From Collegiality to Managerialism: An Allegorical Analysis of Universities through Animal Farm and Implications for the Age of Algorithmic Governance
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.59045/nalans.2026.101Keywords:
Collegiality, Managerialism, Algorithmic governance, Animal Farm, Allegorical analysisAbstract
In this study, I have sought to trace the transformation from collegial governance to managerialism in universities through the allegory of Animal Farm, and to explore implications of this transformation for the future of universities in the age of algorithmic governance. Accordingly, I have discovered that the evolution of universities from collegial governance to New Public Management (NPM) and subsequently to forms of algorithmic governance reflects a shift from visible configurations of power and meaning toward increasingly invisible ones. Just as the rewriting of slogans and rules in Orwell’s allegory transforms and redefines organizational reality, algorithmic systems today have become invisible governance mechanisms that redefine power, knowledge production, academic subjectivity, ethical value, and success in universities. This transformation extends beyond managerial power and control. It reshapes the position of academics as subjects, redefines the processes of knowledge production, and raises important ethical questions about academic practice. To navigate this transformation, universities must anchor technological change in their core collegial values—collaboration, academic freedom, ethical responsibility, and democratic governance. Otherwise, they risk losing their role as open spaces of critical inquiry and become opaque systems driven by algorithmic performance, ultimately creating their own “Frankenstein.”
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