagogik. In M. Göhlich, A. Schröer, & S. M. Weber (Eds.), Handbuch Organisationspädagogik (pp. 421–432). Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden. Tippelt, R., & Kadera, S. (2018). Netzwerke und lernende Regionen als Orte organisationspädagogischer Forschung und Praxis. In M. Göhlich, A. Schröer, & S. M. Weber (Eds.), Handbuch Organisationspädagogik (pp. 779–790). Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden. Weber, S.M; Wieners, S. (2023), Towards Optimization? Thinking Towards a Global Research Memorandum in Organizational Education. In: Susanne Maria Weber, Claudia Fahrenwald und Andreas Schröer (Hg.): Organisationen optimieren? Jahrbuch Organisationspädagogik. Wiesbaden: Springer VS, pp. 329–342. Wieners, Sarah; Weber, Susanne Maria (2020), Athena’s claim in an academic regime of performativity: Discursive organizing of excellence and gender at the intersection of heterotopia and heteronomia. In: Management Learning. Special Issue: Performative University 51 (4), pp. 511–530.