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Research Policies and Practices within Universities: A Latin American Conversation

Mon, April 16, 4:05 to 5:35pm, New York Hilton Midtown, Floor: Second Floor, Murray Hill Room East

Session Type: Invited Speaker Session

Abstract

Different national and international reports about higher education policies present a consensus about the need of advancing in a process of research, development and innovation. Thus, the construction of knowledge has become a strategy inherent to the universities, and research indicators, such as publication and research projects, have become standards of excellence and prestige, whose academic recognition is strongly associated with the ability to do research, financed externally and with indexed publications in international journals. Despite the fact that universities are the leaders in the construction of knowledge, investment of GDP to finance research in Latin American Countries has been maintained, being low compared to the OECD countries (OECD, 2016). At a Latin American level, the data provided by the Iberoamerican Science Network (RICYT, 2013) indicate that the region's R & D & I weight in the world scenario is below what would correspond according to its population, the economic weight and the level of development.
This contradiction allows us to raise questions about the reference model in terms of research policies and the systemic conditions of the academy within universities in Latin America, related to funding, academic freedom, gender issues, and infrastructure, among other challenges of knowledge-making processes, as well as practices related to the new conditions of doing research related to role of agencies and networks and collaboration at several levels. Internationally, the discussion on research policies in higher education has focused on three main areas. The first axis is related to the way in which universities are being affected by global economic processes (Rhoades & Slaughter, 2006), and fundamental changes that impact not only university policies, but also, academic practices related to research and knowledge construction. The second axis is based on the discussion on knowledge production policies (Middlehurst, 2014), as well as the articulation of research to public policy. Finally, the third axis is focused on the processes of regulation of research, which critically analyze the epistemological foundations that underlie the construction of knowledge (Connell, 2007; Davies & Bansel, 2010; Minnich, 2005).
Thus, based on the discussion exposed above and the main issues that could attain to the universities in the Latin American context, this symposium will provide a reflexive analysis on research policies and practices in three countries. The symposium will also provide a venue for an international comparative discussion on the state and future of higher education and construction of knowledge.


References

Connell, R. (2007). Southern theory: The Global Dynamics of Knowledge in Social Science.
Cambridge: Polity.
Davies, B., & Bansel, P. (2010). Governmentality and Academic Work: Shaping the Hearts and Minds of Academic Workers. Journal of Curriculum Theorizing, 26(3), 5 - 20.
Middlehurst, R. (2014). Higher education research agendas for the coming decade: a UK perspective on the policy–research nexus. Studies in Higher Education, 39(8), 1475-1487.
Minnich, E. (2005). Ttransforming knowledge. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.
OECD. (2016). Gross domestic spending on R&D (indicator) (Publication no.
10.1787/d8b068b4). Retrieved Accessed on 15 May 2016
Rhoades, G., & Slaughter, S. (2006). Academic Capitalism and the New Economy: Privatization as Shifting the Target of Public Subsidy in Higher Education. In R. Rhoades & C. Torres (Ed.), The University, State, and Market: The Political Economy of Globalization in the Americas (pp. 243-275). Stanford, California: Stanford University Press.
RICYT. (2013). El estado de la ciencia 2012. Retrieved from www.ricyt.org/publicaciones

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