Full Program »

University Research: Local Solutions to Global Problems or Vice Versa%3F Three Case Studies

Unlike what happens in research centers, foundations or companies (be they state-run or private), research guidelines at universities respond to academic, political, institutional and social matters. Universities possess superstructures that should ensure that the direction the research it carries out takes conforms to the directives that spring from the upper management levels alone.

It is true that national, provincial or municipal governments may set the research agenda of a university through grants and subsidies, but the autonomy that state-run universities tend to enjoy ensures that, because of their mission, they often respond to the societal needs of the region where the university is immersed and to the questions on which researchers ponder. Society as a whole can exert tremendous power to demand specific solutions to their problems from universities, and yet, more often than not, specific research universities depends on the heavy funding that Latin American governments cannot always offer.

Over the past few decades, a new player has come to Latin America to set (or try to set) new research agendas: European Union development cooperation programs. Through the most varied strategies such as inviting PhD candidates, offering research grants, subsidizing the visits of academic in Latin America and the like, over the course of the recent past, Europe has generously invited Latin America to answer its questions. Different cooperation programs foster the creation of networks, research teams and even whole laboratories in our continent. Very often, these scholarships, grants and sources of financing have the lofty aim of supporting Latin American industries and management institutions such as NGOs, universities, foundations or trade unions.

This presentation will first revise the main sources of financing by the European Union and how they may set the agenda of Latin American universities. It will then present three case studies to discuss how research agendas are set on both sides of the Atlantic and on the North and South of Latin America.

These ideas may contribute to unravel the difficulties faced by universities whose research schemes are heavily funded, but which may, by succumbing to external pressures, overlook the needs of the society of which the university should be an integral part.

Author(s):

Guillermo Badenes    
Universidad Nacional de Córdoba
Argentina

Andrea Marín    
Universidad Nacional de Córdoba
Argentina