Prospect of higher education in Ecuador: a critical approach

Abstract

This article aims to carry out a reflection and a conceptual clarification around notions that, in the current academic context, have become a key to university policy: excellence, quality, innovation, autonomy and social responsibility. Documents issued by international and national institutions on higher education have been analyzed and compared with the public policies implemented in Ecuador since 2010 for the development of this paper. Despite the fact that these policies sought to correct the shortcomings of the country’s higher education system, they have not managed to solve structural problems such as bureaucracy and the commodification of education. The text of this article represents an important effort for the analysis of college autonomy, in a context of tensions in the University-State and Market relationship, and also addresses the way in which the values mentioned above are found in the Ecuadorian institutions of higher education: excellence, quality, innovation, autonomy and social responsibility.