Simon Marginson is Professor of Higher Education at the University of Oxford, and Editor-in-Chief of the journal Higher Education. He retired from full-time work in the Department in May 2024 but remains active in research and doctoral education.
Simon led the ESRC Centre for Global Higher Education between November 2015 and May 2024. His research is focused primarily on global and international higher education, higher education in East Asia, the public and social contributions of higher education, and higher education and social equality. He is currently preparing an integrated theorisation of higher education. His scholarship is widely published and cited (Google h-index 86 in September 2024). Books include Changing Higher Educaiton in India, edited with Saumen Chattopadhyay and NV Varghese (Bloomsbury, 2021); Changing Higher Education in East Asia, edited with Xin Xu (Bloomsbury, 2022); and Assessing the Contributions of Higher Education, edited with Brendan Cantwell, Daria Platonova and Anna Smolentseva (Edward Elgar, 2023).
Selected Publications
Books
- Marginson, S. (2016).The Dream is Over: The crisis of Clark Kerr’s California Idea of higher education. Berkeley: University of California Press.
- Marginson, S. (2016).Higher Education and the Common Good. Melbourne: Melbourne University Publishing.
- Tran, L. & Marginson, S. (eds.). (2018).Internationalisation of Vietnamese Higher Education. Dordrecht: Springer Nature.
- Carnoy, M., Froumin, I., Leshukov, O. & Marginson, S. (eds.). (2018) Higher Education in Federal Countries. New Delhi: Sage.
- Cantwell, B., Marginson, S. & Smolentseva, A. (eds.). (2018) High Participation Systems of Higher Education. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Callender, C., Locke, W. & Marginson, S. (eds.) (2020). Changing Higher Education for a Changing World. London: Bloomsbury.
- Chattopadhyay, S., Marginson, S. & Varghese, N.V. (eds.) (2021). Changing Higher Education in India. London: Bloomsbury.
- Marginson, S. & Xu, X. (eds.) (2022). Changing Higher Education in East Asia. (2022). London: Bloomsbury.
- Marginson, S., Cantwell, B., Platonova, D. & Smolentseva, A. (eds.) (2023). Assessing the contributions of higher education. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
Recent Journal Papers
- Marginson, S. (2016). The worldwide trend to high participation higher education: Dynamics of social stratification in inclusive systems. Higher Education, 72 (4), 413-435.
- Marginson, S. (2018). Private/public in higher education: A synthesis of economic and political approaches. Studies in Higher Education, 43 (2), 322-337
- Marginson, S. (2018) Global trends in higher education financing: The United Kingdom. International J. Educational Development, 58, 26-36
- Marginson, S. (2018) National/global synergy in the development of higher education and science in China since 1978. Frontiers of Education in China, 13 (4), 486–512
- Marginson, S. (2019) Limitations of human capital theory. Studies in Higher Education, 44 (2), 287-301
- Marginson, S. and Yang, L. (2022). Individual and collective outcomes of higher education: A comparison of Anglo-American and Chinese approaches. Globalisation, Societies and Education, 20 (1), 1-32.
- Marginson, S. (2022). ‘All things are in flux’: China in global science. Higher Education, 83 (4), 881-910.
- Marginson, S. (2022). What drives global science? The four competing narratives. Studies in Higher Education, 47 (8), 1566-1584.
- Marginson, S. (2022). Global science and national comparisons: Beyond bibliometrics and scientometrics. Comparative Education, 58 (2), 125-146.
- Marginson, S. (2022). What is global higher education? Oxford Review of Education, 48 (4), 492-517.
- Marginson S. (2022). Space and scale in higher education: The glonacal heuristic revisited. Higher Education, 84 (6),1365-1395.
- Marginson, S. & Xu, X. (2023). Hegemony and inequality in global science: Problems of the center-periphery model. Comparative Education Review, 67 (1). https://doi.org/10.1086/722760
- Zhan, T. and Marginson, S. (2023). Institutional dual identity in research capacity building in IBCs: the case of NYU Shanghai. Higher Education, 87 (2), 471-490. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-023-01017-9
- Highman, L., Marginson, S. and Papatsiba, V. (2023). Higher education and research: Multiple negative effects and no new opportunities after Brexit. Contemporary Social Science. https://doi.org/10.1080/21582041.2023.2192044
- Marginson, S. and Yang, L. (2024) Has the public good of higher education been emptied out? The case of England. Higher Education, 88, 217-319. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-023-01
- Yang, L., Marginson, S. and Xu, X. (2024). Thinking through the world: A tianxia heuristic for higher education. Globalisation, Societies and Education, 22 (2), 139-155. https://doi.org/10.1080/14767724.2022.2098696
- Marginson, S. (2024). Student self-formation: An emerging paradigm in higher education. Studies in Higher Education, 49 (4), 748-762. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2023.2252826
- Marginson, S. (2024). The climate-nature emergency and higher education. International Journal of Chinese Education, 13 (1). https://doi.org/10.1177/2212585X241233010
Research
Books
Carnoy, M., Froumin, I., Leshukov, O., … Marginson, S. (Eds.). (2019). Higher Education in Federal Countries (p. 504). SAGE Publications.
