Elite universities in Chile: Between social mobility and reproduction of inequality
Abstract
The Chilean Higher Education System can be considered an exemplary case of massification based on the privatisation and heterogenisation of universities. These processes have created a dual system, with a large group of universities for mass education versus a small group of universities focused on educating elites. In this context, this paper aims to analyse the ethos and missions of elite universities and programmes, their selection mechanisms, and students’ socioeconomic and cultural background. Eight case studies were selected, and different data collection techniques were used: interviews with academics, non-participant observations, students’ survey and secondary data analysis. Results show that these elite universities (characterised by overrepresentation of students from the upper and middle-upper classes, high levels of excellence and prestige, and academic selection processes or high fees) respond to their own market niche’s needs, differentiating themselves not only from ‘mass universities’ but also from each other. To achieve this, each elite university has its own vision, set of values and practices. Despite these differences, all the elite universities and programmes seek to face the current tertiary massification scenario by opening up to student social diversity ensuring, however, that these changes do not structurally modify their sociocultural composition or their institutional mission.
Received: 4 December 2020
Accepted: 20 April 2022
Downloads
References
Allende, Claudio, Rocío Diaz, and Juan Pablo Valenzuela. “School segregation in Chile.” In Global Encyclopedia of Public Administration, Public Policy, and Governance, edited by Ali Farazmand, 1-10. Berlin: Springer, 2018.
Alvesson, Mats, and Maxine Robertson. “The Best and the Brightest: The Construction, Significance and Effects of Elite Identities in Consulting Firms.” Organization 13, no.2 (2006): 195- 224 .
Ashley, Louise, and Laura Empson. “Differentiation and discrimination: Understanding social class and social exclusion in leading”. Human Relations, 66 (2013): 219-244 .
Bataille, Pierre. “Intégrer une Ecole normale supérieure... et après?.” Formation Emploi. Revue française de sciences sociales, 129 (2015): 65-86 .
Barthes, Ronald. “The rhetoric of the image.” In Visual rethoric in a digital world: a critical sourcebook, edited by Carolyn Handa, 152-163. Boston: Bedford St Martin’s, 2004.
Bathmaker, Ann-Marie, Nicola Ingram, Jessica Abrahams, Anthony Hoare, Richard Waller, and Harriet Bradley. Higher Education, Social Class and Social Mobility. The Degree Generation. London: Palgrave-MacMillan, 2016.
Baudelot, Christian, Hélène Raux , Olivier Ritz, and Josianna Vinh. “Que deviennent les normaliens à la sortie de l’école ?”. Bulletin de l’Association des Anciennes Elèves de l’ENS, Supplément historique (2005) .
Bernasconi, Andrés. “Chile: The challenges of free college.” In International perspective in Higher Education. Balancing access, equity and cost, edited by Jason Desdile, and Alex Ushler, 109-128. Cambridge: Harvard Educational Press, 2019.
Bernasconi, Andrés, and Sergio Celis. “Higher education reforms: Latin America in comparative perspective.” Education Policy Analysis Archives/Archivos Analíticos de Políticas Educativas 25, no.67 (2017): 1-12 .
Binder, Amy, Daniel Davis, and Nick Bloom. “Career Funneling: How elite students learn to define and desire “prestigious” jobs.” Sociology of Education 89, no.1 (2016): 20-39.
Bourdieu, Pierre. La noblesse d’Etat. Grandes écoles et esprit de corps. Paris: Les Editions de Minuit, 1989.
Bourdieu, Pierre. “The Contradictions of Inheritance.” In Weight of the World: Social Suffering in Contemporary Society, edited by Pierre Bourdieu, 507-513. California: Stanford University Press, 1999.
Bourdieu, Pierre, and Jean-Claude Passeron. Les héritiers. Paris: Les Editions de Minuit, 1964.
Britton, Jack, Lorraine Dearden, Neil Shephard, and Anna Vignoles. “How English domiciled graduate earnings vary with gender, institution attended, subject and socio-economic background.” IFS Working Papers, no. W16/06. London: Institute for Fiscal Studies, 2016 .
Brown, Phillip., Sally Power, Gerbrand Tholen, and Annabelle Allouch. “Credentials, talent and cultural capital: a comparative study of educational elites in England and France.” British Journal of Sociology of Education 37, no.2 (2016): 191-211.
Brunner, José. “Educación superior en Chile: instituciones, mercados y políticas gubernamentales, 1967-2007”. PhD diss., Leiden University, 2008 .
Brunner, José. “Tipología y características de las universidades chilenas”. Working paper, 2009. Retrieved from http://200.6.99.248/~bru487cl/files/2009/02/post_116.html .
