Universities in Latin America. Power and Resistance to Alienation of Social Intellect

• Autor: Alberto L. Bialakowsky, Cecilia Lusnich, Guadalupe Romero y Pablo Ortiz
• Cargo: Dr. (hc), Master of Social Sciences, Sociologist/Sociologist/Masters Student of Labour Social Sciences/Masters Student of Labour Social Sciences
• Páginas: 249-277

249

controVersias y concurrencias latinoamericanas

issn 2219-1631 Vol.6 no. 9 abril 2014

coedición: Journal of latin american communication research

ISSN: 2237-1265

UNIVERSITIES IN LATIN AMERICA. POWER AND

RESISTANCE TO ALIENATION OF SOCIAL INTELLECT1

1 Translated into English by Natalia Gianni, Maria de los Angeles Solís, Lara Zurita Lusnich and Cecilia Lus-

nich.

Alberto L. Bialakowsky

Cecilia Lusnich

Guadalupe Romero

Pablo Ortiz

ABSTRACT

This article addresses, from the perspective of Latin American critical thought, the

processes of change in the Higher Education in the context of social change, charac-

terized by the social exclusion phenomena and the intervention neoliberal in recent

decades. The investigation covers the analysis of the forms of production and distri-

bution of knowledge in the university in this context as well as work processes which

model university practices. Besides, we propose an alternative methodology in terms

epistemological, ethical and pedagogical, problematizing current challenges and the

concentration of knowledge production, presenting a possible alternative for the

meaning of the practice and the social role of the university.

Keywords: Critical thought, Higher Education, knowledge production, alternative

methodology.

250

alberto l. bialaKoWsKy , cecilia lusnich, Guadalupe romero y pablo ortiz

•

Universities in Latin America.

Power and Resistance to Alienation of Social Intellect.

1. HIGHER EDUCATION IN LATIN AMERICA

Higher Education in Latin America, nowadays, shows us a strong expansion of

numerous tertiary institutions with dierent characteristics till reaching, in 2010, a

bigger number than 11.000, including between them 4.000 public and private uni-

versities (Brunner, 2007; Aboites, 2010). The last two decades have meant a strong

and growing presence of private tertiary institutions, which don’t depend on state

funding, its relative weight in the national enrollment reaches more than half of the

students enrolled in Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador , El Salvador, Para-

guay and Dominican Republic (Mollis, 2003, 2010; Beneitone, 2007).

As a result of the two previous dynamics, the region is characterized by a stron-

gly dierentiated Higher Education, both horizontally and vertically, which structure

and coverage are in a continuous diversication. Higher Education national systems

in Latin America are attach to strong centrifugal tendencies, of diversication and

variation about their organizational principles, of competitive pressure and, in the

other hand, low associative and cooperative capacity (Brunner, 2008). At the same

time, and as it will be detailed below, over the past four decades (meaning a second

compared to the nine centuries of history of universities worldwide), tertiary enroll-

ment increased exponentially in our zone: of just 1.9 million students in 1970 to 8.4

million in 1990, and reaching 25 million in 2011.

Graphic 1.

Tertiary enrollment growth in Latin America, 1970-2011 (millions of students)

1862000

5442000

8410000

13519000

21762000

24989000

0

5000000

10000000

15000000

20000000

25000000

30000000

1970 1980 1990 2000 2009 2011

Tertiary tution

Sources: UNESCO, Institute for Statistics, Global Educational Digest 2009 and Global Educational Digest 2011.