Influencia supranacional de la UNESCO en la educación superior Latinoamericana

Abstract

Latin American higher education in recent decades has experienced the main world trends, relative to the massification of student access, insufficient state funding, increase of private institutions in the tertiary education system, as well as a regional debate on its consideration as a good public guaranteed by the State, increasing the relevance of the university mission in solving global needs. Through the comparative method developed through a documentary analysis, the influence in Latin America of the Supranational Policy on social responsibility of UNESCO higher education institutions is analyzed. The results show this influence in the Region, through the Declarations of the UNESCO World Conferences on Higher Education, materialized in the actions developed by the International Institute for Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean (IESALC), such as the holding of the Regional Conferences on Higher Education or the creation of the Regional Observatory of Social Responsibility for Latin America and the Caribbean (ORSALC). In addition, there is an academic debate between the concept of university social responsibility, established in the Region since the beginning of the new Millennium, related to managing the impacts of university work on its stakeholders, evolving towards the recognition of higher education as a good public and a human right as an expression of a territorial social responsibility, effectively contributing to the achievement of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. It is concluded that the analyzed Supranational Policy must consolidate its influence in the Region in the long term, by implementing some actions key strategies, such as strengthening the Latin American Higher Education Area or research on the contributions that Latin American universities must make to effectively guarantee higher education as a common good in the Region.