The state as an agency in the assetisation of knowledge : the case of the Finnish education export

Abstract

<p> The assetisation of education explicates a major shift in how the state understands education. Education is not only an immaterial public good available to everybody but can be treated also as a promotable group of assets. This article discusses the case of a certain period in the Finnish education export. The analysis shows how the Finnish state with its governance tools is actively shaping and transforming education into asset, and through this process of assetisation becomes a certain kind of element in an education asset itself. In this process, the previous nature of education export ‘goods’ has been transformed to a modern rent-seeking ‘knowledge asset’, that can produce rent and excess value to both the state and businesses alike. When the state is involved in assetisation, the process is inherently politicised, and is exposed to potentially drastic polity changes. <br></p>