Universidades de élite en Chile. Entre la movilidad y la reproducción social

Considering the process of massification of tertiary education experienced in Chile and Latin America, the study analyzes the characteristics, mechanisms and forms of development of a select and small group of universities: the elite universities. Based on a 5-year investigation that included analysis of census data, ethnographies in educational institutions, interviews with graduates, analysis of institutional files, survey of students, and biographical analysis of key interviewees, the research analyzes –using an interpretive framework that uses bourdesian and post-bourdesian concepts– the way in which institutions and subjects adapt to, on the one hand, respond to the pressures of inclusion and social mobility and, on the other, generate mechanisms for the production and reproduction of political, social elites and economics of the country.

Article: Quaresma, M. L., & Villalobos, C. (2022). Elite universities in Chile: Between social mobility and reproduction of inequality. Tuning Journal for Higher Education, 9(2), 29-62. https://doi.org/10.18543/tjhe.1920

Cristóbal Villalobos

He is currently Associate Researcher and co-director of the Center for Studies of Policies and Practices in Education (CEPPE-UC) of the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile. He is a sociologist and Social Worker at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile and has a Master’s in Economics Applied to Public Policy from the Alberto Hurtado-Georgetown University and a Doctor of Social Sciences from the University of Chile. His topics of interest are inequality, educational policies and social movements.