| This study examines the process of university restructuring in the context of the shift in the global economy from fordism to post-fordism. From a theoretical framework that combines political economy and cultural studies, the study identifies three main trends taking place at the international, national and institutional level: the rise of institutional capitalism, the retrenchment of the state and the commodification of knowledge. Although the main features of university restructuring are similar throughout the world, there are peculiarities which are specific to each national formation and to each institution.;The study examines the dynamics of this conflict, using the case of the Universidad de Buenos Aires. It is based on information collected from more than sixty in-depth interviews with key university and state actors, and from a variety of published and unpublished documents.;The analysis of this case informs that institutional capitalism, the retrenchment of the state and the commodification of knowledge are not abstract entities. They constitute concrete social developments that generate pressure for university restructuring worldwide. Moreover, as illustrated with the Argentinean case, the three developments are closely interconnected through human agencies. The study also indicates that the Argentinean crisis of the autonomous university modeled after the 1918 Reform is an 'objective' crisis, in the sense that the continuation of its main operational principles is at stake, but is also subjectively experienced by most actors. In Argentina, the debate on the appropriateness of the autonomous and the heteronomous models for the university is often obscured by a polarized and emotional controversy on funding and efficiency.;The defensive position that the university is forced to assume in this conflict inhibits it from engaging in serious and open self-criticism. The evidence presented in the study suggests that most public universities are becoming 'cultural factories' competing in the marketplace, and at the same time more subjected to state controls and regulations. (Abstract shortened by UMI.). |
