The privatization of Latinamerican Universities and funding mechanisms as political strategies. A case study approach

Abstract

The Regional Conferences on Higher Education (CRES) defined higher education as a human right and a social public good. This presents enormous challenges for Latin America as it is one of the most privatized regions in the world with the exponential growth of the Global Education Industry (GEI). This article will present a regional panorama to then analyze financing policies as inconspicuous privatization strategies. In particular, it will examine the introduction of mechanisms to distribute the funds based on demand financing as a new method for strengthening higher education privatization and commodification processes. This is how scholarships and credit programmes, which are presented as inclusion policies, actually result in the siphoning of public funds to the private sector, all the while being framed as an attempt at equating both sectors, which economically benefits and politically reinforce GEI. This trend was enhanced in the context of the pandemic by the construction of a discourse of "private sector financial vulnerability '', resulting in governmental measures beneficial to the private sector promoted by regional actors and international organizations. This article synthesizes results of a research project on these topics in Latin America, focusing on instrumental and multiple case studies (Chile, Peru and the Dominican Republic).