Abstract

MARTINEZ LARRECHEA, Enrique  and  CHIANCONE, Adriana. The unfinished revolution. Conceptualization of the stages of the Latin American university and the pending university reform. Perfiles educativos [online]. 2020, vol.42, n.170, pp.169-185.  Epub Feb 04, 2021. ISSN 0185-2698.  https://doi.org/10.22201/iisue.24486167e.2020.170.59366.

This paper addresses the issue of the Latin American university reform and its current challenges. In order to do this, we review the reform movement in the first two decades of the 20th century with the aim of conceptualizing and characterizing university development in Latin America and establishing its chronology. Our central conjecture is that there is a close, non-mechanical relationship between the socio-political context and the university. The institution of the Latin American university closely followed the State’s expansion processes as well as the region’s industrialization and integration, all these mediated by the academic political culture of the middle classes and the university centers. Based on documentary analysis, bibliographic review and observation of some instances prior to the Regional Conference on Higher Education (CRES by its acronym in Spanish) 2018, we reach the conclusion that the region must build its own response, given the absence of a convergent strategic vision among the main actors.

Keywords : Higher education; University; University reform; Regional integration; ENLACES Program.