Higher education policies in Chile in the 90s

Higher education in Chile experienced a deep-seated reform during the past decade as a result of measures enacted by the military government at the beginning of the eighties that altered the structure of the system, its coordination, and finance... Notwithstanding the authoritarian features of the origins of reform, its ruling principles and the structure it established have not been opposed by the democratic governments. These, however, have introduced significant financial changes and attempted, unsuccessfully so far, to improve the coordination structure of the system, counterbalancing the weight of the market forces with a provocative stance regarding academic quality and equity in their social distribution features. The purpose of this article is to chacacterize the reform of the 1980s and its effects upon the structure, governance and finance of the system; describe changes introduced in the higher education system during the 1990s as a result of the democratic governments' policies; and refer briefly to what is considered to be the main issue of the present: the policy and legal framework for the system as a whole. (DIPF/Text übernommen).