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La bsqueda de conocimientos en tiempos de revolucin

Cmo mejorar la calidad acadmica en instituciones de educacin superior: individuos, grupos e instituciones

Dr. ORLANDO ALBORNOZ Profesor Titular

Patrocinado por Centro de Altos Estudios Gerenciales Instituto Superior de Investigacin y Desarrollo Coordinacin: Dr. Genaro Mosquera C.

Cmo aumentar la calidad acadmica en instituciones de educacin superior: individuos, grupos e instituciones
Lectura 1 Objetivo: La revolucin no es una palabra retrica en Venezuela; es una realidad cuyos efectos son aun prematuros de analizar. El objetivo de este documento, entonces es el de enfocar el problema de la bsqueda del conocimiento, en tanto epistemologa, dentro de los tiempos de una revolucin poltica e ideolgica.

LA BSQUEDA DEL CONOCIMIENTO EN TIEMPOS DE REVOLUCIN Orlando Albornoz

oalborno@reacciun.ve

RESUMEN
Este trabajo es un anlisis crtico de la relacin entre la revolucin ideolgica y poltica, la revolucin bolivariana y el proceso acadmico llamado la bsqueda del conocimiento. Se alude a la improbable relacin fecunda y fructfera entre ambos elementos, en el caso venezolano. La revolucin tecnolgica: la nueva forma de gerenciar el conocimiento desde la perspectiva de cuatro elementos: produccin, que productividad, difusi n e impacto. El autor encuentra importantes relaciones entre el modelo econmico de la revolucin y la bsqueda del saber. La contradiccin dialctica entre el miedo a la tecnologa y la confianza en el pensamiento mgico-religioso Qu hacer? El autor enfatiza la internacionalizacin vs. nacionalismo, inclusin vs. exclusin, insercin y aislamiento. Finalmente, se hacen algunos comentarios acerca de la revolucin y el tema de la autonoma acadmica. PALABRAS CLAVE: GERENCIA DEL CONOCIMIENTO, BOLIVARIANA, TECNOLOGA DE LA INFORMACIN REVOLUCIN

Cmo aumentar la calidad acadmica

Orlando Albornoz

LA REVOLUCIN IDEOLGICA Y POLTICA, LA REVOLUCIN BOLIVARIANA

Existe alguna relacin entre el proceso intelectual de la bsqueda del conocimiento y los tiempos de revolucin, en este caso la revolucin bolivariana? Me propongo en hacer un abordaje de este problema, no sin advertir que, por razones obvias, la revolucin en proceso es un ingrediente emocional en cualquier discusin, pero en este caso, un planteamiento acadmico, es cuestin de procurar eliminar del juicio dicha emocionalidad y dirigirnos directamente a los aspectos objetivos del anlisis. Quienes analizan estos temas desde la perspectiva de las ciencias sociales, en mi caso de la sociologa, deberamos colocar al inicio de nuestros documentos que, cualquier relacin con asuntos de la vida cotidiana es absolutamente circunstancial. Dicho esto vayamos al tema. La primera interpretacin es que dicha revolucin va a responder a la solucin de enormes problemas, uno de ellos el que no haba bsqueda de saber. Las revoluciones son totales, en el sentido comn de la palabra, pues incluyen entre aquellas cuestiones a solucionar todos los problemas de una sociedad, comenzando en cero. Toda revolucin hace un balance sencillo, el antes oprobioso y el ahora luminoso. Esta es la lgica revolucionaria, no hace balances y toma algo del pasado para crear otra cosa, sino que hace la tabula rasa. Al menos as creen los revolucionarios y por ello cada revolucin crea la nueva sociedad, el hombre nuevo y, por supuesto, abre nuevos caminos en toda actividad. Ello es iluso, por supuesto. Las revoluciones abordan el cambio a travs de personas, patrones culturales y variables sociales que forman parte de un hilo conductor que hace a la estructura social y que desafa todo punto cero, ya que es un continuo, estable, poderoso en su permanencia, que precisamente como es el tejido social el que se reproduce, es parte de la desilusin con las revoluciones como esos patrones culturales son perverso y aceptan todo intento de transformacin. En el caso de la revolucin sovitica es fascinante observar en la Republica rusa los rezagos culturales de la era zarista, como en el caso de la revolucin cubana la permanencia de eso que alguien debe haber llamado la cubanidad, o en el caso mexicano como en los actuales momentos se observan intactos aquellos elementos que en su momento justificaron la larga rebelda que de una u otra manera se ha llamado la revolucin mexicana. La educacin superior, en el caso especifico de la universidad, es una de esas partes del tejido social que podemos llamar unidades estructurales ancladas en las rutinas culturales de una sociedad. En este caso debo comenzar por admitir que si el actual gobierno aspira intervenir y controlar a la educacin superior ello no es casual, sino que es parte de la lgica de la revolucin. Dicho esto, por ejemplo, en la expresin contundente de Hctor Navarro (2003) Ministro de Educacin Superior del pas : Nosotros consideramos que esto es una revolucin y creemos que esta revolucin no sera completa si nosotros no la

llevamos a las universidades...1 . Esta propuesta es parte de nuestro trabajo, el relacionar un principio lgico de una revolucin, el ser total y absoluta, vis vis el hecho real objetivo de que la revolucin es una variable compleja y puede ser una revolucin poltico e ideolgica, as como podemos hablar de una revolucin tecnolgica, que no necesariamente coinciden y que, por otra parte, plantea a los lderes de las revoluciones una trgica realidad, para ellos, el hecho de que la revolucin poltico e ideolgica pueden intervenir y controlar todas las instituciones de una sociedad, pero no puede, por una parte, controlar a la revolucin tecnolgica, en segundo lugar, que la estructura social es perversa, en el sentido de Merton (1949)2 , y en forma obstinada y terca, permanece a menudo inalterable a pesar de los intentos de cambio y transformacin. La segunda interpretacin es que, dado el perfil de la revolucin por su propia naturaleza autoritaria y autocrtica, los problemas no sern solucionados, sino que muchos de ellos ampliarn su radio de accin, agravando sus efectos perniciosos y que en algunos casos mermarn actividades que de una u otra manera tenan una funcionalidad aceptable dentro del contexto social. Una de esas instituciones que sufrirn descenso en su eficiencia sera la educacin superior, pues al imponrsele los lgicos mecanismos de intervencin y control esta cede en las posibilidades de calidad. Una de las actividades que sufrir esa disminucin va a ser la bsqueda de del conocimiento.

Declaraciones de Hctor Navarro Constituyente terminar con la universidad napolenica. Algunos tcnicos creemos, dicho sea de paso, que en Venezuela el supuesto modelo napolenico, si existi en el pas, tuvo vida efmera. En todo caso la reforma de 1958 instal en el pas el modelo norteamericano y desde entonces el mismo se ha profundizado, sobre todo por la dualidad pblico-privado, la diversificacin y la nocin de universidad acadmica productora de conocimiento, que se mantienen. Sobre esta cuestin de la revolucin dentro de la revolucin vase mi documento preparedo para The Observatory Magna Charta Universitatum, y presentado en Bologna, Italia, en la sede del Collegium del Observatory, el 6 de junio de 2003. En formato de libro puede verse en Higher education strategies in Venezuela: higher education changes under a revolutionary government and the threats to academic freedom and institutional integrity. Bibliotechnology Ediciones, 2003 <bibliotechnology2003@yahoo.com.mx>. Histricamente hablando la univrsidad napolenica, es bueno insistir, nunca ha funcionado en el pas, excepto como parte del proyecto estatal de la epoca independentista de 1827. Justamente lo que la revolucion bolivariana al parecer pretende hacer es imponer dicho modelo estatal, ms bien estatista. El modelo napolenico, emanado segn decreto de 17 de marzo de 1808, sugera principios vinculados a un estrecho control estatal, como la centralisation y luniformisation. Esos parecen ser los objetivos de nuestra revolucion bolivariana. 2 Vase por Robert K. Merton su libro Social theory and social structure, especialmente el captulo XI: The self-fulfilling prophecy. Dentro del anlisis funcionalista es importante el de las revoluciones poltico-ideolgicas, el concepto de retreatism, que no acontece en las revoluciones tecnolgicas, como veremos ms adelante en este mismo trabajo. El efecto perverso de las revoluciones queda sintetizado en ese concepto de retreatism, pues las mismas regresan, efectivamente en forma perversa, a las rutinas que a menudo se han decretado, para decirlo de una manera, eliminadas, prohibidas o, ms aun, castigadas. Un buen, como trgico ejemplo, es como los alemanes detrs de la cortina de hierro arriesgaban la vida para escapar de aquel rgimen, como hoy en da acontece en Cuba, aun con adultos instruidos en la era de los famosos pioneros de la revolucin y que arriesgan la vida tratando de cruzar el mar que separa a Cuba de la Florida.

Una revolucin puede ser fructfera, fecunda y generadora de transformaciones tiles y capaces de crear bienestar, si no al corto al largo plazo, pasadas las tragedias que suelen acompaarlas, pero otras niegan y merman las cuestiones positivas que se hayan alcanzado por el antiguo rgimen. Puede ser el caso de la revolucin bolivariana, en materia de la bsqueda del conocimiento, ya que cuando emerga en la sociedad venezolana los rasgos de una sociedad del conocimiento, montando el mismo sobre la sociedad del entrenamiento, surgida sta en la tradicin universitaria venezolana y en la expansin del sistema, entre 1958-1998, aparece este esfuerzo revolucionario que en su ventolera arrasar como un deslave con esos elementos que estaban influyendo y presionando para crear en el pas una sociedad del conocimiento. La portentosa revolucin cientfico-tecnolgica, cuyos orgenes hallamos en el Siglo XV, con aquel fenmeno conocido como la expansin de Europa, acelera sus procesos despus de la Segunda Guerra Mundial. La globalizacin es el smbolo de dicho proceso. El achicamiento del mundo su consecuencia. Factor esencial del mismo es el propio procedimiento conocido como la bsqueda del conocimiento, cuyos aportes han permitido que el proceso de aceleracin adquiera caractersticas crticas y a menudo asombrosas. En das recientes un servidor recogi 4.000 mensajes por segundo y ello simboliza el crecimiento exponencial en el rea de las comunicaciones. La pastilla anticonceptiva permiti a la mujer controlar su fecundidad, la pastilla viagra permiti al hombre controlar su virilidad y en general la sociedad humana exhibe para su orgullo los resultados de avances tales como el descubrimiento del ADN o los resultados del proyecto genoma. La bsqueda del conocimiento es un proceso anlogo al que Parry (1961) describi, para el caso de la expansin de Europa3 . Europa no se expande solamente por la razn de una idea, sino por el esfuerzo de una tecnologa y un proyecto eficiente. Ahora bien, en Venezuela, puede la revolucin, llamada pacfica y bonita por sus propios creadores abandonar ser excluyente y precisamente incluir en su proyecto la nocin de fecundidad intelectual y acadmica? Un intelectual venezolano, miembro de los grupos polticos e ideolgicos que apoyan el proceso, ha comentado como el actual lder del mismo tiene dificultades en vincularse con los intelectuales. En ese sentido, efectivamente, un proyecto populista y radical suele tener dificultades para soportar con paciencia el estilo de los intelectuales y de los acadmicos, que suele ser excesivamente crtico y contestataria. Por ello suelen expresar su inters por lo intelectual a travs de subterfugios que procuran sustituir a la universidad acadmica, por al versin popular de la misma. Naturalmente, esta es una idea que los acadmicos consideramos irrelevante en esos trminos acadmicos, pero muy valiosa como instrumento de movilizacin de masas y como parte de eso que se llama el trabajo ideolgico. Puede una universidad ser popular o tiene que ser acadmica? Popular es el acceso y la supuesta democratizacin, acadmica quiere decir fecunda.
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Aquel formidable proceso histrico es una de las fases ms importantes del permanente proceso de globalizacion, entendiendo por ello en las palabras de Parry la expansin del mercado.

Que es acadmica? Rigurosa, innovadora, capaz de crear conocimiento. Una universidad popular aborda el conocimiento en forma tangencial, pues su objetivo siempre ha sido, como en todos los sitios en donde han sido creadas, el de adoctrinamiento ideolgico y en el intenso proceso de este tipo cnsono con un objetivo constante en las revoluciones: elevar la conciencia de los revolucionarios, que es la fase inicial de aquel odioso manejo que Djilas calificaba como La tirana sobre la mente. Sobre esta relacin entre universidad acadmica y universidad popular, y antes de abordar la referencia a Djilas (1957) vase el siguiente esquema: UNIVERSIDAD Universidad ACADMICA Es un espacio de vnculo internacional. Es competitiva en esa rea y los referentes son los pares de la comunidad internacional Es una institucin de invencin, innovacin y vanguardia. Es democrtica porque premia mritos y no adscripciones Innovacin y progreso Universidad POPULAR Es una interpretacin nacional, de hecho local y provinciana, sin referentes

Planteamiento: conservador, clasista y racista. Es adscriptiva, afectiva y subjetiva Trabaja con tcnicas de rutina, conceptualmente hablando Abre oportunidades y consolida Abre acceso, pero al no poseer movilidad vertical mecanismos de obligacin el acceso es informal Es de nivel de excelencia, de rigor, de Procesos obsoletos del conocimiento severidad Acceso al conocimiento de punta No tiene referentes en cuanto a la innovacin del conocimiento Principios acadmicos contrastables, Principios coyunturales, de conveniencia, evaluacin estandarizada evaluacin doctrinaria Sociedad del conocimiento (NTIC) Entrenamiento / Universidad del aula (Tiza y Borrador) Tiene una fundamentacin Tiene una fundamentacin doctrinaria, epistemolgica, cientfica y tecnolgica, cuya epistemologa es estrictamente mediante la cual abarca el universo del ideolgica, si as puede decirse, que saber abarca solamente posturas pragmticas frente al saber Es duradera en el tiempo y en el espacio, Es circunstancial, generalmente limitada es miembro activo de la comunidad en el tiempo y el espacio internacional

Naturalmente, esta comparacin es arbitraria y no tiene otro propsito, pero ilustra como estamos hablando de dos versiones de la universidad que tienen funciones distintas, frente a los retos del desarrollo. Ahora bien, los gobiernos constitucionales que devienen regmenes revolucionarios tienen una lgica implacable, como implacable es la lgica interna del capitalismo salvaje, que busca solamente el lucro como nico fin de la actividad del hombre. En el caso de los regmenes de orientacin marxista, sea el marxismo sovitico o su versin tropical, el objetivo es el mismo, nosolo la posesin de los medios de produccin, como del mismo modo de los medios de pensamiento. Djilas (1957) lo expresaba del siguiente modo: Toda ideologa, toda opinin, trata de presentarse como la nica verdadera y completa. La revolucin bolivariana no es entonces una excepcin, sino la regla. Por ello, en forma inevitable, la doctrina ...tiene que llevar en la practica a la tirana en todas las zonas de la actividad intelectual y de all la conviccin de los dirigentes de las revoluciones de creer que sus posturas doctrinarias conducen a la creacin ...de la felicidad absoluta4 .

Tengo que admitir que la revolucin bolivariana me ha hecho retomar lecturas que haba abandonado hace muchos aos. Ello me ocurre con el formidable libro de uno los ms interesantes pioneros de la disidencia, Milovan Djilas, La nueva clase, un anlisis del rgimen comunista. 1957. Igualmente con el libro por K. S. Karol, Los guerrilleros en el poder. 1972. Estas lecturas ayudan a interpretar cmo la revolucin bolivariana no es ni original ni originaria, es simplemente la repeticin hasta el cansancio de procesos histricos que se repiten uno tras otro, en el mundo contemporneo, desde la revolucin francesa hasta la revolucin cubana. Una irona histrica es que mientras Djilas escriba y publicaba este formidable manifiesto, en 1957, se iniciaba la contra-replica en Cuba, el longevo rgimen cubano que aun lideran los hermanos Fidel y Ral Castro, casi medio siglo despus. En 1955 Djilas public su libro sobre las contradicciones de clase en un rgimen socialista-comunista. Su argumento era simple: toda sociedad creas sus propias divisiones y sus propios privilegios, una tesis que sociolgicamente hablando no constituye ninguna novedad, excepto que para esos aos se haba creado una mitologa, segn la cual la sociedad sovitica, el modelo, no tena divisiones de clase social. Eran los tiempos en los cuales estudiaba en The LSE y escuchbamos absortos a socilogos soviticos defender la tesis de la ausencia de clases sociales en la URSS, tesis que era entonces cuidadosamente desmontada por Tom Bottomore y por Adam Schaft. Djilas public un libro de importante lectura para los venezolanos de hoy, Conversaciones con Stalin (1961). Personalmente estimo que su libro ms importante es Unperfect society: beyond the new class (1972), en parte porque es la tesis que sostengo en el caso de la movilidad vertical en Venezuela y el papel de los caudillos, que estimulan esos procesos de movilidad social, sin los cuales la sociedad permanecera rgida e inmvil. Es la tesis, por lo dems, de Pareto. En un tono de trgica ficcin el libro clsico sobre esta cuestin es, por supuesto, por George Orwell, La granja de los animales (1945), aquel autor britnico celebre por una sola frase: big brother is watching you. Sobre el tema de las clases sociales en la antigua sociedad socialista vase por Alex Inkeles y Raymond A. Bauer, The soviet citizen, daily life in a totalitarian society, 1961. El socialismo sovitico, en vez de alcanzar niveles aceptables de igualdad, cre abismos entre los dirigentes y los dirigidos, surgiendo bolsas de pobreza y de miseria incomparables, diseando un rgido sistema de privilegios, estrictamente controlados. Un rezago de ese modelo es la sociedad cubana actual, con su correspondiente nomenklatura , que en forma medieval se reparte los bienes y servicios disponibles. Las sociedades son tran-sistemticas y ciertamente son asimtricas, como mantenemos los socilogos. Vase sobre ello por James S. Coleman The asymetric society. 1982.

Es bastante probable que la dinmica de la revolucin nos haya trado, en forma inexorable, a la fase del trabajo ideolgico, y ello tiene que ver con la bsqueda de saber en estos tiempos de revolucin, bsqueda negada, de hecho, porque el saber ya no es menester buscarlo, fue hallado por revelacin. Cada revolucin, religiosa, poltica o ideolgica o una mezcla de todas ellas, es una verdad revelada. Obsrvese que en el caso de la revolucin bolivariana esta verdad fue revelada en aquel momento del Samn de Gere, cuando unos iluminados juraron hacer posible y viable esta revolucin. El tema del trabajo ideolgico es un tpico fascinante. La prctica del mismo no es sino el mismo trabajo que hacen los jvenes que promueven las creencias cristianas, llenos de buena fe y del correspondiente fanatismo, porque el trabajo ideolgico conduce de modo inevitable a la difusin de la fe, de la doctrina, del pensamiento nico. Ello tiene en una sociedad, cuando es doctrina oficial, efectos devastadores en la educacin superior y en la universidad, especialmente. La universidad acadmica no es de utilidad para el trabajo ideolgico; sta debe ser sustituida por la universidad popular y por todo un conjunto de Los crculos de estudio poltico, las charlas y conferencias y otras formas de estudios polticos... (complementan) la preparacin poltico-ideolgica de los cuadros y militantes del partido durante esta primera fase de la educacin interna5 . En el caso cubano este trabajo ideolgico ha sido definido claramente: La revolucin cubana ha puesto de manifiesto el extraordinario papel del trabajo ideolgico como vehculo de las transformaciones revolucionarias de la sociedad y en este sentido ha subrayado que la dilucidacin de las cuestiones relativas a la conquista del poder poltico, as como la solucin de las tareas de la construccin socialista y de desarrollo de la conciencia poltica de las masas, son elementos estrechamente interrelacionados. La conciencia revolucionaria no nace por si sola como resultado de los cambios en las relaciones econmicas, es necesario crearlas por medio del enfrentamiento de clases y con la ayuda de la educacin poltica e ideolgica6

Vase el libro por Antonio Daz-Ruiz, El trabajo ideolgico en Cuba, apuntes para su estudio. 1984. Dentro del contexto del trabajo ideolgico la revolucin se ve en la obligacin y necesidad de impedir agentes alternativos distintos al proyecto. Es as como veo el caso de la legislacin destinada a controlar los medios privados de comunicacin social en Venezuela a mediados de 2003 y el eventual control de los aspectos ms ideolgicos de la educacin superior, de las universidades. Estas no tienen porque ser cerradas, basta controlarlas y controlar del mismo modo la bsqueda del saber, cuestiones que no constituyan peligro alguno para la estabilidad del rgimen. Este control no tiene porque copiar las desgraciadas tcnicas aplicadas en otras situaciones, ya que puede apelar a mecanismos exitosos de intimidacin y presin externa. Los principios del trabajo ideolgico han sido analizados por J. M. Bochenski, en su libro The dogmatic principles of soviet philosophy, 1963. Contra la aplicacin indiscriminada del trabajo ideolgico es que se levant la disidencia en Hungra, vase por Andras Hegedus et al, The humanisation of socialism, writings of the Budapest school, 1976. 6 Idem, p. 1-2.

En un proceso revolucionario es impensable una institucin, en este caso la universidad y la bsqueda del saber, que no se halle en sintona con los objetivos revolucionarios7 . En el caso venezolano cabe sealar que, en la educacin superior, tanto en la comunidad de estudiantes como en los miembros del personal docente y de investigacin, hay muchos que estn identificados con el proceso. Son cuadros nada espontneos, cultivados durante aos al amparo de las libertades y flexibilidades que ha proporcionado el rgimen de libertades pblicas del sistema poltico venezolano. Fuerzas poltico-ideolgicas que estaban en estado de hibernacin y que ahora resurgen y plantean una estrategia en donde el pluralismo que sirvi y fue til es eliminado, porque el juego es otro. Por supuesto, no hay nada inmoral en el hecho de que muchas personas hayan hibernado durante dcadas, para ahora luchar y disfrutar su sueo, de una sociedad distinta; lo inmoral podra estar en como ahora se negara, en forma absoluta, lo que entonces fue permitido. Pero esa es la dialctica del caso8 . Dialctica que llevar a la revolucin, quiera que no, a pesar suyo, abordar el control de la educacin superior, sobre todo de la universidad pblica como parte del paquete que requiere trabajo ideolgico. Qu podr hacer la revolucin con el poderoso aparato de la educacin superior privada? Ese es, segn mi apreciacin, uno de los nudos giordanos ms interesante de este proceso. Su resolucin queda por verse. Es probable que el sector privado de la educacin superior venezolana requiera para su resolucin un viaje a Canossa, propio de una de aquellas sabrosas aventuras intelectuales que sugera Nuo9 .

El lenguaje oportuno del caso comienza a aparecer en el caso venezolano. Un funcionario comentaba en declaraciones de prensa que gracias a ciertos cambios producidos como consecuencia de la revolucin bolivariana, haba logrado ...mejorar su nivel de conciencia. Exactamente expres este funcionario, en una curiosa mezcla de leninismo con misticismo: Edgar Hernndez Behrens, presidente de Cadivi, afirma que mejor su conciencia y fue gratificado por dejar de ahorrar en divisas y hace un llamado al optimismo, a traer al pas el dinero depositado en el exterior, as como recomienda pagar el diezmo para alcanzar la prosperidad. El Universal, 21 de mayo de 2003.
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Personalmente, como hombre de esa extraa y extica profesin de buscador de conocimiento, hallo fascinante la posibilidad de observar y estudiar este proceso poltico-ideolgico venezolano y el comportamiento de sus componentes. La historia es la misma, pero los personajes son otros y todo ello es parte del placer de un cinfilo, que disfruta un remake, uno de esos films que abordan un gran tema y lo repiten con distintos actores, pero manteniendo el hilo dramtico del mismo. El final se sabe de antemano, pero el proceso es lo fascinante, proceso que incluye sobre todo el papel de los protagonistas, cada uno de ellos imprimiendo sus caractersticas. La revolucin bolivariana es un dej vu, que se comporta en forma tal que es posible seguir su evolucin, como si se leyese un manual. 9 Vase el libro por Juan Nuo Montes, La escuela de la sospecha, nuevos ensayos polmicos, 1990. De intentarse, anticipo mi criterio, el sector privado de la educacin superior venezolana ofrecer una resistencia slida, a cualquier amenaza a su integridad. Este es un sector compacto, de intereses bien claros y de posturas ideolgicas interesantes. Tienen un buen nivel de organizacin, un patrimonio enorme que defender y vnculos internacionales sumamente activos que les apoyaran, aadiendo que no tiene fisuras en cuanto a las estrategias de defensa. No es el caso del sector pblico, en donde ya advertimos que la revolucin tiene sus cuadros capaces de promover la defensa de la revolucin, mucho ms dinmicos y activos que los que se oponen al proceso revolucionario y a la conquista de la universidad por parte del rgimen.

where the image is fearful and apprehensive, society will be faltering and slow-moving: saber para qu.

En las circunstancias propias de la pompa y protocolo acadmico de la universidad, internacionalmente hablando, Clark Kerr pronunci un discurso memorable, en la oportunidad de juramentarse como Presidente de la Universidad de California, en el campus de Berkeley, el 29 de septiembre de 1958. Su Inaugural Address The worth of intellect, es una pieza de extraordinario valor acadmico. De all tomo una frase que en cierto modo expresa la ansiedad del momento de nuestra sociedad en esa materia: El futuro para el cual nos estamos preparando no tiene porque ser un destino ciego. Podemos hacerlo nuestro y ese es el gran reto. La imagen que tenga un pueblo de su futuro puede moldear su destino, donde la imagen sea temerosa y aprensiva, la sociedad titubea y se mueve lentamente; donde est llena de confianza y de optimismo, una sociedad es capaz de procesos civilizatorios. Una visin moral e intelectual puede estimular una cultura, y sin los logros cientficos ello puede ser en vano 10 (Negritas del autor) En los actuales momentos de la revolucin venezolana la intencin manifiesta de llevar la revolucin a la universidad plantea interrogantes profundas.

Cul es la imagen que elabora nuestro futuro acadmico? Es una imagen optimista, fecunda, que abrir oportunidades hasta entonces latentes o, por lo contrario, en su afn lgico de revolucin a corto plazo y urgente destruir lo poco que haba para construir nada, ya que la revolucin polticoideolgica liquida las posibilidades de la revolucin tecnolgica que acontece en la vida acadmica, en igual forma acelerada, a corto plazo y urgente? Acaso la llamada revolucin pacifica y bonita se tornar lgubre y violenta cuando irrumpa en forma definitiva en la universidad, en el espritu de disidencia y crtica que es el espacio intelectual

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The future for which we are preparing need not be the result of blind fate. It can be ours to make, and this is the greatest challenge of all. A peoples image of the future may shape its destiny, where the image is fearful and apprehensive, society will be faltering and slow-moving; where it is confident and optimistic, a society is capable of civilization. Intellectual and moral vision can animate a culture, and without it all our scientific achievement may be in vain. (Negritas del autor)

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acadmico? En las palabras de Kerr, es acaso la imagen del futuro que tenemos en la universidad una imagen que es fearful and apprehensive, caso en el cual el futuro es, desde ahora, la negacin de la bondad revolucionaria? O podr, por alguna vez, ser la revolucin bolivariana una revolucin fecunda que construya en la academia espacios para la produccin y la productividad acadmica?

