El mercado y la educación superior.

Abstract

After examining the possible causes of the problems that higher education faces in Chile, the paper reviews two approaches that guide higher education institutions: a - more traditional- approach which views higher education as a social institution destined to produce a public good and a -more modern- approach that views it as a line of industry, that renders a service and is governed by market dynamics. From these two approaches the difference governing public and private universities emerges naturally and hence, so do different management models. The author's proposal is to take elements from both institutional models to thus develop a model that addresses national needs, thereby assuring quality and answering to the public faith deposited in the system. An important constraint that limits this challenge, however, lies in the legislative framework which in this respect, inhibits the institutions both in terms of their aims as well as in their procedures for action.