The Transnational Politics of Higher Education: Contesting the Global Transforming the Local by Meng-Hsuan Chou & Isaac Kamola & Tamson Pietsch

Author:Meng-Hsuan Chou & Isaac Kamola & Tamson Pietsch [Chou, Meng-Hsuan & Kamola, Isaac & Pietsch, Tamson]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781138840331
Goodreads: 26407460
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2016-03-23T00:00:00+00:00

Source: Servicio de Información de Educación Superior, Compendio Histórico de Educación Superior (SIES 1983–2013)

In terms of the incentives for diversification that the system creates, Figure 5.8 shows how the system has diversified since 1980. Once the Neoliberal model was in place, it did not take long for technical centros to proliferate rapidly. For example, in 1983 alone, eighty-six centros were created. Similarly, professional institutos increased rapidly as well, but at a slower pace than centros. Since then, many of these second-tier higher education institutions have closed. Not visible in Figure 5.8 is the fact that the majority of universities are private. As of 2013, there were forty-four private universities and only sixteen public institutions. The majority of public universities emerged from the main public universities in existence in 1980. In 1981 alone, the military ordered the largest public universities to break up into smaller units, and as a result twelve new institutions emerged. This was clearly one of the main concerns of the military in the aftermath of the coup, so once economic conditions had improved it moved ahead to implement a policy of decentralization and diversification.

During the first left-of-center administration after the end of the dictatorship, Ricardo Lagos Escobar (2000–2006) began a moderate but sustained effort to respond more effectively to the demands of the poorest sectors of society. These efforts, however, did not include reforms to higher education in terms of its existing model: decentralized, privatized, and diversified, and as a result access to higher education in Chile remains highly unequal (Brunner 2011).

For example, Figure 5.9 shows the percentage share of public versus private spending on higher education in Chile in comparison with the OECD average. In comparison with other Latin American countries, Chile is an outlier in terms of its low percentage share of public versus private spending. This is clearly what the Chicago boys intended to accomplish in the aftermath of the 1973 coup but could not implement until later, namely that higher education should not be free. It also impacts the system’s accessibility by lowering the ability of lower socioeconomic groups to afford higher education, and creates a strong incentive for the diversification of the system into two primary tiers: the best universities and the rest.

Figure 5.9 Percentage share of spending on higher education in Chile, 1995 vs. 2008

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