MERCOSUR Brand: regionalism and higher education

PERROTTA, DANIELA.

Buenos Aires

Conferencia; FLACSO ISA Joint Conference Global and Regional Powers in a Changing World; 2014

Área de Relaciones Internacionales de FLACSO & International Studies Association

This article introduces the assessment of MERCOSUR´s regional policies in the field of higher education in order to discuss whether its main effect is to improve national higher education systems ?based upon social justice premises and therefore contribute to the overall development and scientific autonomy of the region? or to enhance certain institutions as world class universities ?therefore perpetuating the inequities and exclusion of many social actors?.We argue that regional regulations, norms and policies are by-passing domestic policy process in the higher education agenda, mainly supported by epistemic communities and/or advocacy networks, in order to boost national top universities global competitiveness as well as improving cooperative linkages within the region. In order to understand how regulatory regionalism is by-passing domestic policy processes in the HE agenda and assessing the outcomes of policy diffusion, we present an embedded case of study ?MERCOSUR´s AQA policy?.