There is plenty of research undertaken on the subject of public surveillance and that within the British education system. Lyons theory of the card cartel focuses on the fundamental changes it creates for the definitions of citizen and state as well as the relationship between these two concepts. He uses Marxist theory to argue that identification gives the bourgeoisie, the middle- and upper-classes, power over the proletariat, the working class (2009). Using the example of a passport, he argues identification documents are a form of regulation as it can be used to monitor movements (Lyon 2009). Taylor puts this into the context of education, discussing the use of fingerprint identification and closed-circuit television (CCTV) in British schools in order to argue that schoolchildren are becoming increasingly watched, stating that 85-90% of British schools have CCTV (2013: 16). Rovai advocates for the use of identity cards on the grounds that they help create a sense of community, establishing an association between students, especially distance learners, and the university (2003). Despite the large foundation of research into surveillance in education, we identified a noticeable gap in research papers in the field of identity cards specifically as well as the student experience. Arami, Koller and Krimmers paper it explores a pilot project of multifunction student identity cards at Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration in 2000 (2004). The identity card in this project was the power card and its functions include allowing students to photocopy, open doors, access student records as well as acting as a form of identification. Their res
earch found that 88.9% of the students they asked were overall satisfied with the card (Arami, Koller and Krimmer 2004: 6). However, this research does not take place in Britain and does not focus solely on education but instead the entire public sector of Austria. Therefore, we decided to research into the use of identity cards in higher education focusing on the student experience. We decided to conduct the research at Queen Mary University as this is the higher education institute at which we study, making our research more accessible. Queen Mary University requires students to carry with them their student card on campus, it is used for examinations, registration, access to buildings and to take out library books (QMPlus, 2019). Failure to produce this card can result in being forced to leave a building or even campus. Carrying an identity card is a concept which has been normalised despite the heavy impact it has on the everyday life of a student at Queen Mary University. Our research question asks how the use of identity cards impacts a students experience. This area of research is important because the normalisation of identity cards can lead to the creation of a culture of suspicion by introducing the compulsory carrying of proof that a person belongs there (Lyons 2009: 70). In the context of higher education, in which a large proportion of the working class is already pushed away by the high costs associated, an atmosphere of inclusion is necessary and mandatory identity cards could be a move away from this. Our research aims to examine the impact of identity cards on student life in higher education and the possible wider implications of this.