The right to higher education: past achievements and future prospects in Latin American policies

• In Event: Equitable access to higher education

Proposal

This paper analyzes the latest developments in higher education policy in Latin America and provides an overview of the current challenges.
The tension between the strong tradition of institutional autonomy in the Latin American region - already reflected in the Grito de Córdoba (1918) - and state intervention makes higher education one of the most complex sectors to manage politically, and the resulting balance has been until recently that of weak governance with high levels of social injustice (Mendoza, 2020). However, if there is something that characterizes higher education in the region, it is the heterogeneity of policies, to the point that there is a certain polarization between different countries (Fernández and Pérez, 2016). Sometimes within the same country, it is possible to find both a political orientation framed in constitutions (defense of university autonomy) and its opposite in a legislative act (predominant state representation in university government authorities), which highlights the recurrent and, perhaps, inevitable tensions between governments and higher education institutions, as well as between political and regulatory control with academic and institutional autonomy.

Even before the pandemic began, a change of direction in the emphasis of public policies on higher education could be perceived. The expansion and diversification of channels of access to higher education were priority objectives of educational policy for a long time, but in countries that have reached high levels of coverage and that, in the terminology coined by Trow (1973), have ceased to be mass systems and have become universalized, the expansion of the system is no longer the first political priority. In its place, other areas are emerging strongly: the increase in educational quality, if not the search for excellence, particularly by promoting postgraduate studies; the commitment to greater equity, reflected in better financial support mechanisms for students; as well as the strengthening of research and its role in promoting innovation, in order to insert itself into international academic networks better. These last aspects, still little studied, are combined with a commitment to the qualification of professionals in fields of science and technology, the training of researchers, and the promotion of research as a substantial element in the development of countries, as well as the construction of the necessary infrastructure to respond to the different academic activities in a meaningful way on an international scale (Sarmiento and Diaz, 2018). In short, the links between higher education, research, innovation, and development will continue to pose challenges to the region in a context in which governments will have to decide on the strategic value of the sector as a bet on the future.
Among the major challenges for the future are associated with the stratification of systems since their diversification is undoubtedly an essential channel for universal access. Furthermore, given the well-known structural inequalities of the continent, States have the task of establishing public policies that facilitate the legitimization of alternative higher education mechanisms. The need to conceptualize higher education beyond universities emerges to increase access through the strengthening of technical education and the capacity for effective mobility among the different educational offerings. In addition to the challenges described above, it is important to note that, as the UNESCO International Committee for the Futures of Education (UNESCO IESALC, 2021) points out, the establishment of a new social contract will enable the transformative effect of education to be enhanced will be a key component of the international agenda in the coming years. Calling for the construction of a new social contract in which the idea of higher education as a public good is consolidated collaboratively, with the participation of civil society and political and economic sectors, is one of the first starting points to ensure long-term support, particularly at a time when public funding for higher education is facing severe cuts.
All these challenges should not leave aside policies aimed at improving equity since, beyond the mirage that improved access rates could create, the expansion of higher education does not necessarily lead to its democratization or the elimination of access barriers (García de Fanelli and Adrogué, 2019). Education must be understood as a continuum, which begins in early childhood, develops throughout life, and must be of quality. Therefore, governments must accompany their educational policies with quality supply and structural equity measures deployed from various ministries since the school alone cannot solve the lack of equity. Only then can a more equitable distribution of opportunities to enter higher education be achieved, and what will determine entry will be a student's potential for success and effort, not his or her conditions of origin. Where it fails, additional measures must be taken to ensure that no student with the potential for success is left without the opportunity to continue for reasons beyond his or her control. Inequities are now embodied in the unequal opportunities students have to persist and complete their studies linked to their social origin, even in a context of educational expansion. At the same time, the provision of higher quality and prestige is captured by the most privileged social strata (Pla et al., 2021). Here, the challenges are to improve articulation with basic education and to strengthen mechanisms to support financial and pedagogical access that contribute to improving success rates and subsequent labor market insertion.

Author

• Francesc Pedro, UNESCO IESALC