The Alternative University: Lessons from Bolivarian Venezuela (Anthropology of Policy)

Over the last few decades, the decline of the public university has dramatically increased under intensified commercialization and privatization, with market-driven restructurings leading to the deterioration of working and learning conditions. A growing reserve army of scholars and students, who enter precarious learning, teaching, and research arrangements, have joined recent waves of public unrest in both developed and developing countries to advocate for reforms to higher education. Yet even the most visible campaigns have rarely put forward any proposals for an alternative institutional organization. Based on extensive fieldwork in Venezuela, __The Alternative University__ outlines the origins and day-to-day functioning of the colossal effort of late President Hugo Chávez's government to create a university that challenged national and global higher education norms. Through participant observation, extensive interviews with policymakers, senior managers, academics, and students, as well as in-depth archival inquiry, Mariya Ivancheva historicizes the Bolivarian University of Venezuela (UBV), the vanguard institution of the higher education reform, and examines the complex and often contradictory and quixotic visions, policies, and practices that turn the alternative university model into a lived reality. This book offers a serious contribution to debates on the future of the university and the role of the state in the era of neoliberal globalization, and outlines lessons for policymakers and educators who aspire to develop higher education alternatives. "Over the last few decades, the decline of the public university has dramatically increased under intensified commercialization and privatization, with market-driven restructurings leading to the deterioration of working and learning conditions. A growing reserve army of scholars and students, who enter precarious learning, teaching, and research arrangements, have joined recent waves of public unrest in both developed and developing countries to advocate for reforms to higher education. Yet even the most visible campaigns have rarely put forward any proposals for an alternative institutional organization. Based on extensive fieldwork in Venezuela, The Alternative University outlines the origins and day-to-day functioning of the colossal effort of late President Hugo Chávez's government to create a university that challenged national and global higher education norms. Through participant observation, extensive interviews with policymakers, senior managers, academics, and students, as well as in-depth archival work, Mariya Ivancheva historicizes the Bolivarian University of Venezuela (UBV), the vanguard institution of the higher education reform, and examines the complex and often contradictory and quixotic visions, policies, and practices that turn the alternative university model into a lived reality. This book offers a serious contribution to debates on the future of the university and the role of the state in the era of neoliberal globalization, and outlines lessons for policymakers and educators who aspire to develop higher education alternatives"-- Provided by publisher

Over the last few decades, the decline of the public universityhas dramatically increased under intensified commercialization andprivatization, with market-driven restructurings leading to thedeterioration of working and learning conditions. A growing reservearmy of scholars and students, who enter precarious learning,teaching, and research arrangements, have joined recent waves ofpublic unrest in both developed and developing countries toadvocate for reforms to higher education. Yet even the most visiblecampaigns have rarely put forward any proposals for an alternativeinstitutional organization. Based on extensive fieldwork inVenezuela, The Alternative University outlines the originsand day-to-day functioning of the colossal effort of late PresidentHugo Chávez's government to create a university that challengednational and global higher education norms.

Through participant observation, extensive interviews withpolicymakers, senior managers, academics, and students, as well asin-depth archival inquiry, Mariya Ivancheva historicizes theBolivarian University of Venezuela (UBV), the vanguard institutionof the higher education reform, and examines the complex and oftencontradictory and quixotic visions, policies, and practices thatturn the alternative university model into a lived reality.

This book offers a serious contribution to debates on the futureof the university and the role of the state in the era ofneoliberal globalization, and outlines lessons for policymakers andeducators who aspire to develop higher education alternatives.

Contents Acknowledgments Introduction Chapter 1 The Political Life of a Higher Education Policy Chapter 2 The Rise and Fall of Academic Autonomy: The University as a Historic Battlefield Chapter 3 Evaluation Matters: Teachers’ Training at an Alternative University Chapter 4 The Children of the Revolution and the Matrisociality of the Benevolent State Chapter 5 Generation(s) of Protests at a Revolutionary University Conclusion Epilogue (De)colonial Silences in the Hierarchy of Global Knowledge Production References Index