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Threats and opportunities of science at a for-profit university in Chile

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Abstract

Thirty years after pro-market policies were first adopted, how best to organize Chile’s scientific enterprise remains as elusive as when universities were state-run and funded. This paper explores scientific research at a for-profit university, University Andres Bello, to ask if a new mode of knowledge production is in the making and with what impacts for Chilean universities. In contrast to trends described in the North American and European university literatures, the Chilean experience to date indicates that market competition reinforces existing scientific practice, including evaluation mechanisms. Its largest impact may instead lie in challenging cultural notions of a university’s rights and responsibilities, with potentially negative consequences for existing state-run and non-profit universities. These findings are important for developing countries seeking to expand research without expanding public universities or expenditures, and raise important questions regarding the specific mechanisms that mediate between a university’s forprofit business model and its research agenda.

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Notes

  1. In Chile Universities Santo Tomás and San Sebastián seem to follow UNAB’s example. However, the private higher education sector includes institutions ranging from professional training, to online learning and business-driven universities (Geiger (2004). Knowledge and Money: research universities and the paradox of the marketplace. Stanford, Stanford University Press, Kirp (2003). Shakespeare, Einstein and the Bottom Line. Cambridge, Harvard University Press.). Further research should examine if other countries are following Chile’s example of for-profit universities.

  2. In July 2010 the government backed down from a proposal equalizing access to subsidies for new universities following protests. A common criticism is the failure to recognize different legal and social constraints universities face. See http://diario.latercera.com/2010/06/20/01/contenido/18_30359_9.shtml; http://www.uchile.cl/?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=not&url=63414.

  3. Owner of Corpbanca and media group Copesa. Several individuals linked to the Pinochet regime, like Juan Antonio Guzmán, ex-Minister of Education, and Miguel Angel Poduje Sapiain, ex-Minister of Housing and Vice President, also entered UNAB at this time.

  4. See Wynne (1992). "Representing Policy Constructions and Interests in SSK." Social Studies of Science 22(3): 575–580.

  5. Includes direct research costs; excludes laboratory space, equipment, and staff costs.

  6. Lower income students includes those from municipal and subsidized schools, where the majority of Chileans go. Data for municipal and subsidized schools was summed because of the small n.

  7. Private university supporters claim the opposite: http://www.elmostrador.cl/noticias/pais/2010/09/21/“no-es-una-prioridad-invertir-recursos-millonarios-en-financiar-al-sector-universitario”/.

  8. For example, three projects from 2009 are: (1) Topics On The Covariant Quantization Of The Superstring. (2) Theoretical Investigation Of Nanoscale Catalysts Based On Metallic Nanoparticles And Metallomacrocyclic Complexes. (3) Development Of Chemical Reactivity Models And Exploration Of The Chemical Bond Within The Context Of The Density Functional Theory.

  9. Data are only available for some years. Between 2004 and 2007 Conicyt’s budget increased 84% after already significant increases (see www.conicyt.cl). Other institutions, like the State Development Agency (Corfo), received significant increases to support research, specifically business innovation (from 2000 to 2006, gave out about US$16.5 million in grants). In 2007 about US$257 million was set aside for R&D. This is not much given Chile’s low starting point, but funding has outpaced growth in active researchers. For existing universities and researchers, it is a challenge to maintain quality as resources increase so fast. To focus on “resource scarcity” thus may overlook how existing actors interpret their environment.

  10. Only projects were UNAB was lead institution were analyzed.

  11. Whether this is the case warrants further research based on further interviews and access to internal UNAB accounting and business strategy documents.

  12. http://www.mifab.cl/p_valenzuela.html

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Acknowledgments

I would like to thank two anonymous reviewers and Todd LaPorte, David Winickoff, Peter Evans, Nancy Peluso and the participants of ESPM 201C Spring 2009, and Fabian Ochsenfeld for their comments. An earlier version was presented at the Georgia Tech Science Policy conference in October 2009. Of course any errors are my own responsibility.

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  1. Department of Environmental Science Policy and Management, University of California, 124 Giannini Hall, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA

    Javiera Barandiaran

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  1. Javiera Barandiaran
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Barandiaran, J. Threats and opportunities of science at a for-profit university in Chile. High Educ 63, 205–218 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-011-9431-1

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