Tran, L., & MARGINSON, S. (2018). Internationalisation of Vietnamese Higher Education (S. MARGINSON & L. Tran, Eds.). Springer.
Marginson, S. (2016). Higher Education and the Common Good. Melbourne Univ. Publishing.
Marginson, S. (2016). The dream is over: The crisis of Clark Kerr’s California idea of higher education. University of California Press.
Tran, L., Marginson, S., Do, H., Le, T., Nhài, T., Vu, T., & Pham, T. (2016). Higher Education in Vietnam Flexibility, Mobility and Practicality in the Global Knowledge Economy. Springer.
King, R., Marginson, S., & Naidoo, R. (2013). The Globalization of Higher Education. Edward Elgar Pub.
Croucher, G., Marginson, S., Norton, A., & Wells, J. (2013). The Dawkins Revolution 25 Years on.
Ramia, G., Marginson, S., & Sawir, E. (2013). Regulating international students’ wellbeing.
King, R., Marginson, S., & Naidoo, R. (2011). Handbook on globalization and higher education.
Marginson, S., & Sawir, E. (2011). Ideas for intercultural education.
Marginson, S., Nyland, C., Sawir, E., Forbes-Mewett, H., Ramia, G., & Smith, S. (2010). International student security.
Marginson, S. (2006). Freedom as Control and the Control of Freedom: F. A. Hayek and the Academic Imagination.
Book chapters
Marginson, S., & Xu, X. (2022). ‘The ensemble of diverse music’: internationalization strategies and endogenous agendas. In S. Marginson & X. Xu (Eds.), Changing Higher Education in East Asia (pp. 1-30). Bloomsbury Academic.
Xu, X. (2022). Internationalization of Chinese humanities and social sciences. In S. Marginson & X. Xu (Eds.), Changing Higher Education in East Asia (pp. 129-146). Bloomsbury Academic.
Marginson, S., Papatsiba, V., & Xu, X. (2020). Feeling the Brexit shock: European connectedness and the existential crisis in UK higher education. In C. Callender, W. Locke, & S. Marginson (Eds.), Changing Higher Education for a Changing World (pp. 67-83). Bloomsbury Academic.
MARGINSON, S. (2018). High Participation Systems of Higher Education. In S. MARGINSON, B. CANTWELL, & A. SMOLENTSEVA (Eds.), High Participation Systems of Higher Education (pp. 1-44). Oxford University Press.
Marginson, S. (2016). Higher education and inequality in anglo-american societies. In Student Equity in Australian Higher Education: Twenty-Five Years of a Fair Chance for All (pp. 165-182).
Marginson, S. (2014). Higher education and public good. In Thinking About Higher Education (pp. 53-69).
Marginson, S. (2014). Higher education as a public good in a marketized East Asian environment. In Emerging International Dimensions in East Asian Higher Education (pp. 15-33).
Marginson, S. (2014). Higher education and public good: A global study. In Higher Education in Societies: A Multi Scale Perspective (pp. 51-71).
Marginson, S. (2013). The changing geo-politics of creativity: Rise of the post-confucian university. In The Creative University (pp. 9-32).
Marginson, S. (2013). Nation-states, educational traditions and the WCU project. In Institutionalization of World-Class University in Global Competition (pp. 59-77).
Marginson, S. (2013). Emerging higher education in the post-confucian heritage zone. In Higher Education in the Global Age: Policy, Practice and Promise in Emerging Societies (pp. 89-112).
Marginson, S. (2013). Different roads to a shared goal: Political and cultural variation in world-class universities. In Building World-Class Universities: Different Approaches to a Shared Goal (pp. 13-33).
