Global trends in higher education and Latin-America: the case of Chile as a paradigmatic case of marketisation

Date: Thursday, 17 December 2015 12:30 pm - 2:00 pm

Location: Room 675, UCL Institute of Education

Speaker(s):

Carolina Guzman-Valenzuela, University of Chile

Overview

The private/public debate and the role of the state in the provision of higher education are key issues in Latin-America. Drawing on data on research production, undergraduate and postgraduate students, access, tuition fees and equity, this seminar will analyse ways in which the state and the private sector in the region are responding both to global tendencies such as massification and the emergence of international rankings on the one hand, and to more local needs and demands of equity on the other hand.

This presentation will particularly focus on Chile as a paradigmatic case of neoliberal policies. The case of Chile illustrates the growth and strengthening of the private sector as well as the low profile that the state has had in both the funding and the quality regulation of the higher education system.

This situation led to a point of no-return in 2011 when thousands of university students took part in public protests demanding a quality and free education for everybody (and which played a part in ushering in a new government).

Some reflections on the future of the higher education system in Latin-America will also be offered.

This presentation draws on research funded by Conicyt-Fondecyt Regular 1141271.

Carolina Guzman-Valenzuela

Dr Carolina Guzman-Valenzuela is a researcher in the Centre for Advanced Research in Education, University of Chile. She has conducted competitive research in the field of higher education with a particular interest in the impact of neoliberal regimes on the contemporary university and the academic work. Currently she is investigating the meanings of the concept of Œpublic¹ in universities in marketized contexts and the role of universities in promoting a more egalitarian society. She is also interested in qualitative research and its theorization, with a special focus on epistemology and the construction of new theories.