No me animo a responder estas interrogantes, las cuales ciertamente exceden mi capacidad de respuesta. La revolucin ofrece de momento dos respuestas, por su parte: la puesta en marcha de una Asamblea Constituyente Universitaria y la creacin de una universidad popular bolivariana. Ambas respuestas revolucionarias merecen anlisis adecuados. De momento es oportuno que la creacin de la universidad popular supone, dialcticamente hablando, la cesacin de la universidad acadmica. Dicho en trminos de una simple dicotoma, la universidad acadmica es un vnculo internacional, la universidad popular es una interpretacin nacional del fenmeno relacionado con el problema del conocimiento. La universidad acadmica es vanguardia, innovacin y progreso, la universidad popular es lo contrario, pero, aado, la misma es un planteamiento engaoso y conservador, clasista y racista, si se quiere. Fundamentalmente, en vez de ofrecer y abrir oportunidades, las niega y las cierra. La universidad acadmica es nivel de excelencia, de rigor, de severidad y en una palabra de una actividad sersima, cuyos principios son irrenunciables porque forman parte de un quehacer intelectual internacional y universal? En apariencia la universidad en el formato de institucin popular mejora el acceso, pero en forma inmediata garantiza la desercin, aadiendo exclusin. La universidad popular pertenece al concepto de universidad del entrenamiento, la universidad acadmica a la sociedad del conocimiento. La universidad popular es esencialmente universidad del aula, del concepto de la tiza y el borrador, que no penetra en el orden de ideas de las nuevas tecnologas del proceso de enseanza-aprendizaje. Es una institucin concebida para llevar el conocimiento a la clase obrera, como respuesta d e una necesidad ideolgica surgida en los propios inicios de la sociedad industrial, pero que no es una alternativa para jvenes en edad de ingresar a la universidad acadmica. La nocin de popular es altamente discriminatoria, socialmente hablando, y excluyente en trminos del problema del conocimiento, porque supone que unos estudiantes y profesores, los de la universidad acadmica, van a tener acceso al conocimiento de punta, mientras que los otros sern sujetos a procesos obsoletos del conocimiento. Ello queda demostrado en forma ntida, cuando se alude a que los miembros del personal docente que labora en la versin de la universidad popular bolivariana sern profesores jubilados, un concepto que ilustra de manera profunda que se est aludiendo a conocimiento obsoleto, porque no hay nada ms obsoleto y

11

casi dira periclitado que un saber jubilado, que significa ido, ausente, del pasado. La oferta revolucionaria en materia de educacin superior es, entonces, profundamente anti-revolucionaria. La nocin de universidad popular es chatarra pedaggica, simplemente, porque se elabora a espaldas de la revolucin tecnolgica. Es una tecnologa anticuada que nunca tuvo valor de mercado, para decirlo en otras palabras. Esto me permite entrar en otro concepto esencial, el problema del saber para qu. No es una pregunta banal, sino esencial y es oportuno asumirla con toda responsabilidad: saber para ser til, a largo plazo, para la humanidad, porque el conocimiento no tiene frontera inmediata, porque de ser as se convierte en saber pragmtico de valor comercial y de mercado inmediato. Esto es una curiosidad, porque la universidad popular bolivariana se supone concebida para fomentar la formacin ideolgica de quienes van a hacer la revolucin, pero qu acontece si esta desparece, no avanza, se estanca y se hace inoperativa? Esto es, cmo conciliar la nocin pragmtica de la universidad popular con el destino del conocimiento, que es trascendente, ms all de lo inmediato? 11 En todo caso, el saber tiene un para qu, en si mismo un criterio finalista, no necesariamente utilitario, pero pragmtico en el sentido tcnico de la palabra, puesto que el saber es para transformar y de una u otra manera servir de plataforma al bienestar de la sociedad, por ende del hombre como tal, genrico. El saber es un proceso de acumulacin, en si mismo valioso, pero es estril, si no se aplica a la transformacin. Por lo menos deja de tener valor social, que se adquiere slo cuando sale del escenario individual y forma parte del colectivo. Lynd (1939) plantea, en su libro clsico sobre el tema 12 , que el saber tiene dos vertientes: la acumulacin de
11

Un tema que no voy a abordar en este trabajo tiene que ver con la revolucin y el tema del liderazgo en la creacin de los estmulos para la produccin de conocimientos. Recojo, en ese sentido, una enigmtica frase dicha por el Presidente de la Fundacin Biblioteca Nacional, Arstides Medina Rubio, quien declar que Definitivamente a Chvez (el lder de la revolucin bolivariana y Presidente de la Repblica) le cuesta mucho vincularse con el pensamiento. El Nacional. P. A-14, 19 de mayo de 2003. Si interpreto que si pensamiento revolucionario es pensamiento codificado, en una doctrina, este no requiere pensamiento, esto es, nuevo conocimiento. La doctrina en si es un recetario de respuestas, no de preguntas y el pensamiento es de echo hacer preguntas, no necesariamente ofrecer respuestas. Las respuestas de las revoluciones hacia el problema del pensamiento son emblemticas en el caso sovitico, en la obra de Pasternak, o en el caso chino en la Revolucin Cultural, como en el caso cubano en el ejemplo Padilla, para mencionar uno bien conocido, o en el ms reciente en el ejemplo del poeta Rivero. Por ello si a los revolucionarios les cuesta mucho vincularse con el pensamiento la prueba histrica nos seala que no les cuesta mucho lo contrario, desvincularse. 12 Vase el libro por Robert S. Lynd Knowledge for what? The place of social science in American culture, 1939. Por supuesto, los que hacen ciencia social tienen, a menudo, una enorme dosis de pensamiento moralizante, caritativo, hacia los problemas sociales, tanto los de inspiracin socialcristiana como los de formacin socialista de izquierda, fervientes redentores ambos de los males de la sociedad. Ven la sociedad como un campo de redencin social, en donde los galardones permiten el comportamiento de luchadores sociales. Lo ms elemental es que nadie parte del punto de vista de cmo la pobreza es organizacionalmente confortable. Un libro excepcional sobre este tema es por Michael Lipton su libro Why poor people stay poor, 1977. Si el abandono de la pobreza supone la incorporacin a la sociedad moderna, organizada, muchas personas y grupos prefieren, al parecer,

12

conocimiento, una radicion de la cultura humana, y til para hacer las cosas que se suelen hacer como las llamadas soluciones a los problemas del hombre. Aado, interesante de por si, que el hombre a veces construye problemas sin solucin, para los cuales no hay saber con posibilidad de transformacin, pero que en todo caso adquiere valor simblico de enorme utilidad. As ocurre con el tema de la pobreza, una cuestin insoluble, porque es estructural y aparte de una pendiente universal, en la formacin de las clases sociales, pero que ha acumulado una enorme literatura, advirtiendo que el estudio de la pobreza es sumamente rentable, para los polticos e idelogos que amenazan con eliminarla, como para los acadmicos que viven de estudiarla. Muchos programas elaborados para eliminar la pobreza han terminado por construir riquezas, cnico argumento inaceptable para quienes abordar el problema desde el punto de vista moralizante, segn el cual la pobreza es un mal y permite redencin a quien la disminuya. Ciertamente la pobreza es injusta e inmoral, pero no es necesariamente mala, como no es malo el crimen o la prostitucin. Malo o bueno son consideraciones subjetivas. Por ello estudiar la pobreza como un supuesto mal conduce a juicios de valor negativos por subjetivos. En este caso es conveniente sealar que los problemas sociales son por definicin insolubles, ya que la dinmica estructural les reproduce y al mismo tiempo crea y recrea problemas. Por ello una falla esencial de las ciencias sociales, acontece cuando stas se transforman de ciencia, apoyada el saber en metodologas y epistemologas apropiadas, a lo que en lengua sajona se llama practitioners, que a menudo quieren practicar (operar) antes de diagnosticar. Otro modo de llamarles es a travs de los conceptos de la ingeniera social, un positivismo sumamente atractivo, porque en este caso los que laboran en las ciencias sociales, ciencias de lo inestable e impreciso, se consideran especies de arquitectos del orden social. En el extremo cuando incurre el delito de planificacin, porque entonces aspiran crear un orden universal y permanente. Las ciencias sociales son ciencias modestas, serias y rigurosas, pero tienen un papel acadmico, ms que de agentes del cambio. El ejemplo de la pobreza es excelente. Con frecuencia aparecen practicantes de las ciencias sociales con las recetas ms increbles para solucionar el problema de la pobreza. Ello sin hacer, lo que sugera Lynd ya en 1939, un mapa del full range of behaviour de un determinado problema, sea este el divorcio, la pobreza o la prostitucin, si estos son problemas. Por ejemplo, si las clases sociales pudientes establecen mecanismos de cohesin, las clases populares las apoyan en
permanecer en el circuito de la pobreza. La parte ms dbil de toda esta argumentacin es cuando se alude a la universidad como un instrumento para eliminar la pobreza. Emil Calles Paz, por ejemplo, en un articulo suyo La educacin como factor de desarrollo sociocultural, expresa esta idea, en forma prstina: La calidad acadmica debera medirse por su contribucin para eliminar la pobreza... 2003. Es absolutamente improbable hallar un pensamiento semejante en la literatura actual acerca de la universidad, pues dicha asociacin no la he visto, al menos, en ningn programa acadmico. Ciertamente, sin embargo, la expresin aludida forma parte de la sobrecarga de responsabilidades a que suele ser sometida la universidad. En relacin a una consulta tcnica que hice recientemente en el comedor de la UCV, un lder obrero me preguntaba, cuando cuestionaba el subsidio que permite continuar cobrando dos bolvares por un almuerzo que le cuesta a la universidad la cantidad de tres mil bolvares, lo siguiente: Y si no comen aqu en donde van a comer? Hay respuestas para este tipo de pregunta? Qu se responde cuando alguien dice que La calidad acadmica debera medirse por su contribucin para eliminar la pobreza...?.

13

nociones de solidaridad, que cuando se activan pueden ser elementos de apoyo social sumamente exitosos, funcionalmente hablando. El full range of behaviour en la cuestin de la pobreza, en el pas, en nuestra sociedad, pasa entonces por analizar motivaciones, por ejemplo, que hacen que una persona o grupo permanezca en la pobreza, pero con una riqueza organizacional que es necesario estudiar para entender, precisamente, why poor people stay poor. En trminos escolares, la analoga tiene que ver con el hecho demostrable que hay estudiantes que estn siempre en el rengln del bajo rendimiento, esto es, son de pobre rendimiento, el cual no siempre se explica por pobre nivel de ingreso, personal y del grupo, o del mismo modo, para hacer el ejemplo ms complejo, lo que ocurre con los mismos hermanos, de padre y madre, criados en el mismo hogar, en donde unos hermanos pueden tener alto rendimiento, pero otros pueden tener bajo rendimiento y en los dos casos gracias a e xplicaciones distintas. Saber para qu supone objetivos sociales, en donde se inserta el conocimiento. Supone crear las condiciones para el cultivo del saber y el aprecio por los valores del nuevo gerencialismo de la educacin superior, el cual estoy trabajando hace una dcada, a lo cual me referir de inmediato.

La revolucin tecnolgica: la nueva forma de gerenciar el conocimiento

En la sociedad del entrenamiento la gerencia acadmica se hace en relacin a las personas, en la sociedad del conocimiento en relacin a las ideas. Una disonancia en los patrones de gerencia es que en nuestro pas an queremos mantener una gobernabilidad del manejo de personas cuando estamos frente a productores de ideas. Este tipo de trabajo es el que desarroll el CIED (Centro Internacional de Educacin y Desarrollo, PDVSA). Esta universidad corporativa, ya cerrada, se ocupaba de R&D, mientras que la semi destruida INTEVEP (Instituto Venezolano de Petrleo), aun se ocupa de S&T. Esta tcnica gerencial es precisamente gerencia del conocimiento13 Esta es una tcnica de gerencia que ha aparecido en la educacin superior en la ltima dcada, especialmente en pases de innovacin, como Australia, USA y Japn. La he aplicado en varios pases, con el objetivo de elevar la calidad acadmica en instituciones de educacin superior14 . El fundamento es como en las universidades
13

Vase sobre este tema el libro editado por el Fondo Editorial del centro Internacional de Educacin y Desarrollo FONCIED, CIED-PDVSA, Gerencia del conocimiento, potenciando el capital intelectual para crear valor. 2000. Vanse sobre todo los captulos por Orlando Albornoz, Carla ODell, Kent Greenes, Debra Amidon y Csar Pea Vigas. Por Orlando Albornoz vase El factor KM: cmo aumentar la produccin y la productividad acadmica en instituciones de educacin superior. Universidad de Guadalajara, Mxico, 2001. 14 He aplicado esta tcnica en instituciones como la Universidad de Guadalajara, Mxico; Yeditepe, Estambul, Turqua; Universidad de Panam; Politcnico de Zurich y he dictado conferencias sobre el

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propias de la sociedad del entrenamiento se maneja personal (alumnos, profesores, empleados, obreros), mientras que en la sociedad del conocimiento se manejan ideas (comunidades de conocimiento, por ejemplo, que son puntuales y aparecen y desaparecen segn las necesidades del caso, sin tener que construir la burocracia que es comn, como acontece con los institutos o centros de investigacin de las universidades de la era del entrenamiento). Al manejarse ideas pero no personas la nocin de evolucin es ajena al contenido del proceso en si. En el caso de mi propuesta ( mo elevar la calidad en instituciones de educacin superior) manejo C cuatro elementos:

Produccin, que es el volumen neto de la produccin acadmica, institucional e individual Productividad, que es un valor relativo, la relacin entre la produccin neta y su rendimiento y eficiencia Difusin, que se mide por el alcance de un producto en el mercado acadmico Impacto, que se refiere a la posibilidad de transformacin de los productos acadmicos en una sociedad

Operar estos cuatro elementos tiende a la eficiencia, porque no basta utilizar uno de estos cuatro elementos, sin que se trata de conceptualizarlos y contextualizarlos. El xito del anlisis de un sistema de gerencia del conocimiento es contemplar que no son slo cuatro conceptos operando como conjunto, sino como cadena. Esto es, la produccin debe hacerse con niveles aceptables de productividad, mientras que la difusin del producto es la nica manera de crear impacto, caso en el cual se puede generar cambio y de all nuevamente al proceso de produccin. En el caso venezolano
tema en varios pases, para audiencias acadmicas o para gobiernos y empresas estatales y privadas. En Mxico es donde he difundido ms esta cuestin, gracias a la asistencia tcnica durante varios aos a la ANUIES (Asociacin Nacional de Instituciones de Educacin Superior). Es una tcnica que surge paralela con el movimiento de las universidades corporativas. Sobre este tema vase por Jeanne C. Meister, Universidades empresariales. Como crear una fuerza laboral de clase mundial. McGraw Hill. 2000. En Venezuela la he dictado en las principles universidades del pas, si bien no he logrado interesar a ninguna en la aplicacin del esquema de mejoramiento. En el caso de la Universidad de Guadalajara el proyecto consista en dividir la universidad acadmica existente en tres instituciones, una universidad acadmica propiamente dicha, una universidad abierta y una universidad corporativa. El enorme potencial de instituciones como la Universidad del Zulia, por ejemplo, seria ideal para la aplicacin de un esquema de gerencia del conocimiento. Con sentido creativo no tendra ninguna objecin crear una universidad popular, estrictamente de difusin a sectores que ordinariamente no ingresan al sistema formal. En muchos casos personas que se hallan ya fuera del sistema, y que no tienen inters en ingresar a una universidad abierta o a distancia, que tiene exigencias acadmicas. Esto aun cuando una universidad popular pudiese ser puente de acceso a la educacin formal. Cabe sealar que la gerencia del conocimiento es contracultura, cuando el mbito institucional se apoya en preceptos populistas.

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estos cuatro elementos se manejan en forma separada. Por ejemplo, es el caso del SPI (Sistema de Promocin del Investigador). All se califica produccin, pero no la productividad. La difusin es menos importante y el impacto es estrictamente acadmico, en citaciones, por ejemplo, pero no en el impacto de transformacin que tiene un producto. Ahora bien, la tesis que sostendremos es como la revolucin no aprecia estas delicadas distinciones, pues maneja conceptos relativos a la sociedad del entrenamiento. Ms an, se maneja en trminos de la conquista del poder en la academia, mientras que ese mismo poder en la sociedad del conocimiento se haya diluido en componentes de otro tipo, incontrolables, porque no se operan ni con personas ni con aulas, ni con tiza y borrador, sino el intangible/inasible que se mueve en el circuito electrnico.

El modelo econmico y la bsqueda del saber

...in these days it takes an enormous amount of stupid policies or bad or unstable institutions to prevent economic development. Unfortunately growth-retarding regimes, policies, and institutions are the rule rather than the exception, and the majority of the worlds population lives in poverty Olson (1982) La racionalidad en la bsqueda del saber esta asociada con variables independientes tales como, sobre todo, el modelo econmico. La revolucin aborda solventar los problemas econmicos de nuestra sociedad enfatizando el estado de subsidio, una tcnica que ha recibido muchas crticas y que ha sido la esperanza de muchos gobiernos y del mismo pensamiento venezolano, la ambicin de sembrar el petrleo, una frase que necesita explicacin, obviamente. Cuando el Presidente Jaime Lusinchi cre la COPRE (Comisin Presidencial para la Reforma del Estado), segn el Decreto 403, el 17 de diciembre de 1984, la idea subyacente de aquel exitoso esfuerzo, fue la de disminuir el papel del Estado, a travs del proceso de descentralizacin. Este deba ser fortalecido en las reas de su competencia, pero haba que disminuirlo en aquellas reas en donde el enorme peso del Estado creaba trabas para su funcionamiento, sobre todo tratando de disminuir el peso del estado de subsidio, el estado rentista, como lo llamaba Lusinchi. La COPRE crea oportuno abrir las compuertas de la sociedad y ello significaba estimular la participacin y el papel creador de los venezolanos15 .
15

Vase el Volumen No. 1 La Reforma del Estado, Estado, Caracas, Venezuela, 1988. Esta Comisin venezolana. Quienes vivieron aquella experiencia de que llamo el sndrome del Gnesis, del ao cero,

de la Comisin Presidencial para prest un servicio inestimable exitosa transformacin se niegan porque toda transformacin es

la Reforma del a la sociedad a reconocer lo un proceso de

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Un fascinante enfoque relativo a la bsqueda del saber y el modelo econmico se halla en el pensamiento de Walter Regg (1985) La asociacin que hago es cmo el modelo economizo del subsidio anula la capacidad para la bsqueda del saber. Esa bsqueda es oportuna en condiciones en donde estimula la competencia y la competitividad. Pero, adicionalmente, cuando el modelo econmico abre al valor de mercado, pero la nocin de sociedad de subsidio elimina la de mercado. Regg plantea el caso suizo y el tema del estado de subsidio. Como venezolano no se resiste la tentacin de citar la celebre como histrica frase: no somos suizos, pero si somos miembros entrenados y sumisos de la sociedad de subsidio. Esto significa que para crear los mecanismos de la sociedad del conocimiento tenemos que abrir las posibilidades para la libre bsqueda del saber, lo cual quiere decir que el modelo econmico de una sociedad exige y requiere varios modelos en forma simultanea, para los distintos espacios de produccin de productos, industrial, de servicios, agrcolas, mineros, y estos de la vida acadmica. Por ello es que llevar la revolucin a la universidad es un planteamiento correcto, lo nico en donde es necesario discrepar es que se quiere llevar a la universidad la revolucin poltico-ideolgica, dejando afuera la revolucin tecnolgica, de la sociedad de la informacin, que es la plataforma de la sociedad del conocimiento. Es decir, la gobernabilidad pasa por el concepto de equilibrio. Precisamente es lo que dice Regg, cuando citando a Deutsch en su anlisis del sistema poltico suizo, aquel descubri que el xito haba consistido en la sagacidad de equilibrar dos posturas, un sistema con dos velocidades, un motor para avanzar, un freno para detener. La constitucin suiza, sabiamente, no incluyo derechos sociales y por ende el welfare state qued fuera de la obligacin del Estado, pero si en manos de los ciudadanos. Para los suizos la responsabilidad de los ciudadanos en el seno de la familia y de la comunidad eran ms importante que los derechos sociales y que el Estado deba de estar en condiciones de promover los social networks que expandir sus servicios de bienestar16 .
continuidad histrica. La lectura cuidadosa de los volmenes producidos por la COPRE evidencia que, a menudo, toda la alharaca revolucionaria no es sino new wine in old bottles. Incluso, a menudo, bitter wine in old bottles. 16 Vase por Walter Regg su captulo Social rights or social responsibilities? The case of Switzerland, en el libro editado por S.N. Eisenstadt y Ora Ahimeir, The welfare state and its aftermath, 1985. Hace unos aos, en el verano de 1999, se sostuvo una mesa redonda en Ginebra sobre este tema. Mantuve como, en el caso venezolano hablaba de Amrica Latina, sobre todo de Mxico y de Cuba, la vida acadmica productiva en trminos de conocimiento haba sido frenada por el error de origen de una academia que premiaba por igual, sin castigos aparentes. Es decir, en los mismos trminos de Regg, una comunidad con motor pero sin frenos, esto es, des-equilibrada. En los trminos de Herzberg somos una sociedad perfecta, en la academia, de empleos sin trabajos, excepto voluntarios, lo cual me lleva a recordar una frase excesivamente pintoresca, No quiero empleo, quiero el sueldo. Por Fredercik Herzberg vase su libro fundamental Work and the nature of man, 1967. Cuando el propio Herzberg vino a Caracas, en la oportunidad en que aplicamos los elementos de su teora a una empresa de la industria petrolera multinacional, hallamos fuertes tendencias hacia el trabajo en dicha empresa, con niveles aproximadamente iguales de motivacin en los empleados venezolanos y extranjeros. En la sociedad abierta, sin embargo, Herbersg repeta con friccin lo que el germinal francs Bretn dijo de Mxico, que haba visto por primera vez un pas surrealista; Herzberg me deca que en Venezuela haba encontrado el pas hygiene perfecto, la antitesis del pas achivement. Sobre

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Pero en Venezuela se quiere mantener un rgimen de subsidios que niega la competencia y competitividad, caso en el cual, al menos, pudiera mantenerse el espacio acadmico ajeno a esta nocin de subsidio, pero la frase segn la cual la revolucin tiene que entrar en la universidad alude a la revolucin polticoideolgica, no a la revolucin tecnolgica. Explica ello el modesto tamao de nuestra comunidad acadmica? No lo creo, pues es esta una explicacin multivariable que no es oportuno asumir en este momento, pero lo que si es una hiptesis es que el tamao de esa comunidad va a disminuir en la misma medida en que la revolucin poltico-ideolgica entre en la universidad, pues al hacerlo y en forma simultanea desaloja a la revolucin tecnolgica. La revolucin es un planteamiento doctrinario y en esencia dogmtico. Si entra en la universidad entrara en conflicto con una esencia lo ms alejada posible del dogma. Por ejemplo, la doctrina de la revolucin se apoya en una trinidad, Bolvar, Rodrguez y Zamora. En la postura doctrinaria Bolvar es un semi-Dios, Rodrguez un maestro por excelencia y Zamora un lder social. Quien cuestione esta trinidad estar en el foco del ataque, por parte de los doctrinarios, pero en la academia se premia quien discutan cuestione y hasta asuma posturas iconoclastas 17 El estado de subsidio es distinto al welfare state, en donde la responsabilidad social sustituye a la burocracia estatal, que si existe y ha existido en sociedades en donde es el estado quien sustituye esa responsabilidad. Ello ha ocurrido en la academia venezolana, en donde la responsabilidad individual se diluye en la nocin del contrato colectivo que proteger a sus miembros, hablando de la comunicad formada por los miembros permanentes de la academia, los profesores, en el caso venezolana, porque los estudiante son la parte transitoria de la academia. La obsesin por la proteccin total y absoluta es el ideal de los miembros de esta academia. Ello ha sido posible dentro del marco de una rent-seeking eocnomy, como la denomina Weede (1990). Esta teora, elaborada como una respuesta a la teora de la dependencia, merece introducirla en este trabajo, porque buena parte de lo que personalmente creo sobre el tema de la bsqueda de saber en la academia v enezolana tiene que ver con la cultura
esto ltimo vase por David MacClelland su The achieving society, 1967. MacClelland discriminaba a Venezuela muy alto en la bsqueda de poder y bajo en la lista de pases con nivel de achievement. Cuando trabaj como profesor en la Universidad de Harvard, tuve el placer de tenerlo como decano y sola hacer bromas acerca del bajo n achivement ranking de los venezolanos. 17 Mal le ir a quien cuestione la trinidad, pero al hroe militar Bolvar muchos le anteponen al hroe civil, Santander; a Simn Rodrguez se le da concede escasa importancia terica de hecho no pasa la prueba del valor internacional de sus ideas, remitindonos ms bien a un hroe pedaggico de estatura elevada solamente por las loas y panegricos, quizs por su vinculacin con el Libertador; de no ser as Rodrguez fuera una simple pie de pagina si se le toma ms bien como un hombre pintoresco; en cuanto a Zamora muchos creen que este personaje nunca existi, fue inventado por Federico Brito Figueroa, el historiador venezolano fallecido apenas hace unos cuatro aos y quien primero descubrio al lder llanero. Vase en este ltimo caso el libro por Brito Figueroa: Ezequiel Zamora, un captulo de la historia nacional, 1951. Una versin ms reciente, de las varias que public Brito Figueroa, es Tiempo de Ezequiel Zamora, UCV, 1996.

18

organizacional dentro de la cual laboramos, cultura apoyada en casi todos sus trminos en una rent-seeking economy, por una parte, como por la constante y simplista explicacin de los problemas sociales como parte de una teora como la teora de la dependencia y cmo el estado de subsidio debe ser mantenido para solventar los problemas de los pobres, con efectos contrarios, porque manteniendo estas polticas de subsidio y de la bsqueda del poder y de la rent-seeking eocnomy se amplan los espacios de pobreza. La teora dependentista forma parte, subyacente, de la doctrina que inspira a la revolucin bolivariana, dicho sea de paso. De acuerdo con los principios de la revolucin, Venezuela estara en crisis porque, primero, un poder externo, en este caso los Estados Unidos de Amrica, explota nuestros recursos, aplicndonos normas del capitalismo salvaje, la versin ms extrema del neoliberalismo. En segundo lugar, la desigualdad interna se explica porque los pobres han sido explotados por los ricos, en este caso el pobre y por ende noble pueblo ha sido explotado por los malvados oligarcas. En ese esquema la educacin superior no desempea ningn papel, porque no es vista como una unidad proveedora de conocimiento y como consecuencia de soluciones, sino que en el mejor de los casos es una comunidad instrumental en la evolucin de la revolucin, sobre todo los estudiantes. Estos son invitados, de manera irresponsable e inmoral, a dejar las aulas y transitar el pas d efendiendo a la revolucin, caso en el cual debilitaran a muchos la posibilidad de acceder a posiciones de entrenamiento y en el caso del manejo del conocimiento, capaces de interpretar ideas que de otro modo seguirn atados a vnculos emocionales y afectivos. De acuerdo con esta posicin revolucionaria el problema del desarrollo se solventara si el pas pudiera desprenderse de la dominacin externa y pudiese modificar la estructura social para sacar a los pobres de su condicin e irlos incorporando progresivamente al bienestar. La propuesta supone el Estado con el papel de intermediacin para conceder a los pobres los mecanismos para que acumulen capital, caso en el cual se les debe transferir poder, entendiendo en forma curiosa que el capital es el poder, no la responsabilidad social, por ejemplo, ni los estudios, sino la defensa de la revolucin, que no es sino la defensa de sus lderes. Al inicio de esta parte de nuestro trabajo empleamos un epgrafe de Olson, segn quien hay polticas estpidas y que desestabilizan a ciertas instituciones. En este sentido no voy a decir que en Venezuela se han formulado polticas estudias, pero ciertamente han desestabilizado instituciones o han impedido su crecimiento, como el error de origen que afecta nuestra educacin superior, a partir del gremialismo instalado en 1958 y que en vez de permitir crecimiento lo entorpeci porque facilit la instalacin del estado de subsidio en la academia venezolana. Ahora bien, es probable que al error de origen la revolucin aada uno aun ms estpido, si ello fuese posible, y definitivamente ms desestabilizador, al modificar el estado de subsidio y emplear sus mecanismos como instrumentos de presin para obtener el control de las instituciones y del sistema que forman. El estado de subsidio es ineficiente, corrompe y obstaculiza el crecimiento. La revolucin, al parecer, cree ciegamente en el estado de subsidio y en cerrar las puertas de formulas sustitutivas,

19

aun cuando fuese en el plano de la academia. En Venezuela el estado omnipotente ha sido posible precisamente gracias a la posibilidad de tener una renta, interna, que le ha permitido en forma holgada subsidiar el aparato econmico sin tener que generar riqueza.

