REVIEW article
Front. Educ.
Sec. Higher Education
Volume 10 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/feduc.2025.1592878
The Fourth Estate's Invisible Hand: How Newspaper Media Legitimize Neoliberal Higher Education in Qatar and the UAE
Provisionally accepted
Abdellatif Sellami*
Abdullah Mohammad Hamdan Abu-Tineh
Yousef AlshaboulNorma Abdulrahman GhamrawiTarek Mustapha El Chall- Qatar University, Doha, Qatar
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This study critically examines how English-language newspaper discourse in Qatar and the UAE constructs and legitimizes neoliberal ideologies surrounding higher education institutions and international branch campuses. Drawing on critical theory and critical discourse analysis, we delve into the discourses used in newspaper articles published between 2010 and 2024. We explore the underlying meanings, ideologies, and power relations embedded in the discourses that present institutions of higher education as providers of world-class education and models of best practices. Our findings reveal common themes shared across the two countries, emphasizing commitment to excellence, global leadership, world-class education, and best practices. At the same time, distinctions unique to each are identified, suggesting different approaches to holistic development, diversity, inclusivity, and the importance attributed to international recognition and rankings. This study enriches our understanding of the way neoliberal ideologies permeate discourses, influencing and being influenced by the academic landscape, thus charting new paths for future directions in this area.Over the past few decades, higher education (HE) in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region, which comprises Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), has undergone significant transformations. As part of their national development strategies, the six GCC states have launched major reforms aligned with their long-term visions, including
Keywords: critical discourse analysis, international branch campuses, policy, Newspapers, Reports, Neoliberalism, Ideology
Received: 13 Mar 2025; Accepted: 30 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Sellami, Abu-Tineh, Alshaboul, Ghamrawi and El Chall. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Abdellatif Sellami, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar
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