Marginson, S. (2013). Australian-based research in higher education studies. In The Development of Higher Education Research in Europe: 25 Years of CHER (pp. 87-101).
Marginson, S. (2012). Dynamics of east Asian higher education. In The Globalization of Higher Education (pp. 40-53).
Marginson, S. (2012). International student security. In The SAGE Handbook of International Higher Education (pp. 207-222).
Marginson, S. (2012). Equals or others?:Mobile students in a nationally bordered world. In International Students Negotiating Higher Education: Critical Perspectives (pp. 9-27).
Marginson, S. (2011). Strategizing and ordering the global. In Handbook on Globalization and Higher Education (pp. 394-414).
Marginson, S. (2011). Imagining the global. In Handbook on Globalization and Higher Education (pp. 10-39).
Marginson, S., & Sawir, E. (2011). Student security in the global education market. In Social Policy Review 23: Analysis and Debate in Social Policy, 2011 (pp. 281-302).
Marginson, S. (2010). National and international rankings of higher education. In International Encyclopedia of Education (pp. 546-553).
Journal articles
Marginson, S., & Yang, L. (2023). Has the public good of higher education been emptied out? The case of England. Higher Education, 88(1), 297-319.
Marginson, S. (2019). National/global synergy in the development of higher education and science in China since 1978. Frontiers of Education in China, 13(4), 486-512.
Huang, F., & Marginson, S. (2017). Higher education research in the Asia-Pacific. International Journal of Educational Development, 63, 1-3.
Marginson, S. (2017). And the sky is grey: The ambivalent outcomes of the California Master Plan for Higher Education. Higher Education Quarterly, 72(1), 51-64.
Marginson, S. (2017). The Master Plan and the California Higher Education System: Success, Failure and Implications for China. International Journal of Chinese Education, 6(1), 1-26.
Marginson, S. (2017). Limitations of human capital theory. Studies in Higher Education, 44(2), 287-301.
Marginson, S. (2017). The world-class multiversity: Global commonalities and national characteristics. Frontiers of Education in China, 12(2), 233-260.
Marginson, S. (2017). Global trends in higher education financing: the United Kingdom . International Journal of Educational Development, 58(January 2018), 26-36.
Marginson, S. (2017). Higher education, economic inequality and social mobility: implications for emerging East Asia. International Journal of Educational Development, 63, 4-11.
Marginson, S. (2017). The public good created by higher education institutions in Russia. Voprosy Obrazovaniya Educational Studies Moscow, 2017(3), 9-36.
Marginson, S., & Dang, T. (2016). Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory in the context of globalization. Asia Pacific Journal of Education, 37(1), 116-129.
Marginson, S. (2016). The worldwide trend to high participation higher education: dynamics of social stratification in inclusive systems. Higher Education, 72(4), 413-434.
Marginson, S. (2016). Public/private in higher education: a synthesis of economic and political approaches. Studies in Higher Education, 43(2), 322-337.
Marginson, S. (2016). High participation systems of higher education. Journal of Higher Education, 87(2), 243-271.
Marginson, S. (2016). Foreword: The partial shift from public to private goods in UK higher education. London Review of Education, 14(1), 4-10.
Marginson, S. (2015). The strategic positioning of Australian research universities in the East Asian region. Higher Education, 70(2), 265-281.
Morley, L., Marginson, S., & Blackmore, J. (2014). Education and neoliberal globalization. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 35(3), 457-468.
Marginson, S. (2014). University rankings and social science. European Journal of Education, 49(1), 45-59.
Marginson, S. (2014). Student Self-Formation in International Education. Journal of Studies in International Education, 18(1), 6-22.
Marginson, S. (2014). La Educación Superior como autoformación: el caso de estudiantes transfronterizos. Revista De La Educacion Superior, 43(169), 7-24.
Marginson, S. (2014). Academic freedom: A global comparative approach. Frontiers of Education in China, 9(1), 24-41.
Marginson, S. (2014). Russian science and higher education in a more global era. Voprosy Obrazovaniya, 2014(4), 8-35.
Williams, R., de Rassenfosse, G., Jensen, P., & Marginson, S. (2013). The determinants of quality national higher education systems. Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, 35(6), 599-611.
Pusser, B., & Marginson, S. (2013). University rankings in critical perspective. Journal of Higher Education, 84(4), 544-568.
Ramia, G., Marginson, S., & Sawir, E. (2013). The regulation of international student welfare in Australia. Journal of Australian Political Economy, 71, 106-129.