La revolucin tecnolgica, valor agregado. La contradiccin dialctica entre el miedo a la tecnologa y la confianza en el pensamiento mgico-religioso

Es posible interpretar que hay una dicotoma de rechazo antagnica y dialctica, entre la revolucin poltico-ideolgica y la revolucin tecnolgica. Es posible hablar del analfabetismo tecnolgico, como del terror tecnolgico, en el primer caso a la ausencia de conocimiento tecnolgico, en el segundo del rechazo a priori de toda tecnologa, lo cual, esto ltimo, conduce a la reaccin inmediata que acude al pensamiento mgico-religioso, como fuente de explicacin, basado este pensamiento en el folklore y por ende en la tradicin y en la memoria, el imaginario colectivo que alude al pasado, fundamentalmente, mientras que el ingrediente tecnolgico alude al futuro y acepta lo tecnolgico como smbolo de confort. Es la antigua dicotoma de la teora de la modernizacin, entre el hombre tradicional y el hombre moderno, lo cual nos permite aludir a la paradoja como en el nombre de la revolucin polticoideolgica se oculta a menudo el nico objetivo, alcanzar y controlar el poder, apoyando esa bsqueda en el pasado. El miedo a la tecnologa se origina en la imposibilidad de controlar los productos de la misma, mientras que el pensamiento mgico religioso confa en controlar. Esa es la dialctica que se impone. Rechazar aquello que no se comprende. Como otro idioma, como un titulo acadmico o la misma condicin intelectual18 . Como las nuevas y avanzadas tecnologas de la informacin. Se rechaza al robot y a todas las formas pero nadie quiere regresar a lavar en el ro, porque los avances tecnolgicos crean una segunda naturaleza, la naturaleza tecnolgica. Pero la revolucin ideolgica promueve pensamiento mgico religioso, porque ofrece soluciones que no tienen ni necesitan racionalidad alguna. Un tema favorito es la eliminacin de la pobreza, que suele enfocarse como si esta condicin social fuese un flagelo. La solucin del problema de la pobreza forma parte de un paquete bien conocido, de oferta populista. En el mismo se habla de solucionar problemas como el mencionado de la pobreza, de la vivienda, de la educacin, del deporte y as sucesivamente. Sin embargo, las revoluciones no se hacen para reducir la pobreza sino para reubicar socialmente a quienes ascienden en los estratos de la riqueza. Cada revolucin crea u
18

Ha sido recurrente en el enfoque revolucionario la descalificacin de los intelectuales y de los acadmicos. El lder mximo de la revolucin nos llam estupidos ilustrados. Un lder del proceso en funciones de Ministro nos llam academicos perfumados. Tener ttulos acadmicos extranjeros es casi prueba de hereja.

20

opera una redistribucin de la riqueza y si algn estrato se mueve es el de la riqueza, porque los pobres son grupos muchos ms estables. Esto ocurre no porque haya corrupcin, solamente, es simplemente sentido de oportunidad. La corrupcin es moralmente reprochable pero es til socialmente hablando, permite movilizacin en la acumulacin de bienes de capital. Una parte de la mitologa de las revoluciones es que estas crean mayor equidad social, pero la prueba histrica es que crean mayor diferenciacin social. Cinco aos despus de iniciada la revolucin bolivariana es probable que los pobres hayan mantenido estable su ubicacin social, y mas bien haya emergido un sector de nuevos ricos, porque ha habido un desplazamiento en el proceso de acumulacin de la riqueza. Una hiptesis en esta materia es la siguiente: los nuevos miembros de los sectores de altos ingresos, tienden a desplazarse urbansticamente y tienden a emplear servicios escolares y de salud que no podran usar anteriormente. Podra aadirse que los hijos de la revolucin bolivariana, esto es, los hijos de los miembros que como consecuencia de su participacin poltica en el proceso revolucionario, han cambiado de escuela, de la bsica del sector estatal a la bsica del sector privado, porque el desplazamiento urbano as lo exige. Tcnicamente hablando, en lenguaje sociolgico, las revoluciones en Venezuela, como en otros pases de la regin, como es el caso de Bolivia, son los detonantes de la movilidad social. Lipset y Bendix (1959) plantean como en la sociedad industrial esta movilidad vertical se genera en la creacin de riqueza, y asocian esta posibilidad con lo que llama el desarrollo de la inteligencia y los niveles de motivacin dirigidos al logro19 . En el caso venezolano esa movilidad social se apoya en la posibilidad de disponer del poder para administrar la renta petrolera, y el poder se convierte de ese modo en el mecanismo redistribuidos de la riqueza creada en forma externa al poder. La revolucin tecnolgica es portentosa, en el ltimo siglo. Ningn rea de la actividad social escapa a sus efectos. Se ha llegado a controlar la natalidad, en el caso de la mujer, as como la virilidad, en el caso del hombre. El espacio domstico, es uno de los ejemplos de cmo la tecnologa entra en cada rincn del mismo. Ningn hogar del ao 2003 aceptara retornar al hogar de 1953, para citar un lapso fundamental. Lo mismo ocurre con la tecnologa educativa, cuyas asombrosas aplicaciones han permitido avances exponenciales en la bsqueda del saber. Quienes se dedican a la bsqueda del saber, a la investigacin cientfica y tecnolgica, a las investigaciones humansticas, no podran avanzar si no dispusiesen de las herramientas de las tecnologas de la informacin, que para bien o para mal cambiaron el mapa del problema del conocimiento. Es en este sentido que es posible acatar el tema del retorno de los brujos. No hay escape del efecto de las tecnologas, en el hogar, en la educacin, en la industria, excepto que se tome el camino del
19

Vase por S. M. Lipset y Reinhard Bendix, Social mobility in industrial society, 1959. Es importante el captulo IX, sobre Intelligence and motivation. Los anlisis de Lipset en este sentido se apoyan en la argumentacin demostrada de cmo los estudios universitarios tienen enormes posibilidades de ascenso social, precisamente por la acumulacin de inteligencia y alta motivacin, que luego se traslada a la acumulacin de capital en si mismo.

21

retorno, de la nostalgia, del recuerdo, de quienes, con la ms absoluta buena fe, quieren sustituir el trabajo urbano por la supuesta placidez del mundo rural. Digo supuesta, porque en la prctica el mundo rural atrasado y primitivo careca del ms elemental confort y el mundo urbano, por encima de las dificultades, confiere una comodidad tal que la nocin de bienestar se asocia con los instrumentos normales en la urbe, tales como, por ejemplo, transporte rpido masivo, aire acondicionado, servicios disponibles en todas las reas del acontecer cotidiano, como servicios de distribucin de dinero, de informacin y de las mismas personas, que pueden comunicarse como slo lo permite la urbe. Creer que el mundo rural, la sociedad cara-a-cara, los jardines personales, los animales domsticos compartiendo el espacio del hogar, pueden permanecer en nuestra existencia es no entender los tiempos histricos. Pero es fcil comprender, del mismo modo, que el pensamiento mgicoreligioso es un poderoso elemento de la memoria colectiva de muchos de quienes por su propio nivel de urbanizacin, origen socio-econmico y grados de escolaridad, apelan a explicaciones de ese orden, rechazando el papel de las tecnologas, sobre todo, hago este nfasis, porque no pueden controlarlas. Es fcil suponer la indignacin de una persona asociada al mundo mgico-religioso cuando tiene que aceptar a improbabilidad de controlar las nuevas tecnlogas de la informacin, especialmente el Internet, esa prodigiosa plataforma tecnolgica que cambi al mundo, en nuestros das.

Que hacer?: Internacionalizacin vs. nacionalismo, inclusin vs. exclusin, insercin y aislamiento

Se acentan las contradicciones entre la revolucin poltico-ideolgica y la revolucin tecnolgica. Se replantean con urgencia las necesidades de las inversiones necesarias para poder mantener al da la transferencia de tecnologa, en el rea de la plataforma tecnolgica que es hoy en da indispensable en el complejo proceso de la bsqueda del conocimiento. Pero el rechazo tecnolgico, validado en la ausencia de recursos, se pone de manifiesto en palabras dramticas expresadas por el Ministro de Educacin Superior del pas (Navarro, 2003) y uno de los gestores ms importantes y visibles de la propia revolucin bolivariana:

Ante este panorama financiero, el Ministro considera que las universidades tendrn que adaptarse a la situacin y olvidarse de ciertas comodidades como medios avanzados audiovisuales, retropoyectores, entre otros, A lo mejor tendremos que regresar a la tiza y el borrador por un tiempopor tal razn, en los prximos meses las universidades pblicas no podrn renovar flotas (de vehculos) ni adquirir de ningn equipo para la ejecucin de actividades. (Negritas del
autor)

22

Ciertamente, las dificultades financieras del pas son extremas. No es procedente solicitar fondos para gastos no justificados. La administracin de un pas tiene que establecer mecanismos para poder diferencias entre lo necesario e indispensable y aquello que, por una u otra razn, pueda posponerse en las prioridades. Del mismo modo, hay que establecer con propiedad cuando una asignacin presupuestaria es gasto, y cuando es inversin. Habida cuenta de los objetivos de una racionalidad administrativa no se tendra duda alguna de cmo el aparato cientfico-tecnolgico tendra que ser mantenido bajo el patrn de inversin relativamente alta, pero a juzgar por decisiones poltico-ideolgicas, evidencian que la revolucin tiene prioridades destinadas a objetivos que no son exactamente aquellos de proteger el rengln de la inversin en procesos tales como S&T y R&D, para emplear las siglas de ciencia y tecnologa y de investigacin y desarrollo 20 . Ahora bien, puede el pas retroceder hasta la edad de p iedra, en materia tecnolgica de la tiza y el borrador? Improbable, pues si no por encima al menos paralelamente con las intenciones de la revolucin expresadas en forma tan clara por el funcionario de gobierno, existe una presin social, por parte de quienes tienen otra visin del pas y que consideran que tanto la inversin como el valor atribuido a estas cuestiones deben ser preservadas. Sobre todo, por parte de quienes tienen la conviccin histrica de que despus de la revolucin, esto es la V Repblica, vendr, inexorablemente, una VI Repblica, suponiendo que esta cronologa tiene algn sentido de periodizacin histrica. Pero en todo caso, una poltica de largo alcance ha de suponer que las policies tienen que ir ms all de los gobiernos, que son simples expresiones de negociaciones polticas que duran mientras esos intereses les sostengan y que las leyes, aun las constituciones, son consensos coyunturales, porque no hay ley eterna, porque no son eternos esos consensos. Pero, el quehacer cientfico-tcnico es trascendente, como lo es la institucin base de esta actividad, la universidad, caso en el cual es siempre posible afirmar que hubo universidad antes de la V Republica, habr universidad durante la misma y sobre todo habr universidad despus de la revolucin. El ethos de la universidad es su intemporalidad, su universalidad, su ecumenismo, su sentido de trascendencia, su longevidad, que la hace sabia y duradera21 .

20

Sobre el tema de la inversin en ciencia y tecnologa vase el libro por Howard R. Bowen, Investment in learning, the individual and social value of American higher education, 1977. La inversin en estos renglones del concepto del learning tienen que ver con dos cosas esenciales, el valor social de la ciencia y de la tecnologa, de la investigacin y del desarrollo y fundamentalmente que todo ello propende a la productividad del sistema econmico, pero si aceptamos que Venezuela es una rent-seeking economy entonces la inversin en productividad est negada, de echo. 21 Guardo las palabras de un colega, profesor de la Birzeit University, la universidad palestina, quien en medio de la tragedia de su pueblo me deca, en una ciudad europea y con aire de esperanza y optimismo, que cuando cesase el conflicto con los israelitas, su gran sueo era abrir un centro de estudios israelitas en Palestina. Esta condicin humanista y ajena a rencores y discriminaciones es precisamente el ethos de la universidad, que va ms all de las cuestiones que dividen a los hombres y mujeres del planeta, malgr les revolucionaries. www.birzeit.edu

23

Conclusin: la revolucin y el tema de la autonoma acadmica

Tcnicamente hablando, es probable asegurar que el gobierno revolucionario abandona el pacto poltico que le llevo al poder. Accedi al poder gracias a un proceso electoral, pero una vez iniciado el mismo se transform de gobierno constitucional en gobierno revolucionario, mantenindose gobierno constitucional solamente en la ficcin jurdica. En este caso abri brechas entre quienes le apoyan y quines le adversan, que parecen irreconciliables. En materia acadmica, cabe solamente una pregunta, que hacemos en la Conclusin de este trabajo: resistir el gobierno revolucionario la tentacin totalitaria? Segn Revel (1976) 22 , la misma es parte consustancial de la lgica revolucionaria y el gobierno terminar en posturas abiertamente autoritarias, caso en el cual las posibilidades de la bsqueda del conocimiento quedarn anuladas, porque la autonoma que es necesaria ser una improbabilidad. La autonoma acadmica es un concepto descentralizado, de la administracin pblica de un pas, pero dentro de una revolucin no cabe
22

Vase por Jean-Francois Revel su libro La tentacin totalitaria o el estado megalmano, 1976. Sobre este tema vase tambin el libro por Marcel Granier, La generacin de relevo vs. el estado omnipotente, 1984. Es importante en este orden de ideas el libro por Octavio Paz, El ogro filantrpico, 1979. Un libro interesante por Jean-Francois Revel es su Ni Marx ni Jesus, de la seconde rvolution amricaine la seconde rvolution mondiale, 1970. La tentacin totalitaria es eso, precisamente, una cierta tentacin, no exactamente en tono de sonrisa, a la Sagan. No fue extrao aquel slogan de la rebelda de 1968, en Pars, prohibido prohibir, un slogan engaoso, porque toda sociedad es un conjunto organizado de prohibiciones. El mensaje liberador consiste en que, si la prohibicin rompe el equilibro entre deberes y derechos, se termina en la represin y sta en el totalitarismo.Es una sencilla ecuacin. En el caso venezolano existe un ejemplo reciente. El Vice Ministro de Cultura, no poda ser otra la dependencia oficial del inicio de la represin, al prohibir que una obra se llevase a la Bienal de Arte de Venecia, un espacio dedicado a lo inconoclasta, por excelencia, como consta a quienes la hemos podido visitar, expresaba que: Reconocemos los mritos del artista Pedro Morales...sin embargo, la versin final de City Rooms difiere del proyecto inicial presentado a concurso y avalado por el jurado, pues contiene elementos que agreden nuestra imagen como pas...en consecuencia, se retira la participacion oficial de Venezuela en este evento. El Nacional, 24 de mayo de 2003. (Negritas del autor). Quin puede definir lo que son lementos que agreden nuestra imagen como pas? Por e esta via discrecional hasta este trabajo pudiera ser sealado como uno ms de los elementos que agreden nuestra imagen como pas. La tentacin totalitaria, entonces, consiste, simplemente, en prohibir y ello, segn aquellos estudiantes franceses, est prohibido. Es cuestin, adems, de recordar a Brecht, primero es una obra de arte, despus un trabajo acadmico y finalmente se prohibir pensar. En nuestro pas muchos ignaros lo han intentado, nunca han podido, por fortuna. Justamente, el primer libro que difundi el pensamiento de Revel, Para qu filosofos?. Caracas : Universidad Central de Venezuela, 1962, en una esplndida traduccin de Juan Nuo Montes, planteba una cuestin esencial: Para qu, entonces, realmente los filsofos? O, para qu, al menos, esos filsofos, si su filosofa se ha convertido en lo contrario de la filosofa, si la disciplina d liberacin por excelencia ha degenerado e poco a poco en la letana beata de fmulas procedentes de todas las capas del tiempo y de todos los recovecos del espacio y si la pretendida escuela de rigor ya no es sino el refugio de la pereza intelectual y de la cobarda moral?. Por ello un poco de valenta moral se hace indispensable en nuestro tiempo.

24

descentralizacin y por ello obviamente ser afectada. Es por fortuna innecesaria una discusin en este trabajo sobre el tema de la autonoma, por lo obvio de su naturaleza. Es simple la cuestin: la autonoma acadmica es posible solamente dentro de gobiernos que aceptan la descentralizacin como principio de gobernabilidad. Cuando ocurre lo contrario, cuando se centraliza la administracin pblica las polticas son correspondientes y queda para suponer la existencia de la autonoma acadmica el conjunto de las argucias jurdicas, porque de hecho la bsqueda del conocimiento precisa como esencia la nocin de libertad y, porque no decirlo, de democracia en el sentido que durante siglos se ha mantenido activa en el mundo occidental, tradicin heredada en la larga construccin del gobierno democrtico representativo, oportunidad en la cual las instituciones son capaces de preservar su identidad y, justamente, su autonoma. Es inevitable abordar el tema de la autonoma acadmica, en tiempos de revolucin. En esta oportunidad baste sealar como la autonoma es indispensable para la bsqueda del conocimiento, si bien la misma es cada vez menos importante para dicho proceso, sobre todo porque las nuevas tecnologas de la informacin permiten continuar trabajando a pesar de que la autonoma acadmica sea vulnerada, al impedir el funcionamiento institucional. La revolucin venezolana querr tanto intervenir como controlar a la educacin superior, porque su lgica interna le obliga a hacerlo, como al resto del mapa institucional de la sociedad, pero, al menos en lo que respecta a la bsqueda profunda del conocimiento, la nica forma de controlarla es impidiendo el acceso a los computadores y al Internet, lo cual es posible, pero mucho ms complicado que cuando los gobiernos simplemente cerraban el campus y hasta all llegaba la bsqueda del saber. Esto ocurra cuando la autonoma era fsica, cuando la universidad era parte de la sociedad del entrenamiento, pero no en la sociedad del conocimiento, cuando la autonoma es electrnica. Es interesante observar que todava hay quienes hablan en el pas de la autonoma como un problema fsico, de planta fsica y no han aprehendido el concepto segn el cual la autonoma, por ende a libertad, es menos controlable, por fortuna para quienes somos buscadores profesionales de conocimientos 23 .
23

Un anlisis serio del tema de la autonoma por Walter Regg en su captulo Switzerland: the reafirmation of autonomy, en el libro editado por Hans Daalder y Edward Shils, Universities, politicians & bureaucrats: Europe and the United States, 1982. El caso suizo es bien interesante, de compara con Venezuela. En Suiza hay una democracia activa que ha impedido, gracias al federalismo constitucional del pas, la centralizacin de las instituciones. Todos los intentos para establecer legislacin centralizada han fracasado, en este pas europeo. La universidad ha luchado siempre contra la nocion del estado omnipotente. Dice Regg que ...Suiza, a pesar de que mantiene tendencias en direccin contempornea (en educacin superior) has also gone its own way in keeping the universities relatively distant from its central government, p. 431. Es una sabia decisin, la de los suizos. En Venezuela, tanto durante el gobierno revolucionario de 1945-48, como en este caso de la revolucin bolivariana, se cree en contactos del primer tipo, cara-a-cara, en el lenguaje de Cooley. Por qu no entienden los gobiernos, incluyendo los que se denominan revolucionarios, que para el bien de sus propios proyectso es mas conveniente una universidad y una educacin superior libre, autonoma, fuerte y apoyada? La respuesta es sencilla, es que los gobiernos, mucho menos los revolucionarios, no tiene porque entender, estn para aplicar su vademecun doctrinario, en donde hay una sola respuesta para todas las inquietudes, controlar, controlar, controlar. Obsrvese como opera la educacin superior y especficamente la universidad en los pases en donde no hay la autonoma, ni fsica ni

25

Al inicio de este trabajo citamos a Clark Kerr, en la ocasin de su Inaugural Address, The Worth Of Intellect, como Presidente de la Universidad de California. Juzgo oportuno concluir con una cita del mismo autor, uno de los pensadores ms lucidos y elegantes en la escena intelectual internacional. Dijo Kerr en aquella oportunidad: Crear nuevo conocimiento, entrenar a los hombres y mujeres para que puedan usarlo, hacer este conocimiento comprensible de modo que sirva y no sea el dueo de los hombres, dar a conocer los valores del conocimiento en si mismo esos son los objetivos de la universidad en la sociedad industrial avanzada que es una realidad actual en el mundo contemporneo. Estos son los fines de la Universidad de California en una poca cuando el valor del intelecto es ms notorio que nunca antes una poca caracterizada por la fabulosa expansin del intelecto como nunca antes en la historia. Esta puede ser una verdadera Edad de Oro en la v de la universidad de California, en lo que puede ser una Edad de ida Oro para la humanidad24 . Nos preguntamos, al terminar nuestra argumentacin, en este trabajo acerca de la bsqueda del saber en tiempos de revolucin: Podr el gobierno de la revolucin bolivariana ser fecundo y admitir que la cosa acadmica no puede ser gobernada con criterios doctrinarios, sino que requiere y exige, para el propio bienestar de la sociedad, de la capacidad de movimiento y accin, para decirlo de una manera lo ms neutra posible, que permita la creatividad, la tenacidad y motivacin indispensables para producir nuevo conocimiento, en las distintas reas y escenarios del quehacer intelectual? Podremos tener nuestra venezolana Edad de Oro o tendremos que resignarnos a una sombra era en la cual la academia dejar de llamarse tal, para convertirse en otro de esos gulag que el hombre ha ideado para impedir la libertad que le proporciona valor al intelecto?25
electrnica, y se apreciar adonde nos llevar la parte del citado vademecun que dice: universidad, educacin superior, intervencin, control. 24 To create new knowledge, to train the men and women who can use this new knowledge, to make this knowledge comprehensible and thus the servant rather than the master of men, to help men know the values this knowledge should be made to serve--these are the great tasks of the university in the advancing industrial society that is sweeping around the world. These are the tasks o the University of f California in an age when the worth of intellect is more apparent than ever before--an age of the most fabulous unfolding of the human mind in history. This can be a truly Golden Age in the life of the University of California during what may yet become a Golden Age for mankind 25 La situacin econmica, financiera y social del pas parece inestable, pero, quizs por fortuna, funcionarios del gobierno afirman, wishful thinking, que ...(hay que) ser optimistas, tener fe y esperanza, Venezuela va a ser el pas mas prspero de Latinoamrica. Declaraciones del Capitn Edgar Hernndez Behrens, El Universal, 21 de mayo de 2003. La prosperidad venezolana reciente parece situarse en momentos del pasado, alrededor de 1955 y de 1975, cuando los indicadores eran elevados, pero para 2003 estos se hallan en bajo nivel, lo cual seala que probablemente Venezuela sea uno de los pases de la regin con mayores dificultades que impiden tomar con objetividad estas expresiones de optimismo. Mas bien la ausencia de prosperidad es la caracterstica actual y ello, por supuesto, grava en forma notable el potencial acadmico del pas. Sin embargo, el gobierno

26

REFERENCIAS BIBLIOGRFICAS

Albornoz, O. (2003) Higher education strategies in Venezuela: higher education changes under a revolutionary government and the threats to academic freedom and institutional integrity. Caracas : Bibliotechnology Ediciones. _____________ (2001) El factor KM: cmo aumentar la produccin y la productividad acadmica en instituciones de educacin superior. Guadalajara, MX : Universidad de Guadalajara. Bochenski, J. M. (1963) The dogmatic principles of soviet philosophy. DordrechtHolland : D. Reidel Publishing. Bowen, H.R. (1977) Investment in learning, the individual and social value of American higher education. San Francisco : Jossey-Bass Publishers. Brito Figueroa, Federico (1996) Tiempo de Ezequiel Zamora. Caracas : UCV. _______________ (1951) Caracas : vila Grafica. Ezequiel Zamora, un captulo de la historia nacional.

Calles Paz, E. (2003) La educacin como factor de desarrollo sociocultural. Ncleo Abierto, (4). P. 3. Centro Internacional de Educacin y Desarrollo (2000) Gerencia del conocimiento, potenciando el capital intelectual para crear valor. Caracas : FONCIED, CIEDPDVSA.

revolucionario declarar cuestiones que sugeriran estabilidad. Es el caso de la declaracin del miembro civil ms importante del gobierno, Jos Vicente Rangel, quien declar que: La democracia mas autntica, la que ha resistido mayores pruebas de fuerza, la ms consolidada y ms estable de la regin es la democracia venezolana. Es una democracia absolutamente blindada, a prueba de todo. El Universal, 23 de mayo de 2003. En ingls se dira que el Vice-Presidente Ejecutivo, un funcionairo designado por el propio Presidente, esto es, que es designado pero no electo, tiene el nerve de hacer la declaracin citada anteriormente, cuando en el pas se halla una misin de la OEA, presidida por el propio Secretario General de la misma, para tratar de promover una situacin de estabilidad que sea propicia para un espiritu democrtico, evidentemente fracturado, as como presencia del PNUD, con ese propsito. Cuando existen compromisos para satisfacer exigencias de la sociedad moniitoreadas por un organismos internacional privado, el Centro Carter. Cuando en el pas existe un nivel de controversia y confrontacin de enorme ruido, con un gobierno-rgimen tratando de captar todo el poder y una oposicin que se resiste, es improbable aceptar que en Venezuela opera una demeocracia estable. Es mas bien bastante probable aegurar que existe en esta sociedad un alto nivel de conflictividad, que afecta todas sus instituciones, incluyendo la educacin superior, obviamente.

27

Coleman, J. S. (1982) The asymetric society. Syracuse : Syracuse University. Comisin Presidencial para la Reforma del Estado (1988) Reforma del Estado Caracas : COPRE. Daz-Ruiz, A. (1984) El trabajo ideolgico en Cuba, apuntes para su estudio. La Habana : Editora Poltica. Djilas, M. (1957) La nueva clase, un anlisis del rgimen comunista. Buenos Aires : Editorial Sudamericana. ___________________ Conversaciones con Stalin (1961). ___________________ Imperfect society: beyond the new class (1972), Granier, M. (1984) La generacin de relevo vs. el estado omnipotente. Caracas : Publicaciones Seleven. Hegedus, A. et al (1976) The humanisation of socialism, writings of the Budapest school. London : Allison & Busby. Hernndez Behrens, E. (2003, mayo 21) Los dlares, la fe y el pecado. El Universal. P. 1-2. Herzberg, F. (1967) Work and the nature of man. Cleveland : The World Publishing Company.. Karol, K. S. (1972) Los guerrilleros en el poder. Barcelona : Seix Barral. Kerr, Clark (1958) The worth of intellect : inaugural address [as President of the University of California] Berkeley : University of California. Inkeles, A. Bauer, R.A. (1961) The soviet citizen, daily life in a totalitarian society. Boston : Harvard University. Lipset, S. M. and Bendix, R. (1959) Social mobility in industrial society. London : Heinemann. Lipton, M. (1977) Why poor people stay poor. London : Temple Smith. Lynd, R. S. (1939) Knowledge for what? the place of social science in American cultura. Princeton : Princeton University. MacClelland, D. (1967) The achieving society. New York : The Free Press.

