Abstract

RODRIGUEZ, Laura R.. University as collective political subject in the ´90: Policy-making at the university sector and the Consejo Interuniversitario Nacional (CIN): the development of a Funding Formula (1989-2003). Temas debates (En línea) [online]. 2013, n.26, pp.103-124. ISSN 1853-984X.

The article presents conclusions of a research conducted for a Master´s Degree²  on the role of the Council of National Universities (CIN) in policy-making in the ´90, and more precisely, on the work of the "Comisión de Pautas Presupuestarias" commissioned to build up and agree a funding formula to distribute public funds between institutions. Local research has paid little attention to the activities of the CIN and its coordination responsibilities. The objective of this paper is to contribute towards a deeper understanding of the peculiar distribution of power that shape the possibilities of the University, as a collective historical subject, in critically discussing and reaching democratic agreements concerning priorities and contents of a feasible university policy. The incorporation of a funding formula was historically reconstructed, and located in a wider context of university political reform process. The present paper argues that the CIN leadership in process of autonomous built-up agreements is drawn by certain conditions of material and symbolic "subordination". Within a context of structural economic adjustment and a strong dispute for hegemony in the Argentina of the ´90, these conditions facilitated the erosion of the CIN power of influencing or actively participating in policy making as a result of certain weakness in its structural organization;  a threatened legitimacy of its sectorial representation, and a prevailing reactive position.

Keywords : CIN; State; Financing policies; Neoliberalism; University; Coordination institutions.

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