Anh, D., & Marginson, S. (2013). Global learning through the lens of Vygotskian sociocultural theory. Critical Studies in Education, 54(2), 143-159.
Marginson, S. (2013). The impossibility of capitalist markets in higher education. Journal of Education Policy, 28(3), 353-370.
Sawir, E., Marginson, S., Forbes-Mewett, H., Nyland, C., & Ramia, G. (2012). International Student Security and English Language Proficiency. Journal of Studies in International Education, 16(5), 434-454.
Marginson, S. (2012). Including the other: Regulation of the human rights of mobile students in a nation-bound world. Higher Education, 63(4), 497-512.
Marginson, S. (2012). The “Public” contribution of universities in an increasingly global world. 7-25.
Marginson, S. (2011). Higher Education and Public Good. Higher Education Quarterly, 65(4), 411-433.
Ramia, G., Marginson, S., Sawir, E., & Nyland, C. (2011). International business and cross-border education: A case of the Janus face of globalisation?. Global Business and Economics Review, 13(2), 105-125.
Marginson, S. (2011). Higher education in East Asia and Singapore: Rise of the Confucian Model. Higher Education, 61(5), 587-611.
Marginson, S. (2011). Equity, status and freedom: A note on higher education. Cambridge Journal of Education, 41(1), 23-36.
Nyland, C., Forbes-Mewett, H., & Marginson, S. (2010). The international student safety debate: Moving beyond denial. Higher Education Research and Development, 29(1), 89-101.
Sawir, E., Marginson, S., Nyland, C., Ramia, G., & Rawlings-Sanaei, F. (2009). The social and economic security of international students: A New Zealand study. Higher Education Policy, 22(4), 461-482.
Forbes-Mewett, H., Marginson, S., Nyland, C., Ramia, G., & Sawir, E. (2009). Australian university international student finances. Higher Education Policy, 22(2), 141-161.
Sawir, E., Marginson, S., Nyland, C., Ramia, G., & Rawlings-Sanaei, F. (2009). The pastoral care of international students in New Zealand: Is it more than a consumer protection regime?. Asia Pacific Journal of Education, 29(1), 45-59.
Nyland, C., Forbes-Mewett, H., Marginson, S., Ramia, G., Sawir, E., & Smith, S. (2009). International student-workers in Australia: A new vulnerable workforce. Journal of Education and Work, 22(1), 1-14.
Marginson, S. (2009). Open source knowledge and University rankings. Thesis Eleven, 96(1), 9-39.
Marginson, S. (2008). Global University hegemony. Critique Internationale, 39(2), 87-107.
Sawir, E., Marginson, S., Deumert, A., Nyland, C., & Ramia, G. (2008). Loneliness and International Students: An Australian Study. Journal of Studies in International Education, 12(2), 148-180.
Marginson, S. (2008). Global field and global imagining: Bourdieu and worldwide higher education. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 29(3), 303-315.
Marginson, S. (2008). Academic creativity under new public management: Foundations for an investigation. Educational Theory, 58(3), 269-287.
Marginson, S., & van der Wende, M. (2007). To rank or to be ranked: The impact of global rankings in higher education. Journal of Studies in International Education, 11(3-4), 306-329.
Marginson, S. (2007). Global university rankings: Implications in general and for Australia. Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, 29(2), 131-142.
Snyder, I., Marginson, S., & Lewis, T. (2007). ’An alignment of the planets’: Mapping the intersections between pedagogy, technology and management in Australian universities. Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, 29(2), 187-202.
Marginson, S. (2007). Global position and position taking: The case of Australia. Journal of Studies in International Education, 11(1), 5-32.
Marginson, S. (2007). The public/private divide in higher education: A global revision. Higher Education, 53(3), 307-333.
Marginson, S. (2006). Engaging democratic education in the neoliberal age. Educational Theory, 56(2), 205-219.
Marginson, S., & Sawir, E. (2006). University leaders’ strategies in the global environment: A comparative study of universitas Indonesia and the australian national university. Higher Education, 52(2), 343-373.
Marginson, S. (2006). Dynamics of national and global competition in higher education. Higher Education, 52(1), 1-39.
Marginson, S. (2006). Putting ‘Public’ Back into the Public University. Thesis Eleven, 84(1), 44-59.
Deumert, A., Marginson, S., Nyland, C., Ramia, G., & Sawir, E. (2005). Global migration and social protection rights: The social and economic security of cross-border students in Australia. Global Social Policy, 5(3), 329-352.