28

Medina Rubio, A. (2003, mayo 19) Entrevista. El Nacional. P. A-14. Meister, J. C. (2000) Universidades empresariales : como crear una fuerza laboral de clase mundial. Mxico : McGraw Hill. Merton, R. K. (1949) Social theory and social structure. New York : The Free Press. Navarro, H. (2003) Constituyente terminar con la universidad napolenica. Ncleo Abierto (4). P. 6-7. ________ (2003, febrero 13) Entrevista. El Nacional. Nuo Montes, J. (1990) La escuela de la sospecha, nuevos ensayos polmicos. Caracas : Monte vila. Olson, M. (1982) The rise and decline of nations: economic growth, stagflation and social rigidities. New Haven : Yale University Press. Parry, J. H. (1961) The establishment of the European hegemony: 1415-1715. New York : Harper Collins _________ (1971) Europa y la expansin del mundo. Mxico : F.C.E _________ (1964) Epoca de los descubrimientos geogrficos. Madrid : Guadarrama. Paz, O. (1979) El ogro filantrpico. Barcelona : Seix & Barral. Revel, J-F. (1976) La tentacin totalitaria o el estado megalmano. Barcelona, Espaa : Plaza & Jans. _________ (1970) Ni Marx ni Jesus, de la seconde rvolution amricaine la seconde rvolution mondiale. Paris : ditions Robert Laffont. ___________ Venezuela. (1962) Para qu filsofos?. Caracas : Universidad Central de

Regg, W. (1985) Social rights or social responsibilities? the case of Switzerland. In: Eisenstadt, S. N. and Ahimeir, O. The welfare state and its aftermath. London : Croom Helm. __________ (1982) Switzerland: the reaffirmation of autonomy. Daalder, H. and Shils, E. Universities, politicians & bureaucrats: Europe and the United States. Cambridge : Cambridge University.

29

Scammell, G. V. (1989) The first imperial overseas expansion c. 1400-1715. London : Unwinn Hyman.

age

European

Weede, E. (1990) Rent-seeking or dependency as explanations of why poor people stay poor. In: Albrow, M. and King, E. Globalization, knowledge and society. London : Sage Publications.

2
Academic Populism

Cmo mejorar la calidad acadmica en instituciones de educacin superior: individuos, grupos e instituciones

Dr. ORLANDO ALBORNOZ Profesor Titular

Patrocinado por Centro de Altos Estudios Gerenciales Instituto Superior de Investigacin y Desarrollo Coordinacin: Dr. Genaro Mosquera C.

Cmo aumentar la calidad acadmica en instituciones de educacin superior: individuos, grupos e instituciones
Lectura 2 Objetivo: La estrategia revolucionaria se apoya en la propuesta populista. La misma ha elaborado una serie de tcticas destinadas a apoyar la estrategia revolucionaria. Por ello, el objetivo en este caso es relacionar dicha propuesta populista con las amenazas a la libertad acadmica y a la autonoma institucional, no solamente de la educacin superior, sino del higher learning, el aprendizaje superior.

ACADEMIC POPULISM : ACADEMIC POPULISM :

Policies for university state control (The Venezuelan case, 1999-2004) A case study of autonomy and academic freedom under pressure

Orlando Albornoz
oalborno@reacciun.ve Caracas, 2005

PRLOGO
Academic Populism Policies for university state control (The Venezuelan case, 19992004) A case study of autonomy and academic freedom under pressure is a companion book to a previous one, published in 2003: Higher education strategies in Venezuela: higher education changes under a revolutionary government and the threats to academic freedom and institutional integrity. Both undertake analysis about the operation of higher education in Venezuela, under the revolutionary regime that is in power in this country since 1999. Without prejudice in mind, it is obvious that a person who is resident in the country and more than that that works exclusively in Venezuelan higher education has views that before anything else are an interpretation of these current events. It is improbable then to claim objectivity and neutrality. However, being close not means to be blind. On the contrary, perhaps allows observers to deal with ideas in a freely way and in such a case go more deeply into the analysis of affairs. Not to be committed to any political or ideological side, attach with jealousy to the role of the scholar and not to that of the politician helps to keep views within a certain objectivity. Of course, these are my views and many Venezuelan observers will have others interpretations, particularly those who are close to the revolutionary government. But I have not vested interest whatsoever, except for the defense of democracy, equality, respect of the law, love for knowledge and in general all those values appreciated all over the world as symbols of free man. In such a case I oppose any dictatorship as alien to that spirit that value freedom and liberty as essential
Cmo aumentar la calidad acadmica Orlando Albornoz

components of the ethics and moral of modern man. The question is not to be in favor or against the revolution or their leaders and their ideology, the question for a social scientist, whatever that means, is to take a distance and trying to be neutral. Underneath is the passion for principles, in the case o f scientists for evidences, for reasons. Unknown to anyone. In my case getying close to eight y ear old passions are gone. Remains the desire to be objective and try to gather ideas to explain what is going on. As with the first book, this Academic Populism was prepared at the request of the Observatory of the Magna Charta. Initially it was written as a working paper and background reading for a visit that members of the Observatory of the Magna Charta undertook in Venezuela in March/April 2004. By all means, this request does not compromise the judgment of the members of the Mission that came to Venezuela. I have signed on behalf of the Universidad Central de Venezuela, were I have spend almost half a century, first as a students and then as a professor, the Magna Charta Universitatum, in September 16, 2003. Later on I had the opportunity to explain to the Board some of my views and suggested this visit, which was welcome by rector GG who proceeded to invite this mission.

For the benefits of the readers who is not interested on that I have omitted names and particulars which are of local interest and have tried to keep only the arguments afloat.

Summary
Higher education is a standard feature of modern societies. Most countries tend to follow the steps of the leading countries in shaping the way they conduct academic affairs. Taken to extremes this tendency may obliterate national characteristics and oblige poor nations to make excessive and useless expenses, by trying to reproduce the metropolitan models. On the other hand, getting away from the international efforts in science and technology, closing institutional frontiers to whatever is being done in the most advance countries would take these countries into oblivion. It is always fascinating to see how each one of the under developed countries solve this dilemma. This working papers deals with Venezuela, a South American country undergoing a revolution. This country managed to hold democratic procedure, since 1958 and higher education expanded and developed in such a way as to organize a solid system that by 1992 was beginning to move forward to more advanced stages of higher learning. However, in 1989 a new government was elected and the new leaders choose to take advantage of this in order to develop into the format of a revolution. The government looks like one taken an authoritarian stand in order to preserve their hold in power. By doing so they have created parallel institution whenever possible and in general to put al institution under state control. In higher education they are trying to do so. The new C onstitution approved in 1999 expects Venezuela to be re-founded as a nation. At the university level this is what is being tried, to re-found the university and higher education as well. To do so they have designed a strategy of academic populism. This means going back to zero ground. It is a re-birth of higher education and the university. In fact, the leader of the revolution see himself as a kind a would-be-Bolivar and he is confident that the region will eventually follow him. He expects to lead this reunification of Latin America. In the meantime all institutions should be at the service of the objectives of the revolution. The model for higher education is to be absolutely free, in regards to paying tuition of any kind and with a policy of open doors regarding access. The opposite would be having institutions devoted to elitism, neoliberalism and a training ground for the children of the oligarchs.

Cmo aumentar la calidad acadmica

Orlando Albornoz

According to the dogma the university should be, on the other hand, the training ground for the cadres of the revolution. What happen to academic freedom and institutional integrity of the university, in the Venezuelan case? This working paper elaborates some of the available answers to this question, addressing some additional issues, like the internal organization of the Venezuelan system of higher education in order to explain the role of freedom within academia in this country. 2004 will be a critical year in Venezuela. A likely constitutional recall referendum might take place no later than May, a new rector will be elected at the main university of the country, in March and in July elections for governors and mayors will attract the attention and interest of all Venezuelans. The whole question that is at the core of the Venezuelan dynamics is the struggle for political power, not exactly a passion for the search for knowledge. For a global view of Venezuelan higher education see Appendix 1: Dossier of Venezuelan higher education: some

quantitative and additional information. Twenty points to be considered f a proper or comprehension of the internal working operation of this educational system at the end of
this working paper.

Cmo aumentar la calidad acadmica

Orlando Albornoz

At the dawn of the new century, Venezuela has a considerable number of institutions wholly dedicated to research where, in an organized and methodical manner, professionally trained men and women create new knowledge and work on its possible application for social well-being. Our democracy has taken science and technology into a daily task for a few thousand Venezuelans, many of whom have reached noteworthy achievements with relevant creations, inventions or discoveries

Jaime Requena (Medio siglo de ciencia y tecnologa en Venezuela, Caracas, 2003)

The ultimate goal of education should be excellence and to achieve this end, there should be long, arduous and dedicated work. When the conscience of man is aroused by stirring and stimulating in the right way the process of learning, then the mind is endowed with the unique capabilities to communicate and transmit the accumulative experience and a highly resilient culture inheritance for the good of future generation

K. Balan (Education for excellence, New Delhi, 1986)

Do not prostitute intellectual dignity. These last words should be engraved on our universities doors, so that those who pass through them, cross these thresholds with an emotional overcome for entering such excellence places.

Rmulo Gallegos, Conferencia dictada en el Aula Jos Mart de la Universidad Nacional Autnoma de Mxico, noviembre de 1929

Cmo aumentar la calidad acadmica

Orlando Albornoz

Social change in Latin America: the Venezuelan experience

Venezuela has probably experienced the most drastic changes of any Latin American country in the twentieth century. Petroleum revenues affected nearly every aspect of national life. It has become a truism to state that Venezuela only entered the modern era n 1936 on the death of Dictator Juan Vicente Gomez. Yet by 1900 Venezuela had existed as an independent national for three quarters of a century. Economics patterns and social structures had crystallized. Political elites and opportunist competed for power through elections and armed revolts. An elite culture and a rich popular culture existed side by side. Sentiments of nationalism vied with regional loyalties as justifications for actions. In short, the Venezuela of 1900 already contained the ingredients, which would flavor he responses to foreign intervention and sudden wealth in the twentieth century. This sentence belongs to one scholar writing on Venezuela1 . It is a proper beginning for a document that will try to explain the events that are taking place in such a country, with emphasis in higher education and especially on academic freedom and institutional integrity. In any case, Venezuela is experiencing the most dramatic changes in at least half a century, this time in the political and ideological areas. In fact, in 1998 and after what was though as a normal election to change a government, a revolution came to power. An Army leader utilizing the procedures of democracy changed turns and declared and initiated a revolution, the revolucin bolivariana Through this political and ideological actions the dreams of Simn Bolivar were to be achieved, and integration of the region would be accomplished; Venezuela would be once again the leader for this new independence, all of it on the shoulder of the new Liberator, in this case the current President of Venezuela and lder mximo of the revolution. This has not been an easy transit and the revolution is under severe questioning from the opposition and the outcome is still open for a practical solution. This implies either the radicalization of a revolution, or the return to democratic procedure. In Venezuela, the political environment has become increasingly radical and polarized. The supporters of the revolution and its opponents no longer seem to speak the same language. As a consequence, any attempt to analyze what is going on is rather difficult, because normal sources of information are notoriously biased. This includes higher education, of course. In fact, to obtain information from public offices is a complicated matter. Most people fear that information is to be used against the revolution; society is divide in those friendly and those enemies of the proceso, as its adherents call the revolution. Nevertheless, beyond the rhetoric and the confusion, the basic options open to the society are becoming clearer. On the one hand, the hard core of the opposition to the revolution is more evidently committed to neoliberalism and to what could be called plural and representative democracy; and, on the other, a government inclined to participatory democracy and the strong leadership of the chosen by the people. In the first place under a civilian political framework leaded by political parties; in the second case the revolution under the partnership of the Army and the people. Any way, the revolution is characterized
1

Judith Ewell, Venezuela, a century of change. Stanford University Press, 1984. Many Latin Americans would be ready to say that in the twentieth century the most dramatic changes has been the Cuba Revolution. This revolution has had a profound impact, internationally speaking. But this is open to discussion, of course.

Cmo aumentar la calidad acadmica

Orlando Albornoz

by the multiple contradictions typical of populist regimes, but they have begun to take important actions, which point in the direction of an regime on the lines of the Cuban long patriarchal government, a society governed by the same group for almost half a century. If the revolution achieves this stage the results will be absolute control of all institutions and this will include, of course, higher education. As it happens, and whatever the outcome, higher education has not escaped the conflicts and dilemmas of this situation. This working paper is reading material in order to place this Venezuelan situation-taking place in 2004 in a proper perspective and it is the purpose of it. Whatever the analysis it is necessary to remind at every corner of this working paper that Venezuela is defined, as being a petrostate meaning an oil-rich country plagued by weak institutions, a poorly managed public sector, and a high concentration of power and wealth. The gulf between a petrostate's rich natural resources and the chronic poverty of its citizens often leads to political unrest and frustration. This frustration would help to explain this interesting political situation, in which a society depends of a single product, oil. In fact, a famous Venezuelan referred to oil as the devil's excrement. For countries, easy wealth appears indeed to be the sure path to f ilure. Venezuela might be a clear example of that. a Instead of a society working for the common good it is becoming a society as split and divided as any other underdeveloped country in or outside the region. The values of discipline, hard work, social cohesion and a common vision of the future, the society is day after day struggling for the conquest of power, at any price. Nothing else is of any value in a society were the fight for power resembles those street fighters of the past, naked knuckles and fighting to death. In such a society academic values and intellectual life are of secondary concern. More than that, quite often the higher education system resemble these struggles for power, a time consuming effort that is to many observers one of the very real and concrete obstacles for the development of this activity in Venezuela. Having said so let us go into the theme and topics to be discussed in this working paper. Not before stating very clearly that being this working paper on policy analysis in higher education, it is good to remind that education and especially higher education cannot be considered in isolation from other key public policies; more than that, that public policies are attach to whatever is going on in a society. In the Venezuelan case the whole question is not actually the obstacles to academic freedom and institutional integrity, but the survival of freedom per se and of the values of civic liberties, which to many are in serious danger to disappear in this country, under the turmoil of a revolution that by its own logic will become a very authoritarian and autocratic approach to political life. That would be the end of the discussions about freedom in academic and the death of such an institution. Now, in purely sociological terms, the revolution has had a profound effect in Venezuelan society and its institutions. Whatever the social cohesion organized in this society during the long four decades of representative democracy (1958-1998), it has disappeared and given room to a very complicated society divided along the lines of the ideological and political schism provoked by the revolution. On this the main leader of the revolution has played a large role. He is the revolution and the revolution is only understood because of his strong personality. Again, in sociological terms he is not a social actor. He can be defined as a caudillo, a leader, a Messiah, but he is much larger than the events he has untapped. He does not walk the corridor of what could be called the normal life of society. By chance or design he looks away and above the people he rules. He has a family but
Cmo aumentar la calidad acadmica Orlando Albornoz

being divorced nobody knows were he lives, secrecy surround his whereabouts. He declares to be living all day long, every day, for the revolution and through these approaches is creating a living myth. He loves all and is loved by all, he does not belong to one, but to all, particularly the people. He governs through a very peculiar way, like the Arab leaders in the Magreb, dictating justice as they sit down among the believers, this time using TV and radio. This he does also trough a very peculiar way, speaking during endless hours and connecting at will all TV and radio stations in what is call a cadena. By appearing only in TV and radio and by manipulating mass media the leader does not have to perform a normal social role, but to created their own space in which he define style and substance without any social responsibility. In fact, in these terms society is responsible to the leader, he does have any equal responsibility with society, since he does not belong but to himself. He control all but is not controlled by any one, nice social equation that defines the uses of power in these societies approaching very primitive ways to be ruled and governed. In fact, one must not push the analogy too far, but in many ways the Venezuelan caudillo behave himself like a traditional constitutional monarch, though he is not benevolent but on the contrary has found in aggressiveness a way to keep society imbalanced, intimidated and in permanent fear. This is not the place to explore the role of political leaders under the Venezuelan revolution, but in a way this has to do with the style that is being permeated in Venezuelan institutions and society and impact higher education under his regime. When it has been said that he main Venezuelan leader is not a social actor it is implied that he is not normal; in fact, he has developed a deviant behavior upon the principle of secrecy. Being normal in the role-playing set up means to accept normative culture patterns; in Venezuela the leader of the revolution behave in arbitrary fashion and whatever is created under the scheme of the revolution has to be new and without any link with the past. Because past is unacceptable from the ideological and historical point of view. In this sense the university of the revolution should be different, new and original. This has created such a confusion were only emotional grounds could find any justification in an area were rationality should prevail. In normal ways role-playing is technically to accept the expectations of the others, but if the other is negated then you are created in a vacuum and can only grow in isolation. As it will be seen in this working paper later on the university of the revolution has been created with no regard whatsoever with the other, and do not have to please any social expectations, from the academic community. They are responsible only to the revolution, not to Venezuelan society. The effects of the revolution is seeing in the fact of how the Venezuelan identity is no longer a collective phenomenon, to become a individual trait, you happen to be a person only as defined to be for or against the revolution. The social differences were there, no doubt, but this revolution has exploited them in order to create a chaos from were a new society and a new identity will emerge. Venezuelan society is no longer we but I and you, us and them, the rich and the poor, the white and the mestizo, and a new reinterpretation of history is made by the revolution, redefining the pantheon of the national heroes, rearranging them in order to fit the new historical identity, of which Venezuelan were not aware of. The traditional cultural view of the upper classes has given way to a cultural populism. Folklore is of enormous importance, but all the manifestations of the so-called classical culture is being displaced in favor of this new approach. This could be linked to the intent of a previous highly populist approach to political life in the country, the years
Cmo aumentar la calidad acadmica Orlando Albornoz

between 1945-1948, when the social democrats raised the expectations of the people, confronting the upper classes, raising them the ethnical clash that is also becoming popular now, under the revolution, leaded by a proud mestizo. In those years the political movement was also a revolution, the Revolucin de Octubre, now is the revolucin bolivariana. The current Venezuelan is then a Bolivarian, and his identity is not the narrow nationalism of before, but the Latin Americanism; this facilitate to the current revolution to become continental, searching for a integrated Latin America, leaded by the retired Lieutenant Colonel who is the visible and only leader of this revolution2 . The analysis of Venezuelan higher education and the changes in its functioning and operation can only be understood against these broader ideological, political and personal characteristics of the Venezuelan revolution. It is a revolution whose objective is to change all institutions of this society until a new one is created. It is a revolution that will eventually impose upon the whole higher educational system the model applied in the Universidad Bolivariana de Venezuela, UBV, the university of the revolution. This will be tackle later on, with some details.

Some preliminary rationale about this document

Venezuelan higher education has entered a new era that requires sharp and profound analysis, to understand some new strategies being applied to this higher education system. In fact, not only higher education but also all institutions in this society are being changed or under pressure to change their operation and function and to adapt their goals to those of the revolution, which is now ruling this country. This working paper is background reading in order to visualize the internal changes in higher education and examine the relationship between higher education and the revolution. To anticipate the conclusion of this analysis it seems that Venezuela is taking a different course from international t ends of academic life. r Higher education system are being currently organized thorough fine mechanism of knowledge management, adapting to the situation to the need for multiple sources of financing, strict cost analysis in order to take care of the rationale for expenses, rigorous selection of both students and Faculty to guarantee achieving levels of excellence able to have higher education to work within the confines of the knowledge society. National systems develop looking to patterns of internationalization; try to overcome the perils of

The political arena is being changed and the new actor playing a privileged role is the new Army. In many respect the revolution is an Army government. Two elements explain the survival of the revolution, income from oil and the weapons of the Army. In this case the revolution is very rich and very powerful, at the same time. Except that they commit very nasty mistakes they seems to be quite in control of events and the political opposition has been defeated many times. They have committed every possible mistakes in handling theirs wishes to get rid of this revolution; the revolution has fought back every time and in spite of the bitter struggles for the control of political power the revolution looks quite strong, at the time of writing, March 2004. If the revolution survives the recall for a referendum, and triumph in regional elections to take place in August 2004, there is no doubt that the regime will safely sail until December 2006, when the next presidential election will take place. The President can be reelected then, for another six years period.

Cmo aumentar la calidad acadmica

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globalization but taking advantages of their enormous possibilities. As it happens, higher education in 2004 is trying to become an institution of the twentieth first Century. This might not be the case of Venezuela. This working paper analyses academic populism in this country and for that reason the subtitled of the document is as follows: Policies for university state control (The Venezuelan case, 1999-2004) A case study of autonomy and academic freedom under pressure. Though it does not make much sense to establish a date in the past, it can be said that the adoption of academic populism as the model for the development of higher education, means that undoubtedly Venezuela is taking some important steps backs in time, in reverse gear. However, the Venezuelan system of higher education is working in such a way as to believe that the adoption of this academic populism might not affect the autonomous universities, not the private sector. But as Venezuela moves under a revolutionary government which is trying to rebuild the nation, along their new set of rules and the new set of the institutional framework, the logic implies that eventually the radicalization of the ideological and political ideas supporting the revolution will apply in toto the concept of institutional control and if that happens the model for academic development will be this notion of academic populism which is being installed in Venezuela, under the symbolic gesture to create the university of the revolution, the Universidad Bolivariana de Venezuela.

This means academic populism, which among other things is defined by state control of the system and to put forward the ideological imprint of the revolution above the universal search for knowledge, which typify the university. Of course, criticism of academic populism might suggest the defense of the contrary option, academic capitalism. This is the dilemma felt these days in Venezuela. Since the revolution is a proposition in anti capitalism the logic state of affairs for the university is to go in that direction. Is that possible? Can a contemporary university be run by ideologues and not by those who believe in the current international principles of academic ethics which is not other than the endlessly search for knowledge? Academic populism might work out to decrease the achievements of the recent decades in Venezuela, in higher education3 . In spite of gross failures in the academic strategies taken in Venezuela the country was slowly progressing toward objectives of quality and intellectual refinements. But populism in this sensitive area can be threats to the
3

The literature on populism is quite large. Some titles of interest are: Kazin, Michael. The Populist Persuasion: An American History. New York: Basic Books, 1995. Mc Math, Robert C., Jr. American Populism: A Social History 1877-1898. American Century Series. New York: Hill and Wang, 1993. Taggart, Paul. Populism. Concepts in the Social Sciences. Philadelphia: Open University Press, 2000. Michael L. Conniff (ed.): Populism in Latin America. Tuscaloosa and London: University of Alabama Press, 1999. Jos Mendoza Angulo, Proyecto para una crisis, critica a la universidad populista. ULA Mrida Venezuela, 1983 Orlando Albornoz, La educacin y la crisis de la democracia social, del populismo al neoliberalismo, Ateneo de Caracas 30 septiembre 1991. One of the best available example of academic populism is by Pablo Gonzlez Casanova, La universidad necesaria en el siglo XXI, Mxico, ediciones ERA 2000. A good reference is by Ghita Ionescu and Ernest Sller (Editors), Populism. Its meaning and national characteristics. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1969. See the excellent chapter by Donald MacRae on Populism as ideology.

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maintenance of academic achievements, no only in higher education, but as well in science and technology, in general. Without trying to idolize the tightly bounded and fragile system of academic freedom and faculty self-determination symbolized in the German Lehrfreiheit it is obvious that in Venezuela, along with the application to the academic life of the overall dogmas of the revolution, these academic freedom, autonomy of the institutions and self-determination of the Faculty members are beginning to be characteristics of the past. At the moment the revolution is creating heir own higher education apparatus, via the parallel institutions being created along all the institutions of this society. Unhappily, if the logic of the revolution applies the most damaging result would be persecution and repression, not only in higher education but also in the open society. Venezuelan academics do hope that through the democratic internal capacities of the community at work within the numerous campuses of higher education in this country, plus the efforts of the international academic community, the values of the university and higher education by extension are to be preserved. Modern governments can only profit from higher education system of good quality, measured by the international standard. Otherwise, they would contribute to the decay and institutional deterioration that takes places whenever force and irrationality occupy the spaces were freedom and liberty should prevail. This working paper tries to articulate and does some critical and comparative analysis of at least three views of science policy - academic populism, academic liberalism, and academic capitalism. It will be obvious to the reader that this paper favor the position taken by academic liberals like Karl Popper and Michael Polanyi, that pleaded for the autonomy of the state-funded science, full freedom of inquiry, and consider the organization principles of the autonomous academic community as the archetype of the open society. According to academic liberals, the "invisible hand" works not only in the free market but also in the free academic community directing the academicians that are competing for recognition to use the material and human resources of science in the most efficient way. However, just so the market works only if embedded in the proper institutional framework, so the academic science is efficient only if the research work is embedded in the informal institution of "scientific ethos" which includes the "institutional imperatives" of universalism, communism, uninterestedness, and organized skepticism as described by Robert Merton. Without presenting the most important findings of the sociological and scientometric research on the stratification in the scientific community it is understood the logical elitism of scientific communities. Knowledge can become accessible to the society at large, but it cannot be produce under the principles of a populist society. More than that, a society ruled by autocrats cannot order science and technology to be produced. Grants per se would not operate the miracle of creating new knowledge. In fact, if grants are given without discriminations the results can be much against the objectives of those giving the grants. Unless they are given just to believe that giving is a perfect substitution of producing. In this sense, the reorientation of the state agencies from the grant-based to the prize-based funding of the science, but that would include competition and as consequence the elimination of some and the realization of others, creating obvious differences and elitism as a final result. The conceptual confusion, to say the least, in some Venezuelan people formulating public policies in higher education, science and technology, seems to be attaching to old fashion ideas. Among them the prevalent thought that people could be lead into the productive stage just by organizing these areas with bureaucratic criteria.
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When the state dictated these policies under the guidance of dogmatic ideological and political principles the results are weak and poor. Monopoly either from the state or from the market can only accomplish submission and opportunistic advantages in pecuniary terms, from those who accept the dictum. It is to be observed that the ways in which the private sector of higher education operates in Venezuela is a demonstration of the quality of academic affairs when the academic market is left to its own crude and naked lucrative interest. There is not any empirical analysis that could be quoted on this, but all the erratic information coming from those who work inside some of these institutions run by the private sector in Venezuelan higher education, allow to believe that these approaches are wrong and that this feeble quality level contaminates the whole Venezuelan academic environment. On the other hand, as it will be discussed in this working paper, the academic quality of some state run institutions is as weak as those mentioned above, of the private sector. This means that the over all quality of Venezuelan higher education can be very low. Having some high quality niches, the conclusion is that what is mot important about the inside working operation of Venezuelan higher education is the quality gap and the disequilibria in terms of the quality, institutional as well of the actors involved. In this case this working paper is not a manifesto against the state participating in higher education in Venezuela, On the contrary, without their intervention the expansion of this system could not be explained and in fact in many ways the private sector is parasite of the state in order to function adequately. That is to say, the private sector is not independent from the state support, in Venezuela and alone could not work out at all. Without entering in a defense pro domo sua of elitism it is perhaps necessary to say that academic elites are valued because they possess the necessary information and expertise to formulate wise public policy, but also because they are viewed as the best educated and most committed to the values of rational inquiry and deliberation. Contemporary societies, inevitably recasts the norms of democratic deliberation in the image of elite values and elite preoccupations, and inevitably judges the quality of popular participation by elite standards of education and taste. On the other hand, popular culture, with its shallowness, rudeness, and lack of intellectual seriousness, is almost always seen as a fall away from these standards. Counteracting that cultural deficit in the interests of democracy inevitably becomes part of the revolutionary agenda, in Venezuela. Anti elitism has been an important element of the revolutionary discourse of the leaders of the revolution, from whom anything smelling of high culture is synonymous with neoliberalism.However, fascinating to state that those organizing the institution of the revolution are members of the Venezuelan academic elite. They may receive for this action disproportionately high benefits, precisely because they have been trained and educated to do so. Mind to say that complicated issues like health care or higher education policy may demand considerable information and attention to detail to be discussed intelligently and effectively. This poses a considerable difficulty to understand why people trained at the highest possible level justify their behavior when proposing and accepting principles that will damage the expected high level of higher education. However, populism, like politics, makes strange bedfellows. It is to be argued that the importance of populism rests not only in its distinctive conception of democracy, but in its lessons about the social construction of judgments -- the sort of critique often associated
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with postmodern philosophy. It may seem strange to connect populism and postmodernism, that most arcane of academic perspectives. But this incongruity is more apparent than real. A populist constitutionalism demands that academics become more self-conscious about their status as members of a subculture whose elite values tend to shape and occasionally distort their perspectives. It asks that they become more aware about the culturally bound nature of the activity called constitutional theory. It entreats them to consider the possible value in popular culture. Finally, it requires them to acknowledge that distinctions between a more valuable high culture and a less valuable low culture have become increasingly problematic in our age. All of these are familiar postmodernist themes. The fact that it is needed to turn to postmodernism to articulate them is simply further evidence of the particular place from which this working paper stand and the particular cultural tools available given this position. Constitutional theorists have something to learn from populism, even if at the end of the day they must cast a skeptical eye on its excesses. Excesses that is difficult to understand, in the Venezuelan case, except by the fact of the obsession with equity and equality, at any cost. Yet this encounter may help theorists recognize the excesses of positions that seem most natural to them. Just as critical race theory and feminism ask whites and males to recognize and surrender their privileges as whites and males, so too populism asks elites to recognize and surrender their privileges as members of these distinctive subcultures. In particular, populism requires professors of constitutional law to forgo their privileges as academics. For those of us who are trained to respect the meritocratic values of the academy, this may be no small task, and the resistance to it should not be underestimated. Anti meritocracy has also been one of the salient elements of the Venezuelan revolutionary discourse. It might be a cynical observation, again, that this anti meritocratic positions has been taken by people with highly meritocratic credentials, including graduates studies in some of the fines universities of contemporary Western civilization, both Europe and USA, training that was paid by the condemned neoliberals governments. This is why it is utterly surprising to find that the attacks on intellectualism, academicism, elitism and meritocracy is organized under the Venezuelan revolution by the same people that accepted and organized their privileged social standing because of believing in those above mentioned conceptions. This might be judge to be cynicism in action, but this is not the place to go on with the analysis. One proof of this cynicism and political hypocrisy is the fact that during the years of the revolution the salaries of the leaders of the public administration has spiraled while the salaries of the working class have stayed unchanged4 . Having made this comments lets go into the content of this working paper, understood as background reading in relation to higher education in Venezuela, with emphasis on the universities.
4

The minimum monthly salary in Venezuela amounts t some $ 125 at the official exchange (1600 local units o for dollar, though in the black market the rate double). However, for instance, the salary of the head of the electoral body earns around $ 11.000 not including perks benefits and the power that comes with it. In the academic world a rector of a state university earns around some $ 4000. He the rector received retirement payment from another university, as can be the case, this means doubling this salary. This only to indicate the high stratification o salaries under a revolution, made in the name of those who does not have to increase the f privileges of those who have plenty.

