PhD defence

Entre la utopía tecnocrática y la colegialidad académica

• F. Valdés Raczynski

Date

Thursday 26 October 2023

Time

12:30 - 13:15 hour

Address

Academy Building
Rapenburg 73
2311 GJ Leiden

Supervisor(s)

• Prof.dr. P. Silva
• Prof.dr. J.J. Brunner (Universidad Diego Portales)

Summary

The massification of higher education and changes in the organisations of contemporary society, has altered the relationship between states and universities. The impact of these changes tends to reformulate the governance of universities, creating a new, more technocratic social order, which distances them from the traditional academic organisation. Therefore, the quality of universities and their programmes became a central, public, and socially shared concern.

There are two types of quality assurance systems in higher education, that seek to respond to the changing agenda. External Quality Assurance Systems (EQAS), which are those established at the national or supranational level to safeguard the suitability of the certificates conferred by universities. Internal Quality Assurance Systems (IQAS) are those designed by the universities themselves.  

Despite the increase in IQASs, it is debatable whether they can per se contribute to institutional improvement without being perceived as a new bureaucratic device. This study explores the impact of EQASs on the configuration of IQASs according to the international literature. Then, it delves into the IQASs that are beginning to occupy a relevant place in the Chilean university scenario.  

The results of this study provide an analytical focus that helps to better understand academic organisation, as well as investigate the proximity or distance of IQA to institutional quality cultures at Chilean universities. Likewise, it considers to what extent evolving IQASs are based on compliance or transformation. Possibly, neither the State nor the market consider these dimensions, although they are a necessary component for the renewal of universities.

PhD dissertations

Approximately one week after the defence, PhD dissertations by Leiden PhD students are available digitally through the Leiden Repository, that offers free access to these PhD dissertations. Please note that in some cases a dissertation may be under embargo temporarily and access to its full-text version will only be granted later.

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