Brunner, José. “Medio siglo de transformaciones de la educación superior chilena: un estado del arte.” In La Educación Superior de Chile: transformación, desarrollo y crisis, edited by Andrés Bernasconi, 21-107. Santiago: Ediciones UC, 2015.
Brunner, José, and Francisco Ganga. “Dinámicas de transformación en la educación superior latinoamericana: desafíos para la gobernanza.” Opción 32, no.80 (2016): 12-35 .
Budd, Richard. “Eliciting the institutional myth: exploring the ethos of ‘the university’ in Germany and England.” European Journal of Higher Education 8, no 2 (2017): 135-151 .
Celhay, Pablo, Claudia Sanhueza, and José Zubizarreta. “Intergenerational mobility of income and schooling: 1996-2006”. Revista de Análisis Económico 25, no.2 (2010): 43-63 .
Courtois, Aline. “The global ambitions of Irish universities: Internationalizing practices and emerging stratification in the Irish higher education sector.” In Universities and the production of elites. Discourses, policies, and strategies of excellence and stratification in higher education, edited by Roland Bloch, Alexander Mitterle, Catherine Paradeise, and Tobias Peter, 127-148. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018.
Crawford, Claire, Paul Gregg, Lindsey Macmillan, Anna Vignoles, and Gill Wyness. “Higher education, career opportunities, and intergenerational inequality.” Oxford Review of Economic Policy 32, no.4 (2016): 553-575.
Delisle, Jason, and Andrés Bernasconi. “Lessons from Chile’s Transition to Free College”. Evidence Speaks Reports 2, no.43 (2018): 1-14 .
Espinoza, Óscar, and Luis González. “Equidad en la educación superior de Chile: acceso, permanencia, desempeño y resultados.” In La Educación Superior de Chile. Transformación, desarrollo y crisis, edited by Andrés Bernasconi, 517- 580. Santiago: Ediciones UC, 2015.
Flick, Uwe. An Introduction to qualitative research. London: Sage Publications, London.
Freeman Jr., Sydney, and David DiRamio. “Elitism or Pragmatism? Faculty Hiring at Top Graduate Programs in Higher Education Administration.” Journal of the Professoriate 8, no.2 (2016): 94-127 .
Freitag, Charlotte, and Nick Hillman. “How different is Oxbridge?” Oxford: Higher Education Policy Institute, 2018 .
Friedman, Jonathan. “Producing a global elite? The endurance of the national in elite American and British universities”. In Universities and the production of elites. Discourses, policies, and strategies of excellence and stratification in higher education, edited by Roland Bloch, Alexander Mitterle, Catherine Paradeise, and Tobias Peter, 327-347. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018.
Gérard, Étienne, and Anne-Catherine Wagner. “Introduction: Élites au Nord, élites au Sud: des savoirs en concurrence.” Cahiers de la recherche sur l’éducation et les savoirs, 14 (2015): 7-24.
González, Álvaro, and Francisco Gil. “Les défis de la transition vers l’enseignement upérieur : idées et évidences depuis le contexte chilien.” Synergies Chili, 14 (2018): 47-58 .
Guber, Rosana. “La etnografía. Método, campo y reflexividad.” Revista de Antropología Social, 21 (2012): 304-306.
Guimond, Serge, Guy Begin and Douglas Palmer. “Education and causal attributions: The development of “person-blame” and “system-blame” ideology.” Social Psychology Quarterly, 52 (1989): 126–140.
Joignant, Alfredo. “Tecnócratas, technopols y dirigentes de partido: tipos de agentes y especies de capital en las elites gubernamentales de la Concertación (1990- 2010)”. In Notables, tecnócratas y mandarines. Elementos de Sociología de las élites en Chile (1990-2010), edited by Alfredo Joignant, and Pedro Guell, 49-76. Santiago: Ediciones Universidad Diego Portales, 2011.
Karabel, Jerome. The Chosen: The Hidden History of Admission and Exclusion at Harvard, Yale, and Princeton. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. 2005.
Khan, Shamus. Privilege: The making of an Adolescent Elite at St Paul’s School. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2012.
Kuh, George. “Ethos: Its Influence on Student Learning.” Liberal Education, 79, no 4 (1993): 22-31 .
Kuzmanic, Danilo, Juan Pablo Valenzuela, Cristóbal Villalobos, and María Luisa Quaresma. “Socioeconomic Segregation in Higher Education. Evidence from Chile (2009-2017).” Higher Education Policy (2021). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41307-021-00258-6.
Lareau, Annette. Unequal childhoods: Class, race and family life. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2011.