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Preamble
David Bushnell, in his brilliant book The Santander Regime in Gran Colombia (1954) state one of the paradox that rules the destiny of Venezuela:

The three colonies that made up the Viceroyalty of New Granada belonged definitely to the second rank of Spanish possessions in the New World, just as they have belonged to the second rank of Latin American republics for most of the years since they obtained their independence. The Captaincy-General of Venezuela, the "Kingdom" of New Granada, and the Presidency of Quito enjoyed in the year 1810 neither the aristocratic prestige of Peru nor the fabulous, though slightly exaggerated, mineral riches of Mexico. They had entered upon the world scene only occasionally, as when Admiral Vernon made his ill-fated descent upon Cartagena. Their own inhabitants were as little prepared as anyone else for the brief glory that was to be theirs when, under the leadership of Simon Bolivar, they combined to play the most decisive single role in the liberation of Spanish America5 .

The paradox is that one of these countries, Venezuela, belonging to the second rank of Latin American republics, has been since independence trying to imitate Simn Bolivar. This is what is happening right now in this country. In 2004 the current political leader has the preposterous idea to liberate the region. It does not seem to matter that with the exception of Brazil and Mexico no other country in the region has any international muscle. However, the myth is still alive and Venezuela is always trying to measure up to that formidable action through which Bolivar liberated nations and in a way change the world, at least in the reduced area of his doings. The propaganda of the regime, actually, repeats daily through the state mass media that the current Venezuelan leader is The man of Latin America. He sees himself under the responsibility of the total and complete transformation of Venezuela and of the region. Interesting to point out how unnecessary would be to study higher education in any country, without analyzing the personality and personal approach to government as in the Venezuelan case. As it will be said on this working paper higher education and the universities are very much under the whims of the eccentric Venezuelan leader. He is right now the enfant terrible in the region. He seems to be a man who will always put the interest of his revolution, whatever that is, before the interest of the country. Infatuated with Fidel Castro he has developed a visceral hate for the Americans and has made several vitriolic attacks on the American leaders. To many Venezuelan he seems to be a man against his society. This situation would allow any analyst to figure out the role of leaders in government. Once elected are they free to choose the path of national development at wish or it is their obligation to interpret the best course possible for his country and lead in that direction? In the Venezuelan case the leader has chosen to advance his own revolucin bolivariana, no matter how outdated his proposals or the anachronism of his views and the damage he may cause the nation. Not been this the opportunity, any way, to describe this political and ideological leader, destined to become another Messiah, it will suffice to have a look at a typical portion of his speech, expressed in January 12,
5

See David Bushnell The Santander regime in Gran Colombia. University of Delaware Press. Newark. Delaware, 1954. P. 17.

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2004, a paragraph that shows clearly that the Venezuelan man in power is more a typical caudillo than a modern leader6 :

Are you afraid of violence? No, I am not. We have already been through this and we have learnt some lessons. If they would like to insist with violence, that could be their last hour, physical and political, because if their are going to try to create military units, I have already given the instructions to our military men: welcome them with bullets: I hope that nobody tries that crazy attack again because they have any p ossibility to succeed. The only thing that they have left, as they have already tried out, is the referendum, which I dont think that they will get, and even if they did, we will beat them and if they dont like it, that its their loss. If we get back to the situation where there are company owners that close up their companies, I have already dictated a decree to size them. That would be even better; I will give them to the workers. I hope that they dont do it because I size them. If any TV channel starts to encourage people to form a rebellion, I will size them too. I have the decree ready. It would be better for me if they did, because then the army will occupy them, they take the risk. I will give the order immediately: Take them up! and those who are inside will see, if they have weapons to defend themselves, but we will go with weapons, because that is how we defend a country. I cant go back to that situation where I was so weak, I took the country to the edge of a disaster, because if they had killed me, that would have created a war here. What I have done is to keep within the frame of the Constitution and give a demonstration of infinite tolerance, but I will not continue with this demonstration. I hope that nobody thinks about it. I dont want them to do it, but if they did, we are ready, with operational plans and the legal bases to size companies, the media and whatever, at the first opportunity that they get out of the Constitution. I am even prepared 7 psychologically .

The Venezuelan leader maintains views that many judge away from contemporary economic realties. According to the press information coming out of the Monterrey Summitt (U.S. Makes Trade Concessions at Summit New York Times January 14, 2004) he was the only leader to sign the final declaration with reservations because of his opposition to free trade. On the other hand He told reporters late Tuesday that he skipped the summit's lunch because he was on the phone with Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi planning a summit between Latin American and African nations. Evidently Venezuela expects to export his revolution.
7

No teme a la violencia? No le temo. Ya hemos pasado por todo eso, y hemos aprendido. Si ellos volvieran a insistir por el camino de la violencia, pudiera ser su final, fsico o poltico, porque si van a tratar de levantar unidades militares, yo he dado instrucciones a los militares: recbanlos a plomo, pues. Yo espero que a nadie se le ocurra esa locura de nuevo, porque no tiene ninguna posibilidad de xito. As que lo que a ellos les queda, como han intentado, es el referendo, difcilmente lo lograrn, y si lo lograran los vamos a derrotar, y al que no le guste que se rasque. Si caemos de nuevo en la situacin de empresarios que cierran sus empresas, yo tengo el decreto listo para tomarlas. Sera hasta mejor, se las entrego a los trabajadores. Ojal que no lo hagan porque se las quito. Si algunas plantas televisoras volvieran a azuzar a la gente a una rebelin, se las quito tambin. Tengo el decreto listo. Mejor para m si lo hicieran, porque estaran ocupadas militarmente, a riesgo de lo que fuese. Dara una orden, inmediatamente, Tmenla por asalto! y los que estn adentro vern, si tienen armas defindanse, pero vamos con las armas, porque un pas se defiende as. Yo no puedo caer de nuevo en la situacin de debilidad aquella en la que ca, y llev al pas al borde de un desastre, porque si a m me hubieran matado, aqu se prende una guerra. Yo lo que he hecho es mantenerme dentro de la Constitucin, y dar una demostracin de tolerancia infinita, pero no estoy dispuesto a seguirla dando. Ojal que a nadie se le ocurra. Yo no quiero que lo hagan, pero si lo hicieren estamos dispuestos ya con los planes operativos listos y los basamentos jurdicos para intervenir empresas, medios de comunicacin y lo que sea, en la nica situacin de que se salgan de la Constitucin. Estoy preparado psicolgicamente, inclusive

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This working paper deals with higher education in this country, a middle of the road nation in a region, which with the noted exceptions of Brazil and Mexico has not much to say in world affairs. After some decades of rather successful efforts to create a functional system of higher education in Venezuela, a revolutionary government is trying to spend all his strengths to change this society from zero grounds and in doing so export the ideas of revolution, in order to match the epics of the XIX Century Venezuelan leaders. In higher education the revolutionary government is trying nothing less than to re-create the university in such a way as to fit the ends and goals of the revolution. They refer to new models of the university, of a new set to rules to govern higher education. Apparently they have retorted to the old fashion pattern of behavior of any authoritarian and repressive regime, trying to control all the institutions of higher education as they have tried to control all institutions in this Venezuelan society. The theory behind the revolution is a mixture of bolivarianism as well as a very rudimentary textbook Marxism and many other addenda coming from different sources, like justicialismo, the Perons Argentinean version of populism. With the revolution came to power those who wanted to do so via the guerrilla movement of the sixties. Many of those are actually in power, in fact. In relation to their conceptual reference the Venezuelan revolution gives priority to what is call in justicialism the social economy. Anything contrary to that is anathema, would be neo liberalism, meaning capitalism. The revolution has a goal, first to satisfy the social needs, including what is called the social debt, and then it will take care of he economy. The poor is the target of this approach and the proposal seems simply, power should be transferred to the people in order to free them from poverty. In the meantime, of course, the leader retains power, because, after all, the leader is the people. In doing that an emotional bond is established between the leader and the people, leaving aside the rest of the society. Better said, excluding the rest of society. In that heroic endeavor the Army in combination with the people supports the leader8 . The revolution means permanent popular mobilization. University students would be part of the project, in this direction. The political construct of chavizmo, the doctrine in power these days in Venezuela, happens to be a mixture of the thoughts of Bolivar, Fidel Castro, Juan Domingo Pern and in general all the populist doctrines elaborated in the XIX and XX Centuries. This revolution is not only a movement with a very diffuse ideological platform; it is also the union de different groups, from the old Communist Party to some new political organization ad hoc to support the revolution. These groups have come to power for the first time in Venezuelan history and do not seem inclined to give up the privileges associated with power and apparently will do anything to cling to power9 . One salient characteristic of the revolution is the opposition to the values,
8

The Army has become another political party under the wings of the revolution. The leaders of the Army participate freely in national politics. 9 Of course, this is not the place to analyze the complexities of the thoughts, which are guiding the revolution in Venezuela. One aspect, which has been over sighted, is the biblical ad rural components of the new revolutionary dogma. In the first instance, for example, the permanent mentions made to the devil and to evil as analogous with wealth. In fact, there is a vast store of mythology in South American cultures concerning the devil. They usually come from the rural mentality, which is breaded, in the marginal intellectual development of this part of the region. Interesting to say, many of the leaders of the revolution are from rural and poor origins, particularly those who went to the Army. In Venezuela this is synonymous with people who cannot come to higher education except when fully financed by the state, like in the Army. Another element would be the continuous mention of the apocalypses and the end of civilization and the world. The fetishization of evil, in the image of the devil, is an image, which mediates the conflict between precapitalist

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which are known to come from the American society. This is a logical step taken by the rationality of the revolution, which is pro Cuba and anti American. The Venezuelan Minster of Education, for instance, once declared opposition to the hegemony of American values. Of course, democratic principles expect choice to be one value in itself and to oppose the hegemony of any set of values is fine. Nevertheless, this type of opposition to whatever comes from American society is just pure nonsense10 . For these reasons it could be said that higher education, the search for knowledge and the relationship between knowledge and development seems to be awkward questions to be asked these days in Venezuela. Academic freedom and institutional integrity seems to be outside the mainstream of the political and ideological interest of Venezuelan under the revolucin bolivariana, called by the lder mximo, the beautiful revolution. Beautiful as it may be higher education and the search for knowledge could be, after all, the ugly face of the Venezuelan revolution11 . It is impogrtant to realize that the term revolution has become almost synonymous with Latin America and the Caribbean, in the minds of general public both in USA and in Europe. The concept, which has prevailed, is that these revolutions involve no more than shits in power through violence within the elite of military men, business men and the Church. This concept is correct of the revolutions that took place in the XIX Century, generally guided by one man show. However, there are other types of revolution, closely related to the modernization process and to the need to answer the needs of the population in grand scale. Brazil under Fernando Henrique Cardozo or Chile under Lagos are good examples of this trend. Programs of industrialization, diversification and technological
modes of production, which is typical of the rural areas, particularly in Venezuela. Satan, the Devil, Cristo, the four horsemen of the apocalypses, has all been mentioned often in the official discourse of the revolution, since 1999. In fact, the whole revolution has been constructed as a ritual of purification, against all the evils of the past and in the intent to create a society free from the sins of the bastard origins of a society built under the guidance of the Devil, which is made analogous to neoliberalism. Against this mythic structure the revolution have developed their mythology. Marxism and other ideological alibis looks like cosmetic wrapping of this profound religious and folkloric stand of the revolution. Perhaps magic and rite can strengthen the collective conscience of Venezuelans. Without the legacy of cultures and without its rhetorical figures, images, fables, metaphors, and other imaginative creations the revolution could not attract the answer of the poor and uneducated masses. In this case the leader of the revolution appears like a kind of God or at least a magician that would produce miracles, as he repeatedly affirms. 10 The Minister of Education declared that while in a stop over in London, coming back from Iran, where he signed two cultural agreements, one of them on the cooperation of the two countries in the film industry. According to the Minister the Iranian films are not known in Venezuela, where only American films are shown. El Nacional, January 17, 2004. P/B-13. 11 Speaking about political leadership and populist leaders in Venezuela one is reminded of an episode in an old Sacha Guitry movie in which three robbers, having stolen seven pearls, sat down to divide the spoils. One begin the distribution, One for you and one for you and one for me; one for you and one for you and two for me. The two who were shorted protest, Why do you get three pearls when each of us gets only two. Because I am the leader And why are you the leader? Because I have three pearls Taken from May N. Diaz, Tonal, conservatism, responsibility, and authority in a Mexican town. University of California Press, 1966. P. 4.

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innovations were carried out during this new kind of revolution, along with the expansion of public education and the introduction of medical aid, social security and low-cost housing. Of course, they have never succeeded, since the problems are too great to be solved over night but the feeling is that this type of revolution are in the right track, facing the needs of the XXI Century. I the case of Venezuela there is the impression hat this is a n backward revolution, trying to impose views and practices that have failed elsewhere. The model to be imitated in the Venezuelan case is Cuba, which is a pathetic example of political tyranny and public inefficiency12 . Cuba is a single-track monotonous revolution that in spite of some achievements maintains a kind of medieval view of the world. In Cuba the operations of any institution is closely watched and dissidents are punished or incarcerated. There is no free press, no academic freedom, no institutional integrity, and no popular elections and lately they are trying to control the uses of the Internet. If this is the model to be followed by Venezuela the results would be a disaster and the future will be compromised13 .

Introduction
Let be stated very clearly at the very beginning of this working paper that Venezuela lives under a political system choose in a democratic election, in 1998. The government that took over in January 1999 is a legitimate government and the President Hugo Chavez Fras is a constitutional President. There is political instability but the predicament of the revolution to be a pacific one is an undeniable fact. The Venezuelan experience is quite complicated because of t at very reason. There is not the violence comparable to the one in Colombia, h or the situation in Central America during the seventies, or the Chilean terror under
12

It must be reinforced that contrary to Cuba in Venezuela there is a constitutional political system. However, contrary to public believe the Venezuelan revolution is not a majority government. For all the bravado of the leaders of the Venezuelan revolution about having the full support of the people let it be said here that when the call for a referendum to approve the new Constitution took place 68 per cent abstained. When the new Constitution was approved 46 per cent said yes to the new document. Those who said no, and those who abstained, accounted to 67 per cent of the electoral body. The new Constitution, in fact, was approved by 32.20 per cent of those able to vote. Both of this elections tool place in 1999, in April and in December. 13 According to some published information connections to Internet have been cut down recently. Cubans will not be able to use the state telephone system for the Internet and will become more isolated. Cuba joins countries like North Korea and Iran, among those who control the use of Internet. In this Caribbean island other mass media are controlled, like international cable TV. La Nacin. January 12, 2004. p/4. However, even after half a century since the arrival of Castro to power there are many Latin Americans that believe uncritically on the achievements of the revolution. The mythology of the revolution is a powerful ideological resource and the icons emerged of this revolution are still alive among the believers, like the image of Che Guevara. Of course, Cubans divided people between friends and enemies. Any one criticizing any aspect of Cuban affairs is an enemy, by definition. This is the scheme of the Venezuelan revolution, which has divided the population into friends and opponents, into patriots and counterrevolutionaries. In fact, the catalog of insults to the opponents of these twin revolutions is endless. In Venezuela one of the latest is to call apatridas anyone who does not support the regime in their diatribes against American imperialism. The Venezuelan regime has taken a very cynical stand on anti Americanism. In one hand they denounce American like Rice, Powell, Noriega, and Bush when they express opinions on the need to keep democracy afloat in Venezuela and scream foul because of the violations of national sovereignty, while there are some 20.000 Cubans in Venezuela, in all sort of activities including those more sensitive to national security.

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Pinochet, or the persecution of dissidence and the suppression of civic rights like in Cuba. In spite of the efforts of the revolution to weaken the institutional set of the Venezuelan society, most of these remain, particularly the mass media and the intellectuals, openly discussing the pros and contra of the revolution. Certainly there are some signs of a repressive behavior in the making, with threats and intimidations, which are definitely causing some anxiety in the society at large. Violence is been bred in the daily confrontation between the revolution and her enemies. By definition an enemy is any one, which is not with the revolution. The control of the public administration means that those who are not members of the groups that support the revolution are risking their jobs and employment. People who signed approving a recall referendum are supposedly being denied access to state employment, for instance, and are paying a price for being in favor of the mentioned above recall referendum14 . But other than that the revolution has managed to operate under the accepted fact that the country is at peace, with the exception of the number of deaths caused in the opportunity of a coup dtat that failed, simply because there was another coup detat within the first one, in the very controversial events of April 11, 2003, when the President was deposed for some hours and then reinstated in his job, an event that has given rise to the iconography of the revolution15 . However, since he took over as head of the government he begins a series of action which objective was to take control of the Venezuelan society. That is to say, not only to fill up the responsibilities of the executive power but any other institution in the nation and to reorganize Venezuelan society according to a new set of rules. For this reason the country changed name, from the one g iven to the country at birth in 1830, Republica de Venezuela, to another one, Repblica Bolivariana de Venezuela. A new constitution was approved by the Parliament and new rules were written in order to allow the President to extend his period from five to six years and to allow for immediate reelection. Mind to say that according to most of economic and social indicators the government that begin his time with optimism and best wishes has not been a success and by 2004 it has lead to political confrontation and social chaos. The government is still a democracy but the logic of the
14

Unconfirmed information show that some people in the experimental universities are trying to harass in the political front those who signed calling for the referendum against the leader of the revolution. List of those Faculty members who signed the need for the recall are being threatened. This cannot be done in the autonomous universities. 15 The country has listened countless times how the brave President was released after the masses came to the Palace and to the Army garrison to claim for that release. The truth is less dramatic. The President renounced the Presidency, according to the highest Army officer at the time, and was taken away. While this happened some civilians and Army man tried to take power, but created in the span of few hours such chaos and made so many mistakes that another group of the Army decided to move away and called back the President. Since then the Army has been very close to the President, so much that it must be reinforced that the revolution is by all means a government of the Army. The President himself is a former lieutenant colonel. Whenever he defines himself he would always say that he is a soldier and use of the paraphernalia of the military language to address the nation. This he does quite often. Latin Americans in general and the Venezuela leader in particular have probably never heard the story of Kierkegaards conversation with Christian VIII, in which the King asked him for his views on how a King should conduct himself. Kierkegaard said such things as: First, it would be a good thing for the King to be ugly (Christian VIII was very good-looking) Then he should be deaf and blind, or at least behave as if he were, for this solve many difficultiesand then he must not say much, but must have a little standard speech that can be used on all occasions. P opper tells this story in his autobiography (1974). This does not apply to populist leaders, who can speak for hours saying not much.

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events points out in the direction of an open dictatorship and to the rule of a single man, the caudillo trying to concentrate all power in his hands, an old Latin American routine and in fact a Venezuelan known habit, plagued by this political way of handling public affairs, almost since its inception as a country, in 1830. At the beginning of 2004 the President has become a personal leader that is almost in total control of the instrument of power, in Venezuela. He control the Army he is himself a retired Lieutenant Colonel, who tried two times come to power via a coup detat, one of them provoking hundreds of dead- and via the Army he has militarize public administration. And he controls almost everything else, the Parliament, the Supreme Court, the oil industry. Whenever he is not in control of a given institution he has devised to create a parallel set of institutions. Business association, worker association has parallel associations. Whenever a tribunal judges against his will he just publicly disapproved, like in the case of the more than 10.000 Cuban medical practitioners which are illegally providing this service in the country, which were declared illegal but they continue to receive the favor of the government. He personally conducts international relations and in fact is trying to organize a political movement in a world scale. He sees himself as a leader of the dispossessed all over the world. He is, of course, openly anti-American, one of the basic ingredients of Latin-American revolutionaries16 . In the Venezuelan case the revolution is effectively anti. Their ideological stand is actually defined because they are against the supposed long list of actions taken by the m etropolitan powers to dominate this and others regions of the Third World, like globalization, modernization and industrialization. The most visible tendency of the ideological and political approach of the regime is anti intellectualism17 . This is comprehensive, in as much the Venezuelan
16

Latin-American revolutionaries from the left have certain set of immovable propositions. The main one is to blame Americans for the under-development of the Region. They adore nostalgia and the wish to return to the origins of time in order to re-build society. All the clichs of these proposals are alive in Venezuela at the beginning of the XXI century. In matters of higher education they specially thinks that the university should follow the ideals of the Argentinean students of 1918 and their vigorous declaration for a university of the people. A detailed analysis of these views in the book by The anti-American mythology consists of constellations of emotions, attitudes, sentiments and vaguely structured ideas that reject pluralism, the state of law, modern secular humanism, and freedom as a self-constitutive value. See the book by the Venezuelan thinker Rangel, Carlos, 1976, Du bon sauvage au bon revolutionnaire (Paris: Robert Laffont) There is an English version: Latin Americans: their love-hate relationship with the United States (New Brunswick, N. J. 1987) In relation to the university In the winter of 1918, a group of students at the Universidad de Cordoba, in Northern Argentina, launched a movement that would have vast consequences for the entire continent. One paragraph explains the objectives of those students: The 1918 Reform was the result of a student movement for university and societal democratization, and constituted a grand emancipatory epic that opened a heroic era in the development of Latin American universities. At that time, the student movement was advocating the secularization and democratization of universities, which up to that point formed a very elitist, traditional system. Student leaders criticized the previous model as a school of castes, and proposed to organize a selfgoverning, autonomous university, able to establish solid linkages with the community. Reformists expressed a passionate commitment for democracy, both within and outside of the university, and perceived themselves as the moral conscience of society. These are the views that are at the core of the Universidad Bolivariana de Venezuela, the university of the Venezuelan revolution, opened in 2003. 17 Anti-intellectualism is expressed often in the disqualification of academic credentials. For instance, Senior Hoover fellow and professor of political science, former Provost of Stanford University Condoleesa Rice, was referred by the Venezuelan government as a person who did not know how to read or write. She is now the National Security advisor. An accomplished pianist and author she can hardly be insulted in those terms. But these vitriolic attacks are common in a political style which objective is to provoke reactions. Vargas Llosa,

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revolution is mainly a revolution accomplished by the Army and most of the members of the administration are people from this powerful institution. The Army is typically antiintellectual. They are trained to give and to o bey orders. Intellectuals, on the other hand, are used to express criticism and to accept plural views and multiple issues to any given problem. This anti-intellectualism is extended to the ways these types of autocratic military regimes see higher education and above all the most advanced stages of higher learning. In others words, autocratic regime at best do not trust any institution able to escape their tight control and the university is the perfect institution not to be trusted18 . On the other, he is facing a fierce political opposition. But he is still a popular leader, though perhaps almost exclusively among those who feel protected by his demagoguery and populism. The upper and middle classes are quite against his internal and external policies and have tried without success to unseat him. The opposition is now trusting constitutional procedures and has requested a referendum. The government is doing everything possible to avoid this route and in fact many Venezuelan feel that the President will not allow to be counted in an open expression of public will. The institutions he does not control, like the mass media and the private banks are under attack by the government. They have created in the first instance what is being called an alternative and parallel functioning official apparatus. The President is financing hundreds of radio and TV stations and has the capacity to organize al of them private and public, into what are called cadenas. This means that a Presidential order suffice to have all radio and TV in order to unify public opinion. Concerning the banks he has threaten them quite often and at the beginning of 2004 is threatening the Central Bank in order to obtain portions of the international resources for internal expenses. If this brief explanation is enough to understand what is happening in his is what is happening with Venezuelan higher education. In fact, he is creating an alternative set of institutions and he is organizing an ideological justification for an intervention of autonomous universities, which are still away from the control of e government. Academic
the eminent Peruvian writer was also called analfabeto and intellectuals, in general, have been called estpidos ilustrados. On Rice Chavez asked: Am I not right to call her a meddling illiterate?'' Of course, the Venezuelan regime is not any longer the docile and reliable partner of USA. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez told the United States that The United States has no business sticking its nose into Venezuela. Let it look after its own problems. This is a language unacceptable to Americans, long accustomed to conciliatory messages from Venezuela. If the Americans mismanaged relationship with the Venezuela revolution they will spark the strong and irrational forces of Venezuelan nationalism. The Venezuelan leaders are counting on that in as much it would strength the revolution. Pro American leaders of the opposition expect to unseat the leaders of the revolution via a recall referendum. The extreme right of the Venezuelan political spectrum is expecting this to happen and to take over. This is the bitter struggle being held n this country, the extreme left, or for better or for worse the extreme right. The moderates and rational center have no place in Venezuela, apparently. If the pendulum theory is correct there is the right after the left and vivecersa. Important to say that the Venezuelan regime has not needed to expropriate resources, sine the wealth of the country, oil, was already nationalized in 1975. 18 The Venezuelan government is, as a matter of fact controlled by the Army. There is the number of civilians in different jobs in the government, but the whole environment comes from the outlook of those coming from the barracks. In fact, in many ways the regime is a kind of brotherhood of those who entered the Army at a given moment. Friendship and loyalty is well appreciated within this group and they are the blood and heart of the revolution.

