Challengues of Public University in the XXI century.

1. Challenges of Public Higher
Education into the Costa
Rica of XXI century
Leiner Vargas Alfaro Ph.d
Blog:http://reflexiones11.wordpress.com
Email:lvargas@una.ac.cr

2. Between Desenchantment and
Despair
 Public organizations, including Universities have
been exposed to social, economical and political
changes.
 ʻʻThe wagon of Public Universities seem to have
taken off the TREM carrying our societyʼʼ
 Decoupling´s phenomenon seems to be
comfortable to our society.
 Universities should not stop being critical
awareness of society.

3. Why the growing
Desenchantment of university
students?
Increasing commodification
Untenable functional bureaucratization.
No concern for social needs.
Orientation to functional instead of
substantive.
Lack of quality culture
Weak leadership of authorities
Desinterest of students.

4. ʻʻSix Hypotheses about
public university in the
early
twenty-first centuryʼʼ

5. 1st Hypotheses
Neoliberal impact during the last thirty
years, witch universities have not been
recovered, has led them to a loss of
vision.

6. 2nd Hypotheses
University managment is like an endless
obstacles ʻʻcobwebʼʼ, impeding the
effectiveness of academic job, coupled
with practical nonsense, that stifles the
enthusiasm of students.

7. 3rd Hypotheses
Academic leadership has been replaced by
political clientelism, and an endless chain
of alliances to gain power.

8. 4th Hypotheses
ʻʻWe have lost ground in terms of rigor and
quality of what we doʼʼ

9. 5th Hypotheses
Lack of vision of a public university system.
We have settled for being compartments
into train cars, which lacks a clear
direction.

10. 6th Hypotheses
We have the foundations of a change
process witch does not stop to germinate,
it would give life to the revival of Costa
Rican universities thought in XXI century

11. Conclusions
 Public universities must remain being
a relevant social institution.
 The quality that is done and social
commitment of university should be
prioritized above individual agents or
ideological groups, both inside and outside
the university.

12. Conclusions
 Think about universities is think about
society.
 The university crisis seemed to be a
leadership crisis, witch is into a framework
of a country that has lost his direction.

13. Conclusions
ʻʻLa libertad es el derecho que tienen las
personas de actuar libremente, pensar y
hablar sin hipocresiaˮ
ʻʻFreedom is the right that people own, to
act freely, to think and speak
without hypocrisyˮ
José Martí