Future scenarios for the argentine university: between the "glonacal" challenges, the inertia of systemic trends and the long absence of a policy agenda

Abstract

This paper is an interpretation essay on the future scenarios of the Argentine university based on the analysis of the global-regional context, the historical trends of the system and the changes in policies. The article hypothesizes that, on the one hand, global restructuring not only modifies academic functions and institutional organization but also creates different scales, new hierarchies, and stratifications ,and on the other hand, that university policies since the return to democracy have not substantially modified the historical configuration of universities, although they have introduced changes in the system's regulation patterns, institutions and academic-scientific communities. The first section explores the main features of the ongoing process of reconfiguration of higher education. The second section analyses what we call "the force of inertia" to characterize the systemic trends that outline the current features of universities. Finally, the third section delves into the reasons for the long absence of a political agenda and the consolidation of a new type of “hybrid governance”. Towards the end, the difficulties and limitations of the Argentine university to face future scenarios are presented as a conclusion.