The crisis, neoliberal consciousness and the changing landscape of higher education in Sri Lanka: a postcolonial reading

The economic downturn induced by the COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted countries in the Global South, particularly those on the neoliberal periphery, plunging many into a deep crisis. A substantial dimension of this ongoing crisis is rooted in the neoliberal reforms adopted by these countries. Ironically, with support from the International Monetary Fund and other actors, the crisis has facilitated the reimplementation of such reforms under the guise that ‘there is no alternative’. Using Sri Lanka’s public university system as a case study, this conceptual paper examines how crisis-driven neoliberal reforms enable policymakers to further encroach upon ‘public goods’ amid rising neoliberal consciousness among the general public. Drawing on Homi Bhabha’s postcolonial theory, the paper argues that the crisis has created a new Third Space of enunciation, enabling Global North education providers to penetrate the country’s higher education landscape. It shows how the aspirations of postcolonial student-consumers for Anglo-American qualifications facilitate this infiltration, challenging the foundational mission of the public university system as a space for free education and civic engagement. The paper concludes by highlighting the urgency of reimagining a nationalist agenda for public education to resist the expanding influence of Anglo-American educational ‘superiority’ in crisis-ridden, neoliberal Sri Lanka.