TY - JOUR
T1 - The political economy of higher education in the era of neoliberal globalization
T2 - Latin America in comparative perspective
AU - Torres, Carlos A.
AU - Schugurensky, Daniel
N1 - Funding Information:
Given the leadership exercised by the United States in a variety of areas ranging from military research to economic policies, higher education restructuring in this country deserves commentary. Educational critics in different parts of the world write about the “Americanization” of their national university systems and, by extension, the Americanization of culture and taste – some would argue the Californianization of cultural taste (Ohmae 1995). Guy Neave (1991, p. 68), for instance, suggests that in Europe the neo-Keynesian consensus has been replaced by right-wing conservatism, with forces pressuring many European countries to follow the American model of university system. This model is seen as focusing on the reduction of the role of the state in higher education and its replacement by the market as the instrument for shaping the institution, which must compete with other institutions for funding and students. Despite much truth in this analysis, there are serious gaps and omissions that need to be corrected. For instance, there is no question that funding for public sources (NSF, NHF, Department of Energy, Pentagon and the various research branches of the Navy, Army and Air Force, Department of Education, Department of Transportation and Housing) and many funding initiatives from the Congress redirecting Title VI funds are absolutely decisive for the financial stability of universities, private and public, in the U.S. The Stanford University fiasco in the mid-eighties about overhead calculations and expenditures and the threat at one point of having to return more than $500 million to the federal government is a telling example of how sensitive the issue of federal, state and local government funding in the U.S. is. No doubt, private funding constitutes to be a critical source for university purposes – Harvard University’s more than $12 billion endowment is a telling example.
PY - 2002
Y1 - 2002
N2 - During the last two decades, Latin American universities have experienced intense pressure to abandon the main principles established in the 1918 Córdoba Reform (i.e., autonomy and autarchy). While funding for public higher education has declined, they are pressured to relinquish a large portion of institutional autonomy in order to accommodate to market demands and to a new set of control strategies emanating from the state. We argue that current changes in Latin American higher education cannot be examined in isolation from larger political and economic changes in the region, which in turn are related to the dynamics of globalization. After the decline of socialist and welfare-state models, neoliberal regimes have become hegemonic in many parts of the world. In most countries, changes in financial arrangements, coupled with accountability mechanisms, have forced universities to reconsider their social missions, academic priorities and organizational structures. Concerns about equity, accessibility, autonomy or the contribution of higher education to social transformation, which were prevalent during previous decades, have been overshadowed by concerns about excellence, efficiency, expenditures and rates of return. The notion that higher education is primarily a citizen's right and a social investment - which has been taken for granted for many decades - is being seriously challenged by a neoliberal agenda that places extreme faith in the market. Though we focus on the international dimension of university change, it is important to note that global trends are promoted, resisted and negotiated differently in each national context and in each individual institution. In the emerging knowledge-based society, the polarization between North and South is expected to increase even further if the scientific and technological gaps are not narrowed. Latin American universities have a crucial role to play in this regard. The paper is organized in two parts. The first describes the context of university change, focusing on issues of globalization and neoliberalism. The second examines the main features of university restructuring in comparative perspective, with a particular focus on Latin America.
AB - During the last two decades, Latin American universities have experienced intense pressure to abandon the main principles established in the 1918 Córdoba Reform (i.e., autonomy and autarchy). While funding for public higher education has declined, they are pressured to relinquish a large portion of institutional autonomy in order to accommodate to market demands and to a new set of control strategies emanating from the state. We argue that current changes in Latin American higher education cannot be examined in isolation from larger political and economic changes in the region, which in turn are related to the dynamics of globalization. After the decline of socialist and welfare-state models, neoliberal regimes have become hegemonic in many parts of the world. In most countries, changes in financial arrangements, coupled with accountability mechanisms, have forced universities to reconsider their social missions, academic priorities and organizational structures. Concerns about equity, accessibility, autonomy or the contribution of higher education to social transformation, which were prevalent during previous decades, have been overshadowed by concerns about excellence, efficiency, expenditures and rates of return. The notion that higher education is primarily a citizen's right and a social investment - which has been taken for granted for many decades - is being seriously challenged by a neoliberal agenda that places extreme faith in the market. Though we focus on the international dimension of university change, it is important to note that global trends are promoted, resisted and negotiated differently in each national context and in each individual institution. In the emerging knowledge-based society, the polarization between North and South is expected to increase even further if the scientific and technological gaps are not narrowed. Latin American universities have a crucial role to play in this regard. The paper is organized in two parts. The first describes the context of university change, focusing on issues of globalization and neoliberalism. The second examines the main features of university restructuring in comparative perspective, with a particular focus on Latin America.
KW - Higher education
KW - Latin America
KW - Neoliberalism
KW - Politics and education
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U2 - 10.1023/A:1015292413037
DO - 10.1023/A:1015292413037
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:0141456184
SN - 0018-1560
VL - 43
SP - 429
EP - 455
JO - Higher Education
JF - Higher Education
IS - 4
ER -