Marginson, S. (2005). Australian Journal of Education: Editorial. Australian Journal of Education, 49(2), 123-127.
Lewis, T., Marginson, S., & Snyder, I. (2005). The network university? Technology, culture and organisational complexity in contemporary higher education. Higher Education Quarterly, 59(1), 56-75.
Marginson, S. (2004). Bright networks and dark spaces: Implications of manuel castells for higher education. Academe, 90(3), 37-41.
Marginson, S. (2004). Australian Journal of Education: Editorial. Australian Journal of Education, 48(1), 3-4.
Marginson, S. (2004). Don’t leave me hanging on the anglophone: The potential for online distance higher education in the Asia-Pacific region. Higher Education Quarterly, 58(2-3), 74-113.
Marginson, S. (2004). National and global competition in higher education. Australian Educational Researcher, 31(2), 1-28.
Marginson, S. (2003). Australian Journal of Education: Editorial. Australian Journal of Education, 47(3), 215-216.
Marginson, S. (2003). Australian Journal of Education: Editorial. Australian Journal of Education, 47(1), 3-4.
Marginson, S. (2002). Australian Journal of Education: Editorial. Australian Journal of Education, 46(3), 225-230.
Marginson, S. (2002). Australian Journal of Education: Editorial. Australian Journal of Education, 46(1), 3-5.
Marginson, S. (2002). Education in the global market: Lessons from Australia. Academe, 88(3), 22-24.
Mollis, M., & Marginson, S. (2002). The assessment of universities in Argentina and Australia: Between autonomy and heteronomy. Higher Education, 43(3), 311-330.
Marginson, S. (2002). Nation-building universities in a global environment: The case of Australia. Higher Education, 43(3), 409-428.
Marginson, S., & Rhoades, G. (2002). Beyond national states, markets, and systems of higher education: A glonacal agency heuristic. Higher Education, 43(3), 281-309.
Marginson, S., & Mollis, M. (2001). "The door opens and the tiger leaps": Theories and reflexivities of comparative education for a global millennium. Comparative Education Review, 45(4), 581-615.
Marginson, S. (2001). Trends in the funding of Australian higher education. Australian Economic Review, 34(2), 205-215.
Marginson, S. (1999). After globalization: Emerging politics of education. Journal of Education Policy, 14(1), 19-31.
Marginson, S. (1998). Value creation in the production of services: a note on Marx. Cambridge Journal of Economics, 22(5), 573-585.
Marginson, S. (1998). The West report as national education policy making. Australian Economic Review, 31(2), 157-166.
Marginson, S. (1997). Is economics sufficient for the government of education?. New Zealand Journal of Educational Studies, 32(1), 3-12.
Marginson, S. (1997). Imagining Ivy: Pitfalls in the privatization of higher education in Australia. Comparative Education Review, 41(4), 460-472.
Marginson, S. (1997). Reviews. Thesis Eleven, 51(1), 118-124.
Marginson, S. (1997). Steering from a distance: Power relations in Australian higher education. Higher Education, 34(1), 63-80.
Marginson, S. (1997). Investment in the Self: The government of student financing in Australia. Studies in Higher Education, 22(2), 119-131.
Marginson, S. (1995). The tyranny of boundaries. The Australian Educational Researcher, 22(3), 123-130.
Marginson, S. (1995). Markets in Education: A Theoretical Note. Australian Journal of Education, 39(3), 294-312.
Marginson, S. (1995). The Decline in the Standing of Educational Credentials in Australia. Australian Journal of Education, 39(1), 67-76.
Marginson, S. (1993). From cloister to market: The new era in higher education. Journal of Tertiary Education Administration, 15(1), 43-64.
Marginson, S. (1992). Positive Economics and Negative Effects: Economic Rationalism and Education. Journal of Australian Studies, 16(33), 1-7.
Marginson, S. (1991). Academic Salaries: Will Award Restructuring Make a Difference?. Journal of Tertiary Education Administration, 13(1), 19-44.
Marginson, S. (1990). The culture of the white paper: Academic labour for and as commodity production. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 10(2), 22-35.
Marginson, S. (1989). Defending the Public Sector: The Evatt Report. Thesis Eleven, 23(1), 143-153.
Other
Marginson, S., & Xu, X. (2021). Moving beyond centre-periphery science: Towards an ecology of knowledge. In Centre for Global Higher Education Working Paper Series. Centre for Global Higher Education.
