Argentina’s Colegios Universitarios: Understanding their Origins and Examining Their Potential ImpactsBy: Mariana Alfonso — November 2003. Paper prepared for the International Forum of the Association for the Study of Higher Education, Portland, OR.In January of 2001, the Minister of Education of Argentina announced the launch of the
Proyecto Colegios Universitarios, which officially introduced a new type of institution into the
Argentine higher education system. According to the Secretary of Higher Education (Ministerio
de Educación, 2001), colegios universitarios are tertiary institutions. They are closely related to the community, with the purpose of contributing to its economic development through the offering of certification in technical and technological fields. However, as it will be shown in this paper, the main
characteristic that allows for a distinction between colegios universitarios and other tertiary
institutions is their relation with universities. Career articulation with universities is what
constitutes a colegio universitario. And, as it will also be shown, the main mechanism for
establishing a colegio universitario is through the transformation of an existing tertiary
institution. Any of these institutions can become a colegio universitario if it develops an
articulation agreement with a university.
This paper examines diverse but interrelated aspects regarding this new institution in
Argentina’s higher education ecology. In order to contextualize colegios universitarios’
expected role, the paper describes the current Argentine higher education system. The potential
impact that colegios universitarios would have in the Argentine higher education system, and in
the Argentine society overall, is determined by examining their goals, characteristics, and
missions as described by the Ministry of Education and by relying on evidence on a “sister”
institution, the United States community college. In addition, the paper attempts to analyze the
socioeconomic, political and educational context in which colegios universitarios were
introduced. This analysis provides an approach for understanding this institution’s origins.
Finally, the paper raises some issues that need to be addressed if an optimal implementation of
colegios universitarios in Argentina is desired, given the country’s particular structure of higher
education. View PDF version
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