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values are being violated. But this has been done under a new methodology, which will be explained later on. In any case, he has opened the university of the revolution, Universidad Bolivariana de Venezuela, which is a doctrinarian approach to university life and it is the political arm of the revolution. The ideological and theoretical stands of the government are embraced under the predicament of the re-foundation of the university. This institution will be the place from where the government will use the students movements affiliated with the revolution to express ideological and political views. For instance, when the Monterrey Summit took place in January 2004, that very same day the Universidad Bolivariana de Venezuela opened a Counter Monterrey Summit and proceeded to publicly ask for the American Ambassador to leave the country19 . All of these actions are legal. Indeed this government has an obsession for legality. On t e h other hand, is able to use any political tricks to survive and achieved their goals. Any how, the government is now in control of higher education and opposition from within academia is weak and sporadic. This would need a profound explanation of higher education which is beyond this document, but it might be said that there is the feeling that as long as the government pay the salaries of the members of the faculty and applied soft policies for access to higher education an old problem in Venezuela, where the demand was larger that the offer, problems are minor. Values and principles are beyond the domestic views of Venezuela academics, it seems. In the meantime the government control, of course, the central organizations that manage higher education. The Oficina de Planificacin del Sector Universitario (OPSU) and the Minister of Higher Education, created under this administration, are enough to be instrument of regulatory actions. On the other hand, the government is applying in higher education the views of the sixties and in fact many of those who tried to reform higher education along the lines of the institutions at the service of the social needs and not to the needs of knowledge are now in power. The view is that universities were at the service of the national elite and that this needed to be change in order to have a more democratic society, praising equal opportunities and equal results. In science and technology the order of the day is to democratize the scientific research and to take the scientist out of the elite laboratories and have them instrumental in this intention to democratize science. All in all academic freedom and integrity of the university is not an issue in Venezuela, these days. This is a point to be strengthened with emphasis in this working paper, later on. But it should be said at this moment that the attacks to higher education in Latin America and the Caribbean, by all types of governments are legendary. By attacks is meant the suppression to academic freedom and to institutional integrity. In fact, in very few countries in the region the necessary institutional continuity has been preserved and both instances of academic values have been protected instead of threatened and violated. Rather the opposite has been the pattern. Indeed, institutions has been closed down, professor exiled and student imprisoned. Whenever the political forces have been guided away from the democratic procedures higher education has suffered in this region. From Mexico to Argentina there are numerous examples of this confrontation between authoritarian regimes and the academic institutions. The methodology is well known. Pinochet, in Chile, took
19

Bolivarian Federation of Students, TV program, January 12, 2004.

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over all universities and put them under the control of the State. Castro in Cuba did the same. Diaz Ordz in Mexico massacred university students in the infamous Tlatelolco affair. Perez Jimenez in Venezuela had absolute control of higher education during the yen years of his military dictatorship. In fact, the struggle between academia and dictatorship has been the conflict between the army and the civil institution of the university. This is the typical clash between two ways to see social and economic development, the one sided view of the autocrat and the natural pluralism of the university, open by definition to contrasting views on the different issues involved in the realm of ideas. A different approach is being taken in Venezuela, a South American country. The government is applying a new methodology in order to have the whole higher education system under state control20 . This is why this document could deserve some importance, not so much because of the country but because this new methodology is proven lethal in order to destroy the academic values that are essential to preserve freedom and integrity at the institutions of higher learning.

Venezuela in the context of the region

Carlos Fuentes, the Mexican intellectual, has written that Latin America is like a mouse sleeping next to an elephant. Let the United States roll over and you run the risk of being crushed. The mouse has to nimble 21 . This is not only unfair but also untrue. The region is more than a mouse and is not sleeping at al. Brazil, just t mention the largest country n the region in the ninth place n the world ranking of total GNP an Mexico is making rapid advances to become a voice to be heard in international affairs. It is not the case of Venezuela. This country is not a player in world affairs, in spite of retaining some importance as one of the most important providers of oil, to the American market as well as to have some power within the region which can be manipulated in order to achieve being a kind of regional power, at least face to face the small countries of Central American and the Caribbean. Any way, after some forty years of plural democracy Venezuela is being under a regime that came to power via democratic procedures. Once in power, however, the government became a Trojan horse and changed from using democratic procedures to the regime ruled by an absolute leader. The name of the country was changed, a new constitution was issued and a centralized view of development under state control became a reality. This new leader found ideological inspiration deep in the thoughts of those who two centuries ago fought the Spaniards for Independence. To say the least this new regime is anachronism
20

State control of higher education is nothing new in Venezuela. Given the role of the state in running society the intervention of the state in higher education is something to reckon with, at the beginning of any analysis. Public institutions are funded by the state and this entity regulates even the salaries of the faculty members. In 1982, for instance, the way salaries and benefits were regulated and since then every movement of the faculty members is regulated by these criteria. They are n employees of the public administration and rather are a ot bureaucracy of their own, but the state pay them and regulates their entire career. 21 Carlos Fuentes, After I told you so Newsweek Special Issue December 2003-February 2004.

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and in some instances an awkward way to rule a modern society. When the contemporary world has given ways to a paradigm of progress supported by freedom and pluralism; when nations are being force by way of historical circumstances to a very strong commitment to democracy, the rule of law and a market-based economy under the axis of free trade, a small nation is doing otherwise. In spite of the enormous failures of the state control societies in the last Century, Venezuela is trying these failed models of endogenous development and self-sufficient economy. For this purpose they have fund not other model than Cuba, a nation among the poorest in the world ruled by an autocrat who has been in absolute power for almost half a century. In this line of thought the Venezuela leader, which came to power in 1999, speaks often of his plan to be in power until 2021. In the meantime such a country like Venezuela is in urgent need to focus her educational aims in terms of very clear strategies for development. It is not easy to organize strategies for development in any society. There are many available options. One of them is the strengthening of higher education and to be able to do that a country needs a modernize system linked to the international academic world. In this case Venezuela has a simply dilemma, either to opt to join the international academic area and t compete in that difficult space or to choose internationalism and solidarity with countries like Cuba, which have failed precisely to do that, meaning to become an active member of the modernizing world. After decades of isolation Cuba is an example of the wrong direction to be taken by small countries, which have to balance their political and ideological ideals with the naked truth of real politicks. Venezuela was on the road to modernization but the revolution has inclined the country to go in another direction. Endogenous and self-sufficient development is a very attractive proposition, but very unpractical. The world at the beginning of the XXI Century is definitely a globalize scenery. The war on terrorism, perhaps a terror in itself, has changed the parameters of the leeway of each particular nation. One of the tragic consequences of this ideological framework is the need for nations to take sides, unhappily either against or in favor of the forces devoted to irrational behavior leading to destroy. The terrorist actions are not erratic but the results of a vision, which is against whatever, we call the cultural tradition of the West. No country can escape these dilemmas. In the case of Venezuela, a country of modest proportion in the world affairs the answer has to be a careful and qualified way in order to join the leading advances in science and technology, retaining the capacity to choose and to adopt and adapt whatever better fits their needs as a nation and a society. But this has to be done without taking emotional stands that have proved unpractical and actually costly in terms in those needs, though they may serve the purposes of fragmentary goals of personal nature. On the other hand, improving the access to the school system is a political decision, but also a technical one. While academics cannot dispute the right of the politician to do as they please they have a credible voice in order to alert those politicians of the mistakes that can be taken when seeing only one aspect of the whole problem. In the Venezuelan case this may be the naive idea to believe that training people can rapidly achieve development. This is much more complex question which will not be discussed within the limits of this working paper. It is worthwhile mentioning that policies to solve problems can have effects that are contrary to the objectives stated as goals of the policy. Good will and better purposes are not recipes for success, in matters of social issues, full as they are of complex variables.

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Venezuela in 2004
After five years in power the rulers of Venezuela seem unable to change course toward progress and the country seems to be driven to chaos and disorder. The social glue that keeps society working as a unity is disappearing and substituted by the state of anarchy typical of societies that would fall into long periods of stagnation, due to incompetence, inefficiency and corruption. Unemployment is high (around 20 per cent of the labor force), the informal economy accounts for almost fifty per cent of trade, social violence takes some 11.000 deaths a year, in a country of some 22 million people. Social insecurity is endemic and the administration seems to be involved in even greater degrees of corruption. Being the state the only wealthy actor of the economy whoever control power has available the income of the country and can use that at will. When the checks and balances, which are essential in a democracy, are not working at all the temptation to become an absolute ruler is easy to understand. This is what is happening in Venezuela at the beginning of 2004 and it is within this context that higher education has to be understood. To state this in simply terms, the regime is taking over the universities and all the institutions of higher education. But is not doing so via the open intervention but by employing a kind of new methodology. In fact, as a judge of a U. N. tribunal said, in a case taken into his court: Without a firearm, machete or any physical weapon, you caused the death of thousands of innocent civilian22 . The Venezuelan leader is responsible for the deaths for hundreds of people, when in 1992 he tried and failed a coup detat that put him into the road to power, in 1999, via democratic elections. But in his dealing with higher education he has taken a very shrewd tactics, by intimidation and opening the way of fear, threatening to kill his enemies and to close down institutions that are not under his control. This ways to handle public affairs had raised a strong political opposition and at the beginning of 2004 there is an open conflict between the government and the opposition. This situation is leading these opposite political forces into irreconcilable positions that are damaging the chances and opportunities of Venezuelan society for a stable course into the contemporary political and economic arena. Important to point out that contrary to the feeling of the political opposition to the revolution, this political movement came to stay. They have the support of Cuba and USA cannot do much to express heir negative vision of this revolution, except to protest and try to affect events without any open intervention. Venezuela supplies Havana with up to 100,000 barrels a day of crude oil and refined products, much of which are being resold internationally by Cuba, which pockets the profits. Even so, Havana reportedly owes Caracas more than $900 million for oil shipments. Chavez's close ties to Havana have been accompanied by the influx of thousands of young Cuban males to Venezuela. Close to 20,000 Cuban nationals are believed to be in Venezuela. The Chavez government has acknowledged that thousands of Cubans work as teachers, doctors and sports trainers in poor slums called "barrios," where more than half of Venezuelas 24 million people live. Cuban nationals actively are advising the Chavez government on policy decisions and that Chavez visits Havana regularly for consultations with Castro. The Bush administration
22

Navanathem Pillay, presiding judge of a U.N. tribunal that convicted Ferdinand Nahimana of using his Rwanda radiobroadcast to incite the 1994 genocide against the Tutsy minority. TIME. December 15, 2003.

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does not appear to have any other options for dealing with Chavez and he knows it. Washington is unlikely to do anything that would affect Venezuelan oil exports to the United States, particularly in a presidential election year and at a time when oil prices are relatively high. Attempts by the Bush administration to obtain OAS sanctions against Chavez for undemocratic behavior also likely would fail. Many Caribbean and Central American countries receive oil from Venezuela on preferential payment terms, while other countries such as Argentina and Brazil are resentful of what they perceive as bullying by Washington over issues such as trade and Cuba. Chavez has weathered previous U.S. attempts to build majority support within OAS for some kind of statement criticizing the deterioration of democracy in Caracas, and he likely believes he easily can overcome new attempts. Two factors are responsible for Chavez's resiliency throughout Venezuela's five-year-old political crisis, which has seen a military rebellion in 2001 and a two-month oil strike in December 2002 and January 2003: a large stream of oil export revenues and a divided, weak political opposition. The Bush administration can make noise, but cannot influence either of these factors. Venezuela's oil revenue streams are a function of world market conditions and there is no way that the local political opposition can do to change that. All of this arguments show how complex is the Venezuelan political situation and still more than that how higher education cannot be understood without this previous analysis. The experience is that in many cases people willing to appraise the internal operation of any given higher education system are always requesting facts and statistical information. This is relevant and should be done, because otherwise people do not have proper information about the dimension and role of higher education in a given country (See in this working paper Appendix N 1 Brief dossier of Venezuelan higher education: some quantitative and additional information). However, in the current Venezuelan case the analysis should focus on macro ideological and political variables, since the role of higher education is subsidiary to he objectives of the revolution and it is trying to understand this political movement that higher education would reveal their real face. One of these elements is the Cuban factor. A second factor is the ideology of equality that consider that Venezuelan should go back to a kind of state of nature, because they have been corrupted through times, when Bolivar was deceived by his friends and foes. Since then, people has been deceived and only the current revolution will be able to rebuild society. It is the old arguments of Rousseau. According to the Gospel of the revolution only the poor can be redeemed, because the rich have exploited them, being rich synonymous with oligarchs. This is why the revolution has to destroy neoliberalism and by extension capitalism, in order to create a new society, that would be built along the lines of the good savage, that myth that is connected with socialism as the only source of happiness. This is the nave view of the revolution, inspired in the thoughts of Christ, the writings of Rousseau and more recently of Fanon, one of the icons of the revolutionary thoughts in Venezuela23 .
23 A paragraph of Rousseaus a discourse on the origins of inequality is good to reveal the kind of moral indignation which sustains the ideology of the revolution: I have endeavored to trace the origin and progress of inequality, and the institution and abuse of political societies, as far as these are capable of being deduced from the nature of man merely by the light of reason, and independently of those sacred dogmas which give the sanction of divine right to sovereign authority. It follows from this survey that, as there is hardly any inequality in the state of nature, all the inequality which now prevails owes its strength and growth to the

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The Cuban Factor

No analysis is possible on Venezuela under the current situation without mentioning what could be called the Cuban factor. Cuba is an inspiration for the Venezuelan regime. In fact, there is such a closed relationship that between the two countries that has emerged a kind of dual government, with Cubans having a role not often seeing before, between two sovereign countries24 . The Cuba leader is a permanent presence in Venezuelan affairs. This relationship is very much welcome by those Venezuelans that since the early sixties have tried to have in Venezuela a revolution modeled on the Cuban one. On the other hand, the political opposition is incensed about this situation and many feel outraged by the Cuban peaceful invasion. However, the whole story seems to be the aspiration of a continuity of the Cuban revolution into the Venezuelan one and the transference of the mantra of leadership from the aging Cuban leader to the young would-be-Bolivar. If this is possible only time will say. The Cuban factor in Venezuela these days reminds of the document entitled: An Open Letter to the American People A Nation At Risk: The Imperative For Educational Reform (April 1983).
development of our faculties and the advance of the human mind, and becomes at last permanent and legitimate by the establishment of property and laws. Secondly, it follows that moral inequality, authorized by positive right alone, clashes with natural right, whenever it is not proportionate to physical inequality; a distinction which sufficiently determines what we ought to think of that species of inequality which prevails in all civilized countries; since it is plainly contrary to the law of nature, however defined, that children should command old men, fools wise men, and that the privileged few should gorge themselves with superfluities, while the starving multitude are in want of the bare necessities of life (1753).
24

The Cuban Foreign Minister expressed the character of this close relationship when he said, in Caracas: En un reconocimiento realizado por Javier a los diplomticos cubanos que sirven en la sede diplomtica de nuestro pas en Caracas, por la manera en que apoyan cada uno de los programas de colaboracin, Felipe (Felipe Prez Roque) expres que esa era la embajada cubana del privilegio: La nica, dijo, que est en un pas en Revolucin. Ellos defendieron con sus pechos el espacio de Cuba, atacado por los fascistas el 11 de abril de 2002. Y para saludar la presencia del embajador venezolano en La Habana, Julio Montes, afirm que ambas sedes son una sola, pero con oficinas en las capitales de los dos pases (A recognition expressed by Javier to the Cubans diplomats that work at the diplomatic seat of our country in Caracas, for the way they support each collaboration program. Felipe (Felipe Prez Roque) expressed that it was a privileged Cuban embassy: "The only one that is in a country under revolution. They have defended the space of Cuba with their bodies, space that was attacted by the fascist on 11th April 2002". And to salute the presence of the Venezuelan ambassador in La Havana, Julio Monts affirmed that both seats are as one, but with offices in the capitals of both countries" See Juventud Rebelde, September 2, 2003. The Cuban Ambassador plays in Venezuela the role of the proconsul. To some Venezuelans he looks like the typical American Ambassador that used to co govern countries in Central America or the Caribbean. The reading of Venezuelan newspapers does not provide the nature of this relationship. It is much more illustrative to read the Cuban newspapers, like Granma and Juventud Rebelde. Strange as this partnership could be it is comparable as the equally inexplicable relationship between Italys Mussolini or Germanys Hitler, in the early 1940s. It is a kind of intra neocolonialism of which there are few examples. One example perhaps is the participation of Cuba in Nicaraguan affairs, when the Sandinista Revolution (1979-1990). All of this is done, by the way, in the name of what is called international solidarity. As recently as on January 24 the leader of the revolution spoke in public as how Cuba and Venezuela have become a single country.

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Our Nation is at risk. Our once unchallenged preeminence in commerce, industry, science, and technological innovation is being overtaken by competitors throughout the world. This report is concerned with only one of the many causes and dimensions of the problem, but it is the one that under girds American prosperity, security, and civility. We report to the American people that while we can take justifiable pride in what our schools and colleges have historically accomplished and contributed to the United States and the well-being of its people, the educational foundations of our society are presently being eroded by a rising tide of mediocrity that threatens our very future as a Nation and a people. What was unimaginable a generation ago has begun to occur--others are matching and surpassing our educational attainments. If an unfriendly foreign power had attempted to impose on America the mediocre educational performance that exists today, we might well h viewed it as an act of war. As it stands, we ave have allowed this to happen to ourselves. We have even squandered the gains in student achievement made in the wake of the Sputnik challenge. Moreover, we have dismantled essential support systems, which helped make those gains possible. We have, in effect, been committing an act of unthinking, unilateral educational disarmament. Our society and its educational institutions seem to have lost sight of the basic purposes of schooling, and of the high expectations and disciplined effort needed to attain them. This report, the result of 18 months of study, seeks to generate reform of our educational system in fundamental ways and to renew the Nation's commitment to schools and colleges of high quality throughout the length and breadth of our land. That we have compromised this commitment is, upon reflection, hardly surprising, given the multitude of often conflicting demands we have placed on our Nation's schools and colleges. They are routinely called on to provide solutions to personal, social, and political problems that the home and other institutions either will not or cannot resolve. We must understand that these demands on our schools and colleges often exact an educational cost as well as a financial one.

This seems to be the case of Venezuela. A country trained in democracy, managed to develop a higher educational system with many failures but still with some grounds for achievement, having trained an elite that somehow have contributed to development. But then, somehow, unexpectedly, the country has fallen into a regime ruled by a revolution a la cubana. With the enormous difference that the Cuban Revolution came to power after a armed rebellion, while the Venezuelan counterpart came to power via popular election. Which is the instrument being used by the political opposition in Venezuela to unseat the regime. The revolution a la cubana means the state rule society and the one-man show in political terms. This has lead into a kind of partnership between the two countries. The strategy has changed, not the goal. Cuba tried to invade Venezuela by military force and failed, in the sixties. But now they have succeeded, by peaceful ways. Indeed, there is a silent invasion from Cuba is taking over Venezuela. Thousand of medical doctors, sport trainers, teachers and community workers, political advisers and all sort of technicians from Cuba are operating in Venezuela and many Venezuelans are being sent to Cuba, by the thousand, for training in community affairs, to study medicine in their universities and Venezuela is supplying oil to the Cuban regime in terms that many judged against the economic interest of Venezuela. It is the incredible case of a less developed country taking over a much more developed one with the second resigning quietly into submission.

Cmo aumentar la calidad acadmica

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This situation has been explained somewhere else25 . Suffice to say here that in higher education matters the so-called Cuban model is being implemented in Venezuela, following the pattern of the total control of the university, by the regime. No university autonomy is recognized, no participation of the members of the university community in their government and the complete submission of the institution to the goals of the revolution. Venezuela is trying to copy down what is supposed to be the innovation of the Cuban regime in education, la municipalizacin. This is an idea through which the equation of higher education is changed: instead of the students coming into the campuses the institution comes to whenever the student is. This might be the eventual role of the university created by the regime, one institution that will probably become one of the largest universities in the world, reaching out to operate in each one of the 330 municipalities of the country. This idea has a rapid effect, double. In one hand the government controls quite easily the people coming into higher education. On the other hand it lowers the standard of the university. This institution has established the equation thorough which students and members of the faculty comes into the campus, a space where all the resources that are necessary for higher learning are integrated. To try otherwise is a fatal mistake, justified only in the above-mentioned purpose of political and ideological control. Of course, when leaders apply personal and arbitrary public policies mistakes are bound to happen. This is unfortunately the Venezuelan case. In matters of very few years the long standing effort made by this country during almost half a century will be destroy. Reparations of this damage would take years to reverse. Before moving on it could be said that what is being call here the Cuban factor is a fascinating issue concerning the relationship between two nations. Venezuela is creating the conditions for a take-over by Cuba. Through the mechanisms of the bi-national cooperation between these two countries the objectives of the evolution are clearer. In fact, it has created a profound dependence, which is against common sense. The rationale of this relationship is more than obvious, to organize a two-front of political maneuver in order to organize a revolution that would include all the countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. Venezuela is playing the role of the provider and Cuba the role of the dominating actor. In short, Venezuela is becoming a subsidiary state, submissive to the will power of the domineering expanding country, in this case Cuba. The Venezuelan leader is expecting to inherit the revolutionary mantra from the Cuba leader, and in the meantime time is providing Cuba with all the resources available. In fact, the romantic and childish inclination of the Venezuelan leader toward the Cuba leader and to he Cubans is unparallel. The Cuban Ambassador in Venezuela plays a very important and crucial role in Venezuelan political life and quite often appears in public functions as another functionary of the Venezuelan administration. Of course, nothing is said about the predicaments of the Cuban people, the internal political and ideological situation of this Caribbean island and less of all about the undemocratic ways the Cuban regime rules in that country. Nothing is said about the control that the Cuban regime has on all the institutions and in fact the Venezuelan regime is trying to imitate the Cuba situation in all respects. Of concern in this working paper is that since in
25

See my book, Cuba y China son opciones acadmicas para Venezuela?, Un ejercicio de educacin superior comparada internacional Caracas, Venezuela: Universidad Central de Venezuela, 2000.

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Orlando Albornoz

Cuba here are not any signs of academic freedom and institutional integrity, Venezuela eventually will follow this trend and suppress these values. If there is any logic on how events develop this is definitely in the immediate future. The question seems to be simply when and how will the Venezuelan regime takes full control of all institutions associated with communications, like the mass media and higher education. This would include full intervention of the institutions of higher education, including the private sector. On the other hand, Venezuela is a society that through the years has created strong bonds with plural democratic procedures and these will be a powerful deterrent to these purposes, which are obvious and openly proposed by the regime. Any way, dignity demands that a country, as well as a person, affirm above all his independence. By entering into this awkward relationship with Cuba, Venezuela is loosing independence. This is related in higher education terms to cutting down the plural set of relationships that the country had until 1999 to enter one-single track relationship, that to Cuba, which to many is a passage to the past and to unwelcome undemocratic forms of government. Of course, the association between these two countries is far from disinterested. In fact, vested interest is visible. Cuba obtains the possibility of well-needed help, in order to break their isolation, this time with a friendly powerful neighbor. This is hardly flattering for the provider. But in this case the provider expects to regain this kind of investment by obtaining the principal role as leader of the continental revolution, a revolution that may live only in the febrile imagination of those who holds hand into circumstantial power. If Memmi words were to be taken dependence is explained because it fulfill a need. Cuba has the need for material goods otherwise inaccessible, as well as transferring a civilian army in order to find out employment for his people, and Venezuela fills a need, that of becoming a real revolutionary, in the eyes of Latin Americans. Contrary to the Cuban case, he Venezuelan leader is an elected functionary without the charisma of the successful warrior, but through this relationship apparently he hopes to become real in terms of the symbolism of a revolutionary. In fact, military speaking the Venezuelan leader was defeated twice, to finally get to power via electoral process. Whatever the outcome the real and concrete relationship between Cuba and Venezuela, as well as the symbolic identification between the thoughts of their two founding fathers, Bolivar and Marti, is not to be lost in the development of Venezuelan higher education. This wills means spreading the concepts of academic populism and getting away from those that define academic capitalism. In the second case we are speaking abut competition and competitiveness, democratic but rigorous selection of those more able to follow higher education and the diversification of the system as to allow those who cannot do so to enter other institutions of higher education, means internationalization of academic efforts, the participation of the private sector, enter the area of production and productivity of knowledge and so on. However, all these characteristics associated with academic capitalism are anathema to the revolution. They will favor academic populism; which is simply define as the lowering of all academic standards and the transformation of the academic enterprise into an institution at the service of the revolution. This is exactly what the regime is doing when opening in 2004 the Universidad Bolivariana de Venezuela. This question will be examined later on in this working paper.

Cmo aumentar la calidad acadmica

Orlando Albornoz

The Cuban factor helps to explain many of the nuances of the Venezuelan revolution. There is no doubt that Cuba has found a key benefactor and heir apparent to the cause of derailing the U.S.'s agenda in Latin America in the Venezuelan President. Venezuela has become the biggest financial supporter of Cuba since the Soviet Union left Cuba more than a decade ago. Over the past three years, Cuba has run up a massive debt of close to $ 1000 million for oil shipped by Venezuela's state oil company26 . Oil shipments are a crucial subsidy that is helping keep the island nation's economy afloat as it struggles with the impact of endemic mismanagement, declining sugar sales and longstanding U.S. sanctions. The oil industry is in trouble, in Venezuela. A most distinguish economist from the UCV and the Academy, has declared recently that PDVSA has seen her business logic taken away and this is crippling the industry27 It must be said here that from his very first days in power the Cuban revolution has had a keen appreciation for the strategic importance of Venezuela and its huge oil reserves. Indeed the country was one of the first targets of his campaign to export revolution. In 1966 Cuba sent some of his closest collaborators to fight in Venezuela. Some were killed in combat before the contingent returned to Havana three years later. Any way, when PDVSA helped to lead a general strike against the revolution in 2002/2003 the government answered by firing close to 20.000 workers and consolidated control of the company. On the other hand close to the same number of Cubans people have found employment in Venezuela, in the areas of health, education and sports, in a massive influx of Cubans being sent to Venezuela by the Cuban government, at the request of Venezuela, while Venezuela is sending thousand to Cuba to be rained in different areas, as well as sending sick people to be treated n Cuban hospitals. Of course, this relationship will last only as long and the two revolutions are going on. If any of the two were to change this relationship will also change, because it stand only on circumstantial interest on both sides.

Higher education in 2004: higher education for all

The regime is applying this new methodology to expand higher education and to have it under control. Without closing down institutions of the public sector, without attempting to attack the strong private sector of this educational system, without exiling or imprisoning members of the faculty, without persecuting students, the regime is obtaining the same results and in a very efficient ways. It is killing the spirit of academic freedom and institutional integrity. This is the strategy, which means a new methodology: after getting
26

The Cuban Government denies these accusations. In the Cuban newspapers there is only protest about this information. Even the Venezuelan Ambassador in Cuba denies the information about this debt, which otherwise has been in the Venezuelan news appears all over, without an official denial. 27 Hctor Malav Mata, El Universal, February 2, 2004, p. 1 -14. Malav Mata is one of the most respected professionals in his area. In that opportunity he declared that: La industria petrolera ha sido puesta al servicio de un proyecto poltico, llamado revolucionario, y ante todo su misin en este momento es aportar recursos financieros y humanos a los requerimientos de este proceso. La desviacin de recursos a instancias identificadas con el proyecto revela que PDVSA esta siendo obligada a actuar con criterios no competitivos y rentables y PDVSA es, en su naturaleza estructural, una corporacin de mviles capitalistas, independientemente de que pertenezca o no al Estado. Malav Mata is a well-known intellectual of the political left, which cannot be accused off-hand of enemy of the revolution. See by Malav Mata his article Sndrome de la Venezuela turbulenta, el conflicto del petrleo (2002-2003). Julio 2004, Revista de la Academia Nacional de Economa.

