ERIC Number: EJ1451356
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2024-Nov
Pages: 21
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0018-1560
EISSN: EISSN-1573-174X
Available Date: N/A
How Free Tuition Became a Policy in Chile: The Importance of Policy Actors and Their Beliefs
Higher Education: The International Journal of Higher Education Research, v88 n5 p1829-1849 2024
In recent decades, there has been a revival of free tuition policies around the world. Understanding the current revival of these policies is particularly important as it positions higher education as a social right or public good challenging the predominant discourse that situates higher education as a private good. Chile, a country often characterized as a neoliberal laboratory, implemented a free-tuition policy in 2016 and offers a case study to understand the policy formation and the political dynamics behind it. Based on the advocacy coalition framework and using discourse network analysis and in-depth interviews, this paper focuses on identifying the main actors involved in the policy discussion, their beliefs about free college in Chile, and how they interact during the policy development. Findings show that the Chilean free tuition policy was the result of the joint actions of actors who shared similar beliefs and formed coalitions to try to influence the policy design. Findings also highlight the formation of two opposite coalitions that were able to introduce their beliefs into the policy design at political and technical levels. Implications for policymakers and researchers are discussed.
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Access to Education, Higher Education, Student Costs, Public Education, Policy Formation, Public Policy, Government School Relationship, Federal Legislation, Cooperative Planning, Political Attitudes
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Chile
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A