Lizama, Otavio, Francisco Gil, and Beatriz Rahmer. La Experiencia de la Inclusión en la Educación Superior en Chile. Santiago de Chile: Editorial USACH, 2018 .
Mclaughlin, Terence. “The educational importance of ethos.” British journal of educational studies 53, no. 3 (2005): 306-325 .
Massol, Joel, Thomas Vallée and Thomas Koch. “Lés élites économiques sont-elles encore si différentes en France et en Allemagne?” Regards sur l’économie Allemande, 97 (2010): 5-14.
Meller, Patricio. Carreras universitarias: rentabilidad, selectividad, discriminación. Santiago: CIAE/Uqbar Editores, 2010.
Mension-Rigau, Éric. Aristocrates et grands bourgeois. Perrin: Éditions Plon, 2007.
Merle, Pierre. “Democratization or Increase in Educational Inequality? Changes in the Length of Studies in France, 1988-1998.” Population, 57, no.4-5 (2002): 631-657.
Muñoz, Miguel, and Christian Blanco. “Una taxonomía de las universidades chilenas.” Calidad en la Educación, 38 (2013): 181-213.
Nespor, Jan. “Elite business schools and the uses of visibility”. In Universities and the production of elites. Discourses, policies, and strategies of excellence and stratification in higher education, edited by Roland Bloch, Alexander Mitterle, Catherine Paradeise, and Tobias Peter, 251-270. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018.
Nuñez, Javier, and Leslie Miranda. “Intergenerational income and educational mobility in urban Chile.” Estudios de Economía 38, no.1 (2011): 195-221.
Ortiz, Jorge, and Severino Escolano. “Movilidad residencial del sector de renta alta del Gran Santiago (Chile): hacia el aumento de la complejidad de los patrones socioespaciales de segregación.” EURE, 39, no.118 (2013): 77-96.
Pinçon, Michel, and Monique Pinçon-Charlot. Les ghettos du gotha. Comment la bourgeoisie défend ses espaces. Paris: La Découverte, 2007.
Quaresma, Maria Luísa. Entre o herdado, o vivido e o projetado. Estudo de caso sobre o sucesso educativo em dois colégios privados frequentados pelas classes dominantes. Porto: Edições Afrontamento, 2014.
Quaresma, Maria Luísa, Pedro Abrantes, and João Lopes. “Trayectorias y vivencias escolares en colegios socialmente contrastantes.” Andamios 15, no.38 (2018): 365-386.
Reay, Diane. “Working class educational transitions to university: the limits of success.” European Journal of Education 53, no.4 (2018): 528-540.
Reay, Diane, Miriam David, and Stephen Ball. “‘Making a Difference? Institutional Habitus and Higher Education Choice’.” Sociological Research Online, 5, no.4 (2001).
Reay, Diane, Gill Crozier, and John Calyton. “‘Strangers in Paradise’? Workingclass Students in Elite Universities.” Sociology 43, no.6 (2009): 1103–1121.
Rivera, Lauren. Pedigree. How Elite Students Get Elite Jobs. New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2015 .
Salazar, José, and Peodaire Leihy. “El largo viaje: Los esquemas de coordinación de la educación superior chilena en perspectiva.” Archivos Analíticos de Políticas Educativas 25, no.4 (2017): 120-142.
Santelices, Maria Verónica, Ximena Catalán, and Catherine Horn. Equidad en la educación superior. Diseño y resultados de programas de acceso en universidades selectivas. Santiago: Ediciones UC, 2018.
Santelices, Maria Verónica, Ximena Catalán, and Catherine Horn. “Chile’s higher education system: Structure and policies behind increased enrrollment”. In The Quest for Equity in Chile’s Higher Education: Decades of Continued Efforts, edited by María Verónica Santelices, Catherine Horn, and Ximena Catalán, 9-27. Lanham: Lexington Books, 2019 .
Schuetze, Hans, and Maria Slowey. “Participation and exclusion: A comparative analysis of non-traditional students and lifelong learners in higher education.” Higher Education 44 (2002): 309–327.
Sevilla, Alejandro. “Disentangling inequality of educational opportunities: The transition to higher education in Chile.” PhD diss, University of Manchester, 2017.
Soulas, Tupac. “Grasping the global with one foot in China: The rise of Chinese schools of management.” In Universities and the production of elites. Discourses, policies, and strategies of excellence and stratification in higher education, edited by Roland Bloch, Alexander Mitterle, Catherine Paradeise, and Tobias Peter, 227-249. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018.
Stake, Robert. The art of case study research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 1995.
Tholen, Gerbrand, Phillip Brown, Sally Power, and Annabelle Allouch. “The role of networks and connections in educational elites’ labour market entrance.” Research in Social Stratification and Mobility, 34 (2013): 142-154.