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Orlando Albornoz

access of all the institutions that are under the direct control of the state (University colleges and technological institutes) the regime failed to gain control of the academic power at the main university of the country, Universidad Central de Venezuela, first by trying to win the election to Rector and then by failing to take over by force, via a well organized student participation. As from January 2003 the currency control has deeply hurt the academic operations 28 . As it happens in any other country Venezuelan members of academia needs resources in order to buy the different materials essential for their work. They need to travel to participate in academic gatherings. None of this has been possible in a normal scale, since the date mentioned above. The volume of students following studies abroad have decreased dramatically and so the circulation of members of the faculty in international meetings29 . It is easy to observe that after a full year under these restrictions the toll most be heavy, to higher education30 . Elections for the Rector of Universidad Central de Venezuela took place i March 2000 and the candidate of the government lost by a large margin. However, n in the case of the next election, March 2004, the governments candidate will stand a better chance, particularly of the opposition does not unite around a single candidate. In fact, in November 2003 the government won the election of the Presidency of the Students Association at UCV, precisely because the opposition went divided to this contest. In May 2001 some students at UCV tried a kind of academic coup detat, which failed. This is perhaps the closest that the revolution has been to get control of an autonomous institution. It was never clear the actions of the government in supporting this incident and in a way this support was never official. On March 27, 2003, some students protested some failures at the students cafeteria and marched to the rectors office. The same day the rectors received the students and listened to their complaints but no agreement was reached. On he following day the students interrupted a session of the university council and using
28

In fact currency control seems to b a policy of the revolution. A transitory policy has been announced as a e state policy; in which case there are few chances that Venezuelan return to an open market in currency exchange. This will be a heavy blow, to the internationalization of higher education. It means isolation in academic and intellectual matters. The Venezuelan regime is taking internationalism, instead. This was defined long ago as: Nosotros le damos al internacionalismo una gran importancia. Es la piedra angular del marxismo-leninismo. Y no creo que puede haber excusa posible para renunciar a los principios del internacionalismo proletario. Y creo que es la esencia ms hermosa del marxismo-leninismo y la esencia ms hermosa del socialismo, digamos la cualidad ms noble del revolucionario. Interview with Fidel Castro, Granma, 1982. 6.IV. Internationalism and internationalizations are antagonism. 29 Dramatic changes in the enrollment levels from individual countries, which in turn have produced peaks and plateaus in overall enrollment totals, have been a feature of U.S. international enrollments since IIE began publishing Open Doors fifty years ago. Of particular note in looking at historic trends is that 20 years ago, in 1982/83, Iran was the leading country of origin, with 26,760 students in the United States (compared to 2,258 in 2002/03), and Nigeria and Venezuela were third and fourth, due in large part to the oil wealth in these nations and their use of that wealth to create scholarship programs supporting international study. None of these three countries are in the top 20 sending countries today. Open Doors 2003: International Students in the U.S., November 2003. In the Venezuelan case this is explained by the fact that the policies of the government are to stay away from sending students to developed countries. They have chosen Cuba as the new destination to train students, particularly in medicine and community work. 30 All along this period the official rate of the American dollars is of 1.600 local units per dollar. However, not been this currency available people has to come to the black market, which value varies say to a average of 2.600 local units per dollar.

Cmo aumentar la calidad acadmica

Orlando Albornoz

gas and other mechanism managed to have the council to evacuate the room. The authorities of the UCV receive the support of the faculty and the students and after quite some long days, almost a month, the students left the room and were sanctioned because of their behavior. Interesting to say that a member of the faculty accepted to be appointed rector by the students, but this brief bizarre rectorship ended after only some hours, because of lack of support31 . Since t en the government has taken other steps, in order to try to h control the autonomous universities, having already the rest of the higher educational system under tight control. When the UCV took some political stands against the government they have taken some steps to let the UCV that they were not happy with the opposition. In some instances salaries have been retained, though in the long run all commitments have been answered. The strategy from the government has been since then just to pursue the creation of the parallel institution and let the autonomous universities run their course. The governments call upon the members of the community to organize a body to discuss re-foundation of the university, but so far nothing has come out of that, except to continues call from the President that the universities should be at the service of the needs of the country and not only to the needs of the elitist vision that supposedly was prevalent in the country prior to the revolution. However, it might not be an exaggeration to say that at the beginning of 2004 the regime and its leader, all remnants of independence of the institutions of Venezuelan society have been swept away. They are either in the hands of the revolution or in the process of facing alternative institutions. That is to say a parallel set of institutions obedient to the regime. The leader personally behaves as a monarch and every institution has yielded to the wish of the leader behaving like a monarch. This might be a personal impression but this is what comes to mind when he is seen every Sunday speaking for hours on radio and TV, telling stories, singing, appointing or firings members of the administration, insulting enemies or trying to reinforce love and peace to his followers, promising the impossible, like no poverty for 2021 and so on and so forth, issuing orders to his people, like those lettres de cachet of Louis XIV32 . Among the several options available the Venezuelan revolutionary government is taking the one which is more capital consuming and without any visible return. This policy is simply: higher education for all, under the state responsibility. This is an example of what it has been called academic populism. Meaning policies which are free of any rationality but based upon the needs of the regime in order to sustains their popular support more than devoted to solve neither the needs of the society at large or those of the students entering these programs. Policies taken without any regards for their technical content, sacrificing
31 32

See Hora Universitaria, Vol. 15, N 141, Mayo 2001. Many people feel that it is difficult not to like the leader of the revolution. He seems to be one of the gang and he looks a plain folk, speaking with the same mannerism of the common people even using the vulgar sense of humor of the macho man in Venezuela. All of this has inspired psychological connections with the masses difficult to explain in rational terms, due to the fact that it is an emotional link between people expecting to receive goods and services for free and a leader offering exactly that. On the other hand, it is not difficult not to dislike this leader, because he govern the country as if he were running his own farm and many people find this inadmissible. This may explain the bitter divisions of Venezuelans under the revolution, divisions that are not entirely artificial. The regime has been very clever in using those divisions to their political advantage.

Cmo aumentar la calidad acadmica

Orlando Albornoz

any criteria for efficiency in any way. The effect will provoke the typical backlash that comes, whenever irrationality takes over the public policies issued by a government. Experience shows that the solution to these problems of subsidizing access to higher education is better conceived not by trying to provide higher education to al but only to people for whom the subsidies makes a difference. Not all-potential students have the capacity to succeed and profit from the opportunity to come into higher education. This is why almost all systems of higher education take the form of a pyramid. To do otherwise is a guarantee for a poor use of scarce resources. If a government offer to fully subsidize everyone who attend higher education it creates a heavy budget responsibility quite difficult to fulfill. When this happens in a society under financial crisis the chances are still more difficult to achieve, like in the Venezuelan case. Actually, according to Bloom and Sevilla, society gains from a persons higher education if the total social benefits from this education are larger than the total social cost of producing it. Societys gains can be measured by the net social benefit, or the excess of the social benefits over social cost33 . However, this is an estimation, which is not been done in Venezuela. That would be a rational way to approach a public policy. But if the goal is to please and to gain approval from the population rationality is out of the question, of course. Cost and technical considerations are thought to be irrelevant. For this reason the Venezuelan revolution is applying the policy of higher education for all, regardless of any cost and in fact of any consequence. By offering this subsidy the government is doubling the pressure for access, with the logical consequence of lowering academic standards and devaluating the chances of the establish institutions to cope with it. On the other hand, a labor market already in difficulties to absorb those graduating form higher education, new graduates will only create still more difficulties. In fact, the new students will come into careers of low productivity in terms of development, creating people able to work mostly in state jobs, artificially pre-inflating the bureaucratic size of the state. Developing countries have other options for policymaking, much more effective, though some tomes quite painful from the point of view of political popularity. For instance, investing in creating institutions able to produce new knowledge, promoting the study of science and technology, and deflating careers of low financial returns. Of course, the bets policy is to identity those persons able to proceed with success to higher education and to provide this kind of return that will allow for more people to come to this level of the schooling process, but this would imply to accept selection and competitiveness, both of which are concepts much against the political correctness of the revolution, which is all to all, without any return except in the area of political gains. In the Venezuelan case, the impression is that the policy should have been to strength the existing institutions and to redirect them to the goals of development. But the worse scenery was to create a parallel system of higher education just to please the academic populism, which is in the minds of the regime. And this is exactly what they have done, as we can see from the creation of the parallel system. There is no need at all to say that the state should play a relevant role in higher education policies, but there is no need to deny that policies with any rationale are obvious ways to increase inefficiency and in fact roads to impoverishing societies instead
33

David Bloom and Jaypee Sevilla, Should there be a general subsidy for higher education in developing countries? Journal of Higher Education in Africa, Fall 2003.

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Orlando Albornoz

of advancing them and their peoples. General public subsidies are totally ineffective. There are ways to improve access in a democratic way, by choosing those able students among female students, minorities groups and the poorest people, but in all cases a rigorous selection process has to be made; otherwise the tendency is to loose funds in those less interested and less able to follow higher education. To be fair and pay attention to social justice and to minimize social exclusion are objectives to be praised but if the wrong policies are implemented the effects are perverse, because in a very ionic ways those who r have less will retain less opportunities, in the middle and long range. The policy of the government is in general terms for trying to achieve full social equality, by reducing social exclusion. This is all right, of course. The problem begins when rulers try to impose upon heterogeneous variables a forced effort for homogenization, which is not possible at all. Societies are organized as an asynchrony body and the best we can do about it is to compensate some of the variables affecting inequality in order to achieve some democratic and fair equality. But some people will take advantages of the opportunities, some will not and this will eventually stress social differences that cannot be avoided. It is useless to try to make societies homogenous, because societies are made of individuals and they do never obey rules imposed upon them external to what it could be interesting to call natural, no matter their social environmental network. The search for equality can lead to major injustices and unfairness, whenever the policies to do that are ill conceived and is issued only to please short term political and ideological goals. It is another example of how academic populism can work against the best wishes and noble ideals. Inequality, like poverty, are not endemic diseases that ca be finished all at once, given the proper medicine. One and the other are social variables of a very complex nature and their management demands care and compassion. However, these arguments, used in the name of any available revolution will only serve perverse purposes and will be the cause of sadness and frustrations. No Venezuelan in the known of the social deficits of this society, would deny that there are savage inequalities34 that are not only unfair and injustice, but also are obstacles for development, whatever the model to be chosen for that objective. However, when in despair societies takes the wrong turn the effects is the increasing deterioration of these problems and in fact the creation of new ones. This might be the effect of the current Venezuelan revolution, which trying to do well has only managed to worsen maters of Venezuelans and to increase the cost of recovery. Moral indignation is not enough to improve the quality of life of a society. To d that sound public policies are needed, which o have to be the results of careful analysis, because otherwise improvisations and arbitrary decision-making will only produce ill effects. Many of the decision of the revolution seem to be taken in the heat of the emotional and sentimental approach to problem solving. On the other hand, even if some of his decisions have been taken without apparent rationale the revolution has been very persistent in the achievements of their goals, which is one very simply objective, to take over complete power on the society, change this from the neoliberals capitalist society to the model of the revolutionary new society, employing the strategy of the two tracks for political development, the new next to the old until the new occupied all the space and the old fade and disappear. According to the logic of the revolution power will be retained at all cost. This might be the tragedy been bred in
34

The term used after the book by Jonathan Kozol, Savage inequalities, children in Americas schools. Crown Publishers. New York, 1991.

Cmo aumentar la calidad acadmica

Orlando Albornoz

Venezuela, a society sequestered by some people with the preposterous idea that power can be retained indefinitely by some in the name of the whole. This is call dictatorship and/or totalitarianism and as such it is a very unpleasant prospect for a society at the beginning go of the XXI Century. Many Venezuelans feel that democracy should prevail. The ideological foundations of the revolution are misleading, in regard to the human condition. To believe that all men are equal in front of the law is fair. To affirm that all of them have the same cognitive capacities to learn and the same levels of interest, motivation and achievement expectations is totally wrong, scientifically speaking. There are individual differences, which cannot easily be changed by government intervention. The scientific findings accumulated during the last fifty years prove that differences in intelligence, for instance, are intractable and that the average intellectual capacity of various socioeconomic and ethnic groups differs and in the event of try to change that the procedure is full of complexities and is not enough to propose justice and fairness as instrument of change. Of course, people without this information are easily driven to believe that factors like intelligence can be improved. This was state policy in Venezuela, when a government tried unsuccessfully to improve the levels of intelligence of the population. People were assured hat in a number of years this country would b among the most intelligent people in the world and that Nobel Prizes would fall upon Venezuelans by the dozens. All those purposes proved to be wrong. But instead of learning from the experience, the current regime is promising to all Venezuelan schooling up to the level of graduate studies. This is cruel proposition, immoral and unfair. A society that has been unable to s chool all children into a formal system can hardly train all of them at the graduate level. But regimes are use to develop an endless ability to use and manipulate hopes. The Venezuelan revolution has applied to use the mechanism of political propaganda to sell their ideological imaginary and the impression is that they have succeeded. The poorer and uneducated a Venezuelan may be the more than willing to believe that happiness is at their reach and that very soon all of tem will have all the benefits of schooling, jobs, shelter and be free for poverty and social insecurity. The tireless leaders of the revolution are visible in the mass media with articulated ideas promoting illusion. Of course, as it happens the state funds are easily available for this propaganda efforts and good and professional communicational strategies are being use to that effect. Of course, populism is limitless in their propositions. The catalog of the promises made by the prototype of all populism, the regime of Juan Domingo Peron in Argentina is legendary. His political program, which he called a third position between capitalism and communism, was strongly nationalistic, anti-imperialist and anti-United States. It was based on rapid industrialization and economic self-sufficiency. In power, Pern became increasingly authoritarian: opponents were jailed, the press was muzzled or shut down, and education was strictly controlled. With the aid of his popular wife, Eva Duarte, he converted trade unions into a militant organization, known as the descamisados [shirtless ones], along fascist lines. This is what is called the logic of any populist regimes; they are destined to suppress freedom, as part of the package. No need to make false comparison between the Argentinean and the Venezuelan situation. However, it is important to observe that both regimes are supported by the Army and in theses cases and perhaps because the anti intellectual nature of the Army they do eventually clash with academic life and force always prevail. Any way, one of the early ideological influences on the leaders of the
Cmo aumentar la calidad acadmica Orlando Albornoz

Venezuelan revolution comes from Pern, though so far none of the violent actions of the Argentinean leaders have been taken in the Venezuelan case. Indeed, the beautiful revolution is sailing home, in spite of the many obstacles put on by the opposition, that the regime have taken to his advantage35 . If the Venezuelan revolution ever takes the path taken once by Peron is still to be seen.

The case of the Universidad Bolivariana de Venezuela

The logic of the powerful is usually blind. It does not have nuances. It does not know how to observe the differences. It never sees the others. That is why it never understands diversity. And, because it cannot understand it, it cannot respect it, it cannot forgive it. The logic of the powerful is usually authoritarian. It has no arguments. It does not need them. It only needs its own euphoria. La lgica de los poderosos suele ser ciega. No atiende matices. No sabe observar las diferencias. Nunca ve al otro. Por eso jams comprende la diversidad. Y, como no la comprende, no la respeta, no la perdona. Lo loica de los poderosos suele ser autoritaria. No tiene argumentos. No los necesita. Slo se sacia en su propia euforia. Alberto Barrera Tyszka 36

In relation to the Universidad Bolivariana de Venezuela it could be said with Mill that The worth of a State, in the long run, is the worth of the individual composing it; and a State which postpones the interest of their mental expansion and elevation to a little more of administrative skills, or of that semblance of it which practice gives in the details of business; a State which dwarfs its men, in order that they may be more docile instruments in its hands even for beneficial purposes will find that with small men no great thing can really be accomplished; and that the perfection of machinery to which it has sacrificed everything will in the end avail it nothing, for want of the vital power which,

35

The thoughts of Pern were delirious. One of the best expressions of this is the Lecture at the closing of the First National Congress of Philosophy, April 9, 1949. It is on the Web and shows to what extent the selfadulation can drive leaders to such heights of irrationality. Peronism, the doctrine created by the Argentinean leader still permeate the political situation in this South American country. 36 La lgica de los poderosos El Nacional, 8 de febrero de 2004, p. A-11

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in order that the machine might work more smoothly, it has preferred to banish37 because the symbolic gesture of the revolution in higher education has been the opening of the Universidad Bolivariana de Venezuela and with it this emblematic purpose of working against the mental expansion of the students they are suppose to train in higher education and which have being included in higher education only to have another population at the service of the short-term objectives of the revolution. 38 . Mental expansion in intellectual terms comes with the possibility to face different views but a university founded on fundamentalism, a open contradiction, does not help expansion but the contrary39 . With the creation of the university of the revolution the regime can opt to by-pass their obligations with the institutions, which are thought to be unfriendly to the dogmas of the revolution and to proceed to exercise control of the whole system of higher education thorough its flag institution in the academic arena. This institution is a fundamentalist university, created under the flag of the doctrine of Bolivar, as well as a political one, serving as the academic arm and weapon of the revolution. This institution was created on July 22, 2003, as an experimental university. It will only open activities when the proper authorities approved the areas of academic work, some time in the first two or three months of 2004. It is recruiting theirs students among those excluded in the past, who were unable to come into the conventional universities, in most cases because they did not qualify in the national test that selects access to higher education. Members of the faculty were recruited among those already retired from the system and the career orientation attends to the area of the services, mainly to the service to the doctrinarian proposal of the revolution. The people in charge of this university are taking seriously their obligations. The rationale that justify this institutions can be seen in the following statement:
This is an unprecedented experience in Venezuela, because until now no university was organized following the principles of the UNESCO. Any university has aim to reach that all its processes could be adapted to these international principles of knowledge development, and to our own reality. That is why this university fits in what has been called " the emerging pedagogy"40
37

See John Stuart Mill, On liberty. Bobs-Merril Educational Publishing, Indianapolis, 1956, originally published in 1859, p. 140-141. 38 Interesting to say that this is the third university with the name of Bolivar. The first was the Universidad Simn Bolivar, the second the Universidad Libertador and this Bolivariana is the third one. Mind to say that some universities take their names from other military heroes, like Pez and Urdaneta. 39 To call a university bolivariana means to add a negation of the concept. A university cannot be added any doctrinarian view as part of their denomination. A university can be called after a name, but not attached to a doctrinarian approach, because the search for knowledge does not accept that inclination. No need to give any example, but a university could be called Jefferson but not Jeffersonian, because this man had brilliant ideas but here are other ideas besides him that have to be known by the members of any university community. In the case of a university bolivariana the single most important problem would be actually to define precisely what means bolivariana, because this is open to interpretation, given the complexities and contradictions of the thoughts of the Venezuelan Liberator Simn Bolvar (1783-1830). 40 Con la UBV nos estamos planteando una universidad distinta. Estamos construyendo un nuevo tipo de universidad ajustada a estos nuevos tiempos. Nosotros como venezolanos estamos viviendo un proceso de cambios y la universidad no puede estar de espaldas a los requerimientos de esta sociedad que esta emergiendo, una sociedad mas justa. La universidad debe responder a las necesidades de nuestro pas. With the UBV we are creating a different university. We are building a new type of university adapted to the new

Cmo aumentar la calidad acadmica

Orlando Albornoz

It is possible the creation of a different new model of the university? It is the dream of many people in academia, apparently. Are we speaking about a new institution or simply stating an alibi and certainly a rhetorical device to keep doing the same?. New does not means better, of course and in fact perhaps countries like Venezuela needs the old fashion university, devoted to knowledge and not the new devoted to the temporary political needs of a revolution. In any case, his institution is created to alleviate the chances to fulfill popular political promises and to have a number of young people at the ready to defend the revolution. In spite of some irregularities in the creation of this university, the Venezuelan higher education keeps discreet silence about this question. However, the Universidad Central de Venezuela (University Council, November 11, 2003) issued a declaration protesting the creation of what they called a parallel institution. The protest of the main university of the country on this matter is rather important. It centers on two issues:
1. To strongly express its rejection to the attempts made in order to disqualify the mission achieved by the Venezuelan university, especially when the UCV is accused of promoting elitism based on the socioeconomic capacities of the students. 2. To show that the creation of institutions with intentions parallel to those already achieved by national universities affects the coherence and convergence of actions to create study opportunities that will be favorable to the graduates of the diversified middle cycle

Otherwise the attitude of the academic community has been lukewarm and this new university is carry on their objectives, with full support from the regime and no further protest from public opinion. As an institution it is non only parallel but also alternative. It does not care for pluralism since all the people involved in this institution are cadres of the revolution and their doctrine cannot be questioned at all. The principles guiding this university are: Education as a process towards dialogue and transformation, learn to learn and the un-learn, education based on collective privileges, creativity, interaction and independence, contextualization, interdisciplinary and transdisciplinarity, quality with equity and education without walls. The academic programs are: Social communication, community management and promotion, management in public health, legal and political studies, politics and international relationships, environmental engineering, public policies, educational management, economics and medicine. Three programs have been approved by the National Council of Universities and in February 2004 they begun activities on the areas in Social communication, Social aspects of local development and Environmental aspects.

times. We, as Venezuelans, are living a changing process and the university cannot stay behind the requirements of this new emerging society, a fairer society. The university must fulfill the needs of our country. See Beglis Alfaro, Prcticas y saberes. Vol I, N 1, p. 5 (2003) Mara Egilda Castellanos: La UBV est en la cresta de la ola de la pedagoga emergente

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Opened in 2003 the academic programs were approved by the National Council of Universities in January 2004 and activities will actually begin in February 2004, in three programs: To what extent such a university fulfills the goals and needs of development is a question mark. It looks proper to say that these countries like Venezuela needs people trained in the sciences and technologies, in order to be able to produce knowledge to solve national problems. To keep training people in careers in the area of the services does not fit the most elementary patter of higher education for development. But of course, in this case development is not a priority as it is the survival of the revolution, and so every institution has to be aligned to that overall purpose. It might of interest to point out that according to the rector of the Universidad Bolivariana de Venezuela this institution is quite an innovation:
This is a unprecedented experience in Venezuela, because until now no university was organized following the principles of the UNESCO. Any university has aim to reach that all its processes could be adapted to these international principles of knowledge development, and to our own reality. That is why this university fits in what has been called " the emerging pedagogy 41

It is not known that whatever work done by UNESCO serve a guidance to create new universities. UNESCO is an international organization devoted to promote educational development. However, if this were the case this organization has a long-standing history of supporting universities, which are autonomous, respect academic freedom and stay tune to rigorous standard of quality. In fact, according to the Recommendation concerning the Status of Higher-Education Teaching Personnel Adopted by the General Conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), meeting in Paris from 21 October to 12 November 1997 at its 29th session, such a institution like the Universidad Bolivariana de Venezuela would be in problems to be accepted if the values and principles of UNESCO were to be applied. They have recommended, in the document quoted above, that:

Expressing concern regarding the vulnerability of the academic community to untoward political pressures, which could undermine academic freedom. Considering that the right to education, teaching and research can only be fully enjoyed in an atmosphere of academic freedom and autonomy for institutions of higher education and that the open communication of findings, hypotheses and opinions lies at the very heart of higher education and provides the strongest guarantee of the accuracy and objectivity of scholarship and research. Institutions of higher education, and more particularly universities, are communities of
41

es una experiencia indita en Venezuela, porque hasta ahora no haba ninguna universidad organizada respondiendo a los principios de la UNESCO. No hay ninguna que se haya propuesto que todos sus procesos se ajusten a estos principios internacionales del desarrollo del conocimiento, y de nuestra propia realidad, por ello esta inserta en lo que se ha venido llamando la pedagoga emergente

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scholars preserving, disseminating and expressing freely their opinions on traditional knowledge and culture, and pursuing new knowledge without constriction by prescribed doctrines. The pursuit of new knowledge and its application lie at the heart of the mandate of such institutions of higher education. In higher education institutions where original research is not required, higher-education teaching personnel should maintain and develop knowledge of their subject through scholarship and improved pedagogical skills. The proper enjoyment of academic freedom and compliance with the duties and responsibilities listed below require the autonomy of institutions of higher education. Autonomy is that degree of self-governance necessary for effective decision-making by institutions of higher education regarding their academic work, standards, management and related activities consistent with systems of public accountability, especially in respect of funding provided by the state, and respect for academic freedom and human rights. However, the nature of institutional autonomy may differ according to the type of establishment involved. Autonomy is the institutional form of academic freedom and a necessary precondition to guarantee the proper fulfillment of the functions entrusted to higher-education teaching personnel and institutions.

The Universidad Bolivariana de Venezuela is an institution of higher education with other characteristics. It is not an autonomous university. It is under the control of the regime, as an instrument of political propaganda. Academic freedom is not taken in consideration, at all, because the objective of the institution is to comply with the dogma of the revolution, whatever that can be. In fact, it generates institutional as well as social exclusion in as much it presents to the society as an institution following the fundamental principles of a doctrine. It is not a plural institution but one following a single track in ideological outlook. More than that, technically speaking their career orientation would not allow it to join international organization such as the International Association of Universities, because they are not open to the typical disciplines of a university, meaning the areas of the hard and soft sciences, in the pure sense of the word, in each case. It is actually an institution designed to train the cadres of the revolution, with no other goals in sight. It has been organized as an agency of the regime and they have no other choice but to follow the guidance of the revolution. In such a case we are speaking here not about a university or an institution of higher education, no matter the cosmetics that serve as the typical hidden agenda when authoritarian regimes tries to cover up their unspeakable objectives. In any case, the open objective of this university is to democratization of higher education. This may prove to be more divisive that the open mechanism employed in the past. In the past students were given the opportunity to jump, while in the current situations they are obliged to be pushed. In spite of the many injustices for access and social mobility found in the ideological and political model organized in Venezuela during the forty years between 1958-1998 there was a kind of natural and social selection and many people willing to do so took their chances and succeeded to get higher education. Many ad the same opportunity and did not take it. They are now given a second chance. This would deserve a theoretical profound discussion. Should a society provide a second opportunity to those who did not take tem in the first lace or devoted their energies and efforts to those in the brink of their first chance? In other words, should a society prize those who have to jump or spend efforts trying to push those who are not willing to take the risk to be thrown into rough waters? The Universidad Bolivariana de Venezuela is taking the latest policy, which is more valuable to their ideological function within the institutional make up of the revolution. In these terms it is not an education institution but an effort which objective is to provide an
Cmo aumentar la calidad acadmica Orlando Albornoz

academic stand for the revolution. By trying to push people into higher education and t eir h visible benefits they are attracting a number of students into political activism. This university offers no problem at all to be defined: it is the typical institution created as a political arm of a given regime, in this case the revolution. It is legal, but not a proper academic institution. All the institutional paraphernalia of standard universities will surround it, and it will appear as an institution of innovation, but ii will be just a ideological and political instrument. No intention to do here a full and detailed analysis of this university, beyond the conceptualization already written above. However, the documento rector of this university allow for some arguments to demonstrate the assertion in relation of this university as a non-academic institution, but a political and ideological instrument42 . This does not deny that here is a working proposal in the case of this institution. This UBV has begun in 2003 their activities by training their students in some form of compensatory short-term programs. They have not actually begun their activities, pending approval from the authorities on their careers, but hey have expanded in good form all over the country. They have been given excellent installations, both in Caracas and in nine places in the country and expect eventually to cover all regions in Venezuela. It is the only university in expansion, in Venezuela. Funds are being provided almost unlimited and the rector of this university is often publicizing this institution in the sancta sanctorum of the regime, the Sunday TV and radio program held by the leader of the revolution. The UBV has in fact begun operations in 2004. One of them is medicine. In this case students will do theirs first two-year of their careers in Cuba and then will return to finish in Venezuela. The Faculty members have been chosen among those who showed the best qualifications as well as the closest ideological identification with the proposals of the revolution. During the training period both students and Faculty members joined some of the social programs of the revolution, and gave a hand to some of the political activities of the proceso. In combination to the academic activities, on Fridays the university will be open to everyone interested, to listen lectures and workshops organized by the Free Chair Bolvar and Mart. It is by all means not only a university under a populist design but also a popular one in as much as recruitment is concerned. It is as well a university designed not only to be an ideological institution, but playing a role as the university of the revolution, it will be part of the neo-fundamentalism of the revolution. This fundamentalism means in practical terms that it will include only those who believe and are faithful followers of the revolution, not only in ideological terms but actually being designed to train the cadres of the revolution, this university will be a very exclusive proposition, both in recruiting both students and faculty members and playing only with the ideology that support the revolution. Of course, all universities play an ideological role; that is not the question. But
42

It is the opportunity to accept that all universities are ideological. That is not the problem. The question is that by being a doctrinal fundamentalist university it will do not accept standard procedures of this type of institution, like academic autonomy, the inter play of academic freedom, the notion of choice in matter of academic interest, the capacity to dissent and in general it will not accept the plural behavior of the actors of the organization. It will be run as a state agency and not as an independent body devoted to the search for knowledge. In any case, fundamentalism is any types of institution were truth is established as a code to be obeyed at all times.

