Higher education policy in times of non-democratic regimes in Argentina and Chile

SALTO, DANTE JAVIER

Atlanta

Congreso; Comparative and International Education Society Conference; 2017

Comparative and International Education Society

Despite the historical common roots, today, two higher education systems in Latin America differ dramatically in their financial mechanisms. In Argentina, the national government completely subsidizes undergraduate programs in public institutions while Chile relies mostly on tuition fees charged to individuals attending public institutions. What is striking about this policy divergence relates to its origins. Before the 1970s, both countries completely subsidized the higher education level but the authoritarian governments ruling both countries attempted to change public policy toward higher education finance. The main purpose of this paper is to analyze why the Chilean government dramatically changed its approach to higher education policy by switching the financial burden from the state to the individuals while Argentina had a more flexible approach. Although the latter allowed setting tuition fees in the books, in practice it never pushed for such a system. The two more convincing explanations refer to the ideationalist and the class arguments. The former based on the political economy influence of the ?Chicago boys? school of thought and the economic stability brought by following their mandates. The two most relevant hypotheses analyzed in this paper supplement each other. The role of middle class in supporting both governments was critical for their survival but generated certain power relationships that led to dismiss policy changes that would generate distress in the middle class. Evidence shows that the combination of low middle class enrollments in higher education in Chile and the direct advice on economic and social policies from the ?Chicago boys? generated the circumstances to dramatically change the higher education financial policies. The possible opposition of the middle class to those changes in Argentina, based on acquired rights, paired with fewer ideological influences from the ?Chicago boys? compromised any dramatic change toward the higher education sector.