Thumala, Maria Angélica. Riqueza y piedad. El catolicismo de la elite económica chilena. Santiago: Editorial Debate, 2007.
Thumala, Maria Angélica. “The richness of ordinary life. Religious justification among Chile’s business elite,” Religion 40, no 1(2010): 14-26 .
Torche, Florencia. “Unequal But Fluid: Social Mobility in Chile in Comparative Perspective.” American Sociological Review 70, no.3 (2005):422-450.
Trow, Martin. “The Expansion and Transformation of Higher Education”. International Review of Education, 18, no.1 (1972): 61-84.
Van Zanten, Agnès. “L’ouverture sociale des grandes écoles: diversification des élites ou renouveau des politiques publiques d’éducation?” Sociétés Contemporaines 78 (2010): 69-96.
Van Zanten, Agnès. “Educating elites. The changing dynamics and meanings of privilege and power.” In Elites, privilege and excellence. The national and global redefinition of educational advantage, edited by Agnes Van Zanten, Stephen Ball, and Brigitte Darchy-Koechlin, 3-12. New York: Routledge, 2015.
Van Zanten, Agnès. “A family affair reproducing elite positions and preserving the ideals of meritocratic competition and youth autonomy.” In Elites, privilege and excellence. The national and global redefinition of educational advantage, edited by Agnes Van Zanten, Stephen Ball, and Brigitte Darchy-Koechlin, 29-42. New York: Routledge, 2015.
Villalobos, Cristóbal. Programas de acceso inclusivo a la Educación Superior para estudiantes vulnerables en Chile. Santiago de Chile: Ministerio de Educación, 2018.
Villalobos, Cristóbal, and Camila Ortiz. “Continuidades y rupturas de la protesta universitaria en el Chile postdictadura (1990-2014).” Temas Sociológicos 24, no.1: 89-120.
Villalobos, Cristóbal, Maria Luísa Quaresma, and Gonzalo Franetovic. “Mapeando a la élite en el espacio universitario. Un análisis cuantitativo-multidimensional del caso chileno.” Revista Española de Sociología 29, no.3 (2020): 523-541.
Villalobos, Cristóbal, Ernesto Treviño, Ignácio Wyman, and Judith Scheele. “Social justice debate and college access in Latin America. Merit or need? The role of educational institutions and state in broadening access to Higher Education in the Region.” Education Policy Analysis Archives 25, no.73 (2017): 1-26.
Zimmerman, Seth. “Elite Colleges and Upward Mobility to Top Jobs and Top Incomes.” American Economic Review 109, no.1 (2019): 1-47.
Authors are required to sign and submit a copyright transfer agreement after acceptance but before publication of their manuscript. To that effect, they receive, from the Managing Editor of Tuning Journal for Higher Education, a standard copyright assignment form designed along the following lines:
1. Authorship:
The author who signs the copyright transfer agreement must be the sole creator of the work or legally acting on behalf of and with the full agreement of all the contributing authors.
2. Copyright and Code of conduct:
a) Authors warrant that their work is original; has not been previously copyrighted or published in any form; is not under consideration for publication elsewhere; its submission and publication do not violate TJHE Ethical Guidelines for Publication and any codes (of conduct), privacy and confidentiality agreements, laws or any rights of any third party; and no publication payment by the Publisher (University of Deusto) is required.
b) Authors are solely liable for the consequences that may arise from third parties’ complaints about the submitted manuscript and its publication in Tuning Journal for Higher Education (TJHE).
c) Authors grant to the Publisher the worldwide, sub-licensable, and royalty-free right to exploit the work in all forms and media of expression, now known or developed in the future, for educational and scholarly purposes.
d) Authors retain the right to archive, present, display, distribute, develop, and republish their work (publisher's version) to progress their scientific career provided the original publication source (Tuning Journal) is acknowledged properly and in a way that does not suggest the Publisher endorses them or their use of the wortk.
e) Authors warrant that no permissions or licences of any kind will be granted that might infringe the rights granted to the Publisher.
3. Users:
Tuning Journal for Higher Education is an Open Access publication. Its content is free for full and immediate access, reading, search, download, distribution and reuse in any medium or format only for non-commercial purposes and in compliance with any applicable copyright legislation, without prior permission from the Publisher or the author(s). In any case, proper acknowledgement of the original publication source must be made and any changes to the original work must be indicated clearly and in a manner that does not suggest the author’s and or Publisher’s endorsement whatsoever. Any other use of its content in any medium or format, now known or developed in the future, requires prior written permission of the copyright holder.
1.jpg)
1.jpg)
.jpg)
1.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
