Consensus and dissensus: changing perceptions of the public dimension of universities in a marketised environment

Abstract

In this paper, the public dimension of universities in Chile is examined. Interviews were held with academics at both public and private well-established universities and new private universities. The analysis shows a consensus regarding the production of certain public goods such as knowledge, wider access and the promotion of a public sphere. It also reveals a dissensus such that academics at well-established universities tend to maintain a statist view of the public university in which the state plays a key role while academics at new private universities characteristically adopt an individualist view in which the university is detached from the state and more focused on securing social mobility. Drawing on an Archerian framework, it is suggested that these perceptions have been shaped by global, national and especially institutional factors. Critical questions arise concerning the possibility of spaces for new perceptions of the public dimension of universities.