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a university cannot follow a fundamentalist approach, except to severely question their own academic legitimacy43 . Otherwise this experimental university (universidad experimental) is focused in the pattern of the training society, which had its pick in Venezuela around 1970. Does this means that they are a new backward academic project, an old fashion proposal, away from the institutions demanded by the knowledge society? Is this university a project of the seventies organized to function in the society of this new century? Will be this official institution be the nucleus for the destruction and annihilation of the standing institutions of higher education in Venezuela or will it operate as part of the system covering demands which according to the government could not have been satisfy by the existing universities? These are question that cannot be answered at the moment. What is important is to point out is that the resistance from the academic Venezuelan world, to the creation of this university, has been meek and weak. The UCV protested, in very clear terms. But in general Venezuelan academics have been quite about this project of the revolution and have been complacent, in a way. Anyhow, this means a state of affairs that in it is rather interesting, this silence and lack of an academic community at the ready to defend their privileges44 . The rationale for the creation of this university can be seen in the words of the vice rector of the UBV. He wrote that,

For many reasons, that we (I) should not analyse now, autonomous universities are not the spaces open to critics as they used to be. They used to analyse scientifically and philosophically all national events that were strongly linked with the developing plans of the country and with the values of democracy. Universities were profoundly sensitive to problems concerning the nation and the rest of the world. They oriented the society and generated science and art. These universities have been replaced by institutions divorced of reality, charged with elitism, driven more by political goals than by academic ones, hold to obsolete practices and procedures. They refer to transformation and change only during electoral campaigns for new authorities. But what is even worse, is that these new

43

On this question see by Ronald Barnett his book Beyond all reasons: living with ideology in the university. Open University Press McGraw Hill Education, London, 2003. 44 Most of the people running this new university are faculty members coming from the UCV. The rector is a former professor and responsible for graduate studies She is the author of a book on higher education in Cuba and Venezuela. See Mara Egilda Castellano de Sjstrand (coordinadora) Aportes para la educacin superior comparada: Venezuela y Cuba, Caracas, Comisin de Estudios de Posgrado, Facultad de Humanidades y Educacin, Universidad Central de Venezuela, 1998. So is the vice rector, a former dean. The person responsible for academic affairs is also from the UCV and as well a distinguished academic. Of course, aside from their academic credentials they happen also to be part of the political project of the revolution, which helps to explain their adherence to what many find an unfair support to institutions rivaling those already established and actually destined to weaken them, in the long run.

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institutions encroach on the right to learn through selection mechanisms that are not always equitable45 This is an interpretation that can be questioned. The accusation of elitism is part of the discourse of the revolution, according to which the revolution is for the people and prior to that the elites, the oligarchs, had absolute control of the institutions. This involves an enormous academic hypocrisy. If not completely fair and justice an ideal and as such always precarious in real life, the autonomous universities had been quite open to the different sectors of society. During the four decades between the military dictatorship that was overthrown in 1958 and the year of 1998, when the revolution won power in an election this sound like a real contradiction, a revolution winning at the polls, but any way contradictions are afloat in Venezuela as in any other society, many students from poor background came into these universities. During those years some students did not only came into these universities, but some of them were trained abroad, in graduate studies. Just to name a few, the current Minister of Higher Education is a Ph.D. from Manchester University, the head of the OPSU, the powerful man that is in charge of the planning office for higher education, has also a Ph. D., this time from Cambridge University and the vice rector whose ideas we are discussing at this moment earned a Ph. D. from Oxford University, all of them with scholarships paid by the government, that is to say, with public funds. This is not a simply coincidence, it was a pattern which consistently was supported through the year by the different governments hat change leadership on the clock every five year, because reelection was not allowed and the presidential period lasted five year. One of the regulations added to the Constitution of 1999 extended this period to six years and allowed for reelection. The reference to the extreme politicization of the autonomous universities the distinguished vice rector is an authority, having him won an election and became dean of a faculty. These are political elections and it is not possible to win one of those events without entering into very close political negotiations46 . But the weaker part of the above mentioned interpretation is that the autonomous universities were divorced from reality. In fact, it can be said, that from a given point of view they have never been better. An analysis of academic productivity of Venezuelan universities reveals that the most productive academic community in the country is the
45

Por distintas razones, que no es el momento de analizar, las universidades autnomas dejaron de ser aquellos espacios de la critica, del anlisis cientfico y filosfico de los acontecimientos nacionales, que se mantenan en estrecha vinculacin con los planes de desarrollo el pas y con los valores de la democracia, profundamente sensibles a los problemas del entorno nacional e internacional, orientadores de la sociedad y generadoras de ciencia y arte, para dar paso a unas instituciones divorciadas de la realidad, elitescas, conducidas ms por objetivos polticos que acadmicos, aferradas a prcticas y procesos obsoletos y hablando de transformacin y cambio solo durante las campaas electorales de nuevas autoridades y lo que es peor cercenadoras del derecho al estudio a travs de mecanismos de seleccin no siempre equitativos 46 In fact the vice-rector of the UBV is an expert academics as well as a very skilled politician. He is a typical man moving effectively in the political life within academia. He obtained his first degree at UCV in 1974. Between 1977-1981 obtained a Ph. D. in Oxford University. Between 1983 and 1990 was the academic coordinator of the science faculty. Then between 1996 and 1999 was elected for three years Dean of the Faculty of Sciences and again reelected for another period, 1999-2002. In 2002 he was elected to represent the faculty members at the University Council, the body that govern the UCV and in 2003 took a second hat when he was appointed vice rector of the UBV. These activities are mentioned here not in the least in a pejorative way, of course, since only admiration can be had by seen this brilliant career.

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autonomous type of higher education institution. Which also shows that the less productive are the universities of the private sector. Whatever their positive functions in offering indispensable services to society, private institutions in Venezuela have not yet entered the area of the creation of knowledge and almost all of them work out as training institutions. In terms of reputation some of them are very high, but this variable is not measured in academic terms but rather in social terms, due to the fact that they cater to members of the affluent society. In that scale of institutional reputation some of these universities are in the lowest possible ranking, been called some of the piratas (pirates), places were it is said that it is more difficult to find a parking place than to obtain a degree. Theyre many ways to see the development of the private sector, in higher education. They opened in 1953 and since then have grown very rapidly. From the political point of view they behave like actors at the right of the political spectrum; from the organizational point of view they behave like private business, with little obligations if any to the academic and to society, and third ideologically they are conservative and promote pro Americanism and in general what could be called old fashion capitalism. In general they are not please, as institutions on political and ideological issues, and anything unconventional in these areas would be qualify as communism. Of course there are enormous differences among the institutions of the private sector, which will be commented upon later on. But is it to point out the extreme cultural behavior of Venezuelan institutions of higher education, if they are either public or private. The private sector has lacked a long-term academic project. They have not entered into the areas that are characteristic of higher education elsewhere. To say that in simply terms, they have grown but they have not developed. For instance, they play no role in the national publishing industry, they do not carry on programs to train their faculty members abroad, they do not participate in the national effort to do empirical research with exceptions, of course, and in general, they are fully interested to exploit, if that can be said, the heavy demand for higher education and profit from that fact. No mater all the rhetoric of the revolutionary government abut changes in Venezuelan society, it is interesting to point out that the private sector has maintained their profile undisturbed from the government. This is an area of concern that eventually will be taken care of by any Venezuelan government interested to pursue a modernization project, since higher education is a need that has to be share by both public and private sectors, which at the moment travel through parallel roads and they need to be integrated in a join effort driven to national development. In Table 1 it is possible to see the performance in the area of production of science, technologies and the humanities of the Venezuela universities.

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Table 1 Researchers credited in the Venezuelan Program for developing science and technology (2004)

INSTITUTION Zulia Central Los Andes Simn Bolvar Oriente Carabobo Centro Occidental Pedaggica Libertador Simn Rodrguez Tchira Francisco de Miranda Politcnica Guayana Llanos Occidentales Rmulo Gallegos Abierta Martima Rafael Mara Baralt Sur Total public universities Catlica Andrs Bello Rafael Belloso Chacin Catlica del Tchira Gran Mariscal de Ayacucho Metropolitana Rafael Urdaneta Alejandro de Humboldt Bicentenaria de Aragua Yacamb Total private universities Total universities IVIC INIA IDEA TOTAL
Cmo aumentar la calidad acadmica

Researchers 646 639 489 285 126 108 94 67 34 22 17 16 15 12 10 5 3 3 1 2592 15 9 7 3 3 2 1 1 1 42 2634 235 109 7 351 174 3159

% 20.45 20.23 15.48 9.02 3.99 3.42 2.98 2.12 1.08 0.70 0.54 0.51 0.47 0.38 0.32 0.16 0.09 0.09 0.03 82.05 0.47 0.28 0.22 0.09 0.09 0.06 0.03 0.03 0.03 1.33 83.38 7.44 3.45 0.22 11.11 5.51 Orlando Albornoz 100.00

Other institutions TOTAL

In this Table N 1, related to scientific and technological knowledge production, a perfect radiography of academic production in Venezuela can be seen The six autonomous universities generate 72.59 per cent of the total production and this proportion has been steady since the inaction of the program, in 1992. The 13 experimentales generate 9.47 per cent. The private universities, all together, generate only 1.33 per cent. The conclusion by seeing this information is that the autonomous universities are not only very productive but also that the experimentales are not and the private sector is negligible. According to this interpretation the autonomous universities are a success and justify the generous funds given to them by the state. This would reinforce the policy that the best bet is to give to whoever is producing and not to create new institutions that will take a numbers of years to enter this capability, if ever. It cold also be said that the new university opened in Venezuela is actually already an old, since it is attach to the oldest and most ineffective academic proposition, the university supported by fundamentalism. This institution has nothing to do with the international trends in the area. Contemporary universities are in a different track. They are in a highly competitive race to produce new knowledge, to have this knowledge translated into patent or policies, all for the improvement of mankind. It would be unthinkable a university, anywhere, devoted to a doctrinarian approach, which in the Venezuelan case happens to be the thoughts and actions of the Liberator, Simon Bolivar47 .

47

Interesting to point out that when reorganizing the University of Caracas, which is today the Universidad Central de Venezuela, in 1827, Bolivar stated the payment of academic services: CAPTULO XIII De las Contribuciones que han de hacer los que quieran graduarse de bachiller, licenciado, maestro o doctor Art. 161. Los que aspiren al grado de bachiller en Filosofa, luego que haya sido admitida la solicitud por el Rector, depositarn en poder del Administrador de la Universidad cuarenta pesos. Art. 162. El Rector y los examinadores disfrutarn por este grado tres pesos cada uno, un peso cada bedel y seis el Secretario por su asistencia, gastos de Secretara y ttulo que debe despachar al graduado; los catorce pesos restantes se aplican a los fondos de la Universidad .Art. 163. Para los grados de bachiller en Medicina, Jurisprudencia Cannica o Civil y Teologa, se depositarn cincuenta pesos, de los cuales recibirn el Rector y los examinadores cuatro pesos cada uno, un peso cada bedel, ocho el Secretario por su asistencia y ttulo; y los diecisis pesos restantes para fondos de la Universidad .Art. 164. Para el grado de licenciado, tanto en Filosofa como en cualquiera otra de las Facultades, se depositarn cien pesos; el Rector y cada uno de los siete examinadores recibirn seis pesos, uno cada bedel y diez el Secretario por su concurrencia y ttulo del graduado; los cuarenta pesos restantes entrarn en el arca de la Universidad .Art. 165. El que pretenda recibir la borla de maestro o doctor en cualquiera Facultad, depositar ciento setenta y un pesos, de los cuales se destinan para las cajas de la Universidad 150; se pagarn diez al Secretario por concurrencia y ttulo, cuatro al maestro de ceremonias, tres a los que pronuncien las tres arengas en el acto de conferirse, y dos pesos a cada uno de los bedeles. Art. 166. El Rector no podr fijar los edictos en las puertas de l a Universidad anunciando la solicitud de los aspirantes a grados, ni practicar las diligencias que se prescriben en los artculos 138, 146, 150 y 151, sin que se acredite con recibo del Administrador de la Universidad haberse depositado la cantidad designada para el grado que se solicita.Art. 167. Si el examinado para bachiller o licenciado, en cual quiera Facultad, fuere reprobado, se le devolver la cantidad que deba ingresar en las cajas y la que se ha sealado al Secretario por el ttulo; pero se abonar a ste por su asistencia la misma cuota que a cualquiera de los examinadores. Art. 168. Los estudiantes pobres que de ningn modo puedan satisfacer las cantidades expresadas y que lo hayan comprobado con documentos fehacientes a juicio de la Junta de Gobierno, debern ser admitidos a los grados de bachiller o licenciado sin pagar nada; pero nunca se graduarn de balde ms de dos en cada diez que obtengan los grados acadmicos, ni se extender esta gracia a los grados de doctor o maestro, pues slo

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. As it can be seen the same way that in the public sector there is a clear quality division between the autonomous universities and the experimentales, within the private sector here are at least two types of institutions: those inclined to look upon a certain degree of academic responsibility, looking forward to some academic functions connected to productivity in these terms and to deliver some services to society, and those that enter these activities only for-profit. The latest are incredible low in quality, unbelievable low, it must be said. In general terms academic freedom and institutional integrity (autonomoy) are not issues in the private sector, as it is not an issue at the experimentales, or in the other types of higher education institutions in Venezuela. In some private institutions is not only question like academic freedom that are irrelevant, but eve the academic most elementary question regarded academic decency are inexistent. In these instances the need to transform them is not a question of academic reform but of public health48 , given the poor conditions in which some of these institutions operate. As pointed out in the Dossier which is at the end of this working paper, faculty members in the majority of these institutions perform by the hour, they have no social security whatsoever, and are hired and fired at will, by the owners of the university or whoever represent them. Some of them are proprietary schools with no commitment or responsibility with the academic ethos. The production of new knowledge is not a pure esthetical game. It has practical value and indeed development is intricately linked to the progress of higher education and more than that to higher learning. The contemporary universities have the obligation to raise standard of quality, to impose more demands on those teaching and doing research and to keep abreast of advances in their field produced anywhere. In these matters countries are trying to avoid short cuts, those negative steps through which links with higher education are established either to the extremes of the market or the extreme of the state controlled system. For countries like Venezuela, with limited resources in spite of the enormous income from oil, the policies directed to expand the performance of the trainings society does not sound like the best option. A much more profitable policy would drive funds in order to strength the research capabilities. It is recognized these days that the science base is the absolute bedrock of economic performance. Truly, new knowledge is the factor that explain growth in developed countries and if so this still more essential in developing countries, who should above all be able to distinguish from A to Z of whatever is produce as knowledge in those developed counties, who make up for most of knowledge production worldwide. It is suicidal the public policy that have lead the Venezuelan revolutionary government to open institutions whose only objective, no matter the rhetoric about it, to train ideological and political cadres for a very unstable regime. To attach the opening of a university to a given
podrn recibirlos aquellos que contribuyan con la cantidad designada. Se conserva, no obstante, la gracia de las dos borlas de que gozan los colegiales 48 Of course, this is well known phenomenon in LA & C. Colombia is one of the best examples of this situation. An excellent interpretation in the book by Constanza Cubillos Reyes, Saldo rojo, crisis en la educacin superior. Bogota. Planeta, 1998.

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regime is to condemn it to depend for its survival to that of he political regime that opened it, in the first place. It is a noble objective to care for poor students, as it is to give a second chance to those left behind and to provide job opportunities to faculty members that are idle and unemployed, but to devote such a large amount of funds and energies to create institutions of very limited and narrow prospects is to take the typical wrong turn that are not only costly but useless, in the long run. To open fully ideologically oriented universities countries like Venezuela means, as an obvious consequence, getting away from the mainstream of science and technology. If the USA account for a third of all scientific and technological innovations, the EU for another third and the rest divided among the rest of the world, it is easy to see that isolation is not feasible, un less backwardness were to be the policy to be followed. Talent, creativity, motivation, is factors that have to be stimulated. But by organizing institutions born within a straightjacket does not help development, at all. But it is simpler to manage the training of political and ideological cadres than to manage knowledge, to deal with the energetic and adventurous use of creative talent, which is to be praised and to punished. The key element is freedom to create, without agendas, which happens to be ordered by leaders who are irresponsible looking backward instead of looking ahead. To trap young people into ideological and immovable vision is not only wrong but also criminal. Countries like Venezuela will not advanced by training people able to shout slogans and to swear loyalty to the new Messiah. They would do that only by making the efforts to get into the arcane knowledge of modern science and technology, endeavor to which all funds and energies should be devoted. The man of our times should be trained to go beyond the practical knowledge of pushing bottoms. They have to understand who is providing that bottom and where it would lead us. That is the whole problem. That is, the problem of people whom only wish for certainty in a world full of the contrary, of uncertainty. Higher education, higher learning, higher thoughts, are activities full of risks, of heavy cost, of the technical capacity to be able to formulate policies that could praise and prize inventions and innovations, in all fields of the human activities. A comment often made by the revolution, by the way, is that plans were made by the neoliberals then in power to privatize higher education in Venezuela, prior to the revolution. This is untrue. There have been no plans whatsoever for the privatization of higher education in this country. In fact, the private sector would not be interested at all in getting institutions, which are unmanageable, from the point of view of normal costbenefit. Nevertheless this is one of the phantom of the revolution, privatization. Indeed, the revolution is destined to cover all the expenses of Venezuelan without asking anything in return, except their votes to keep the revolution going on49 .

49

The tendencies all over the world is for structural reform in university financing. The UK, in January 2004, introduced the Higher Education Bill, which has the objective to charge fees to university students. Very few countries remains attached to the state as the single actor in this process, which is becoming more costly every year. Ivor Crewe, president of Universities UK, said accepting the fees plan was a "critical point for the future of higher education". The proposals allow universities in England to charge students up to 3,000 per year. Universities have argued in favour of the tuition fees proposals, as a way of tackling what they say is a substantial funding shortfall. Most prestigious universities, members of the Russell Group, have been among the most enthusiastic supporters of the proposals, as they argue that they are starved of the funds needed to

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The UBV was not created out of a vacuum. It could be said that is was bread for quite a long time, since the failed try of the political reformist movement of the renovacion, in the late sixties. It compile ideas and people that have been circulating in Venezuela since the sixties, plus the theoretical accommodations with ideas coming from say Edgar Morin, the UNESCO and the gospel of the Bolivarian thoughts, of course50 . It was not opened with the standard allegiance to the values of academic ecumenical institutions of higher education, but in very strict and narrow ends of the revolution. It has a detailed justification, in the format of a long and careful document, Documento rector (September 2003). It is openly an ideological institution, whose life as such depends very much of the survival of the revolution out of which has been opened. Without prejudice that would be the case, because this institution has been born under a doctrinarian approach, it a bolivarian university, and there is not a body of neither theoretical nor epistemological approaches. Bolivar, as greatest hero as any one can be, was an Army man and a civilian leader, left an enormous amount of political literature, which amounts to say a philosophical vision of political life and practices. Great organizer, great thinker, but he never intended his thoughts to serve as the basis for a university. In fact, his thought are contradictory, at times, and you can have a bolivarian university supported by his thoughts which could be either at the extreme right or at the extreme left of the political and ideological spectrum. The interpretation of the revolution is of Bolivar as a leader of popular causes. True or not this is the official vision of the revolution, leaded by a Bolivar willing to liberate all people and whose failures are attributed to the treason of the oligarchs of his time. The official scapegoat is the Colombian leader Francisco de Paula Santander, one remarkable political leader who came to oppose the excesses of Bolivar, in the decade of the twenties, XIX Century. But again, in the iconography of Bolivar leaders like Santander and Jos Antonio Pez, the legendary Venezuelan leader, who is the creditable founder of the Venezuelan republic, in 1930, have been well accommodated as the main dramatic personae that not only treason Bolivar but lead him to the tomb51 . Any way, how can a leader and a thinker no matter how profound his ideas and actions provide the ideas to create a university, at the beginning of the XXI. This does not stand any rationale. Whenever a university operate under the predicament of a leader, whoever he or she can be, it looses identity as an academic enterprise, and this is what happens in this
compete with universities overseas. These include Imperial College London - and its rector Sir Richard Sykes said that he was "extremely pleased that attempts to derail this vitally important Bill have not succeeded". Sir Richard praised the government for its "boldness" and for "meeting its critics head-on". Oxford University's vice-chancellor, Sir Colin Lucas, also welcomed the government's success in winning the vote over tuition fees. The lecturers' union, the AUT, remained opposed to the proposals, saying that the passing of the Higher Education Bill was a "dark and depressing moment for academics and senior support staff in our universities. To suggest to charge fees in Venezuela under the revolution would be insane, no mater the rationale. 50 Edgar Morin has been very influential in certain Venezuelan educational circles. Author of a very impressive piece of work Morin is very weak in educational analysis. He looks like a dilettante and in fact his book Seven Complex Lessons in Education for the Future (UNESCO, 2001) is banal and superficial. 51 The truth is that Bolivar, who died in December 17, 1830, had resigned the presidency. On January 20 1830, in Bogot,. he said: Disponed de la Presidencia que respetuosamente abdico en vuestras manos. Desde hoy no soy ms que un ciudadano armado para defender la patria y obedecer al gobierno; cesaron mis funciones publicas para siempre. Os hago formal y solemne entrega de la autoridad suprema que los sufragios nacionales me haban conferido. See on this Doctrina del Libertador, Biblioteca Ayacucho, 1976.

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case of the UBV. Actually, such a university would be quite unstable, because it would be their mission and mission according to whatever interpretation is done on the thoughts of the doctrine serving as the basis of its functioning. Of course, no one denies that in the Venezuelan case the name Bolivar and the uses made of that name and thoughts is only a fundamentalist alibi to support the ambitions for power of the leaders of the revolution. Interesting to say that this revolution is curiously looking backward, most of the time. The economic models it patronize, the ideas that are at the bottom of the approaches of the regime, are men and thoughts of the past; they are not looking ahead. In fact, the iconography of the regime is full of people that were born in the XVIII and died in the XIX Century. The closest they get to contemporary events is the heroes of the Cuban revolution, above all Fidel Castro and the Argentinean Che Guevara. All of the icons of the Venezuelan revolution are dead people. None of them can protest the uses made of them by the revolution. The Documento rector that serves as the fundaments of the UBV is quite a piece of work, a prototype of the rhetoric of the Latin American University, in the mold of the Argentinean university of Cordoba in 1918. It is a compendium of all the purposes that used to be the basis of university in the era of the training society. It correspond to the Soviet model of university, controlled by a doctrine, serving the people while being served by it. It does not face the knowledge and technological dilemmas of the era and devote all its energies fighting the unthinkable dream, a world free of historical processes such as globalization. The thoughts behind the opening of this university reflects an useless question, To Davos or not to Davos, meaning the fact that no matter the abundant rhetoric about it, small and poor countries like Venezuela can fight and struggle for dignified survival but are unable to dictate the international agenda. This is what happens in academic terms. Universities in Venezuela have to adapt themselves to the international agenda, to the academic logic, because there are no other ways. The notion of alternative knowledge is not only improbable but totally against the facts and realities of the contemporary world. Unhappily the only road for success and prosperity is to negotiate spaces within the international community; otherwise only isolation and emasculation will prevail52 . It is indispensable to go on with this analysis, in order to a better understanding of the views used in this working paper. The UBV is not only a university which is out of the academic logic, since it is devoted to training people for the ideological and political purposes of the revolution, but also it is a old fashion proposition in as much as it support n their academic operation only on the organization of the old gone educational triad. In the tradition of the training institutions this Venezuelan university relies upon the three basic elements, the teacher, the students and the classroom. Inside this the curriculum, designed
52

As it is known ranking of universities are trivia, since quality is not easy to be ranked among the universities. Many achieve being excellent in their contribution to society in spite of not been among the best in the world. Any way, interesting to quote the ranking elaborated by the Institute of Education of the Shangai Jiao Tong University, The top 500 world universities. Only four universities in the region are among those 500: Universidad Autnoma de Mxico, Federal de Rio de Janeiro, Universidad de Chile y Estadual Paulista (Sao Palo) This is rather difficult to believe, that only four universities in this region would classify as having world standards, but it would be very difficult to argue what universities form this part of the world belong to that elite. Any way, Venezuela has only one way to development, which is to try to become member of that club, or fall into oblivion. See http://ed.sjtu.edu.cn/ranking.htm

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to be alternative bit by trying to become innovative they discard the chance to become a working institution of higher education. It will have no international reference. It will not be able to grow since it will not be able to participate in the invisible colleges or the knowledge communities, which are the normal ways to proceed in the knowledge societies. In other words, the academic arm of the revolution will not be able to join other institutions as a legitimate member of the international academic community. In the region it will identify only with the Cuban universities, which are exactly that, ideological and political arms and weapon of the Cuba revolution, which is fossilized and rigid, after almost half a century in power. Indeed, their reference contextual network would be found only in the very few ideological universities all higher education institutions are ideological and political, let that be said, but none of them can escape the pressure to be, first of all, democratic and plural; and second to join the mainstream of normal knowledge that identify universities all over the world. The university reform in Venezuela, by the way, is supported by ideas that are at best controversial and ill founded. The UBV has been opened in isolation from the national and international pattern behaviour of universities all over the world, as if the pursue of knowledge could make begin from zero, at every corner of academic life. On the other hand, people trying to reform universities in Venezuela depart from a point of view, which is wrong. They use the following argument: The profound revision process of the exhausted university models in the whole world rises a renew debate on the nature and sense of these type of institutions. The debate in itself is not new. What seems a novel element is the rare combination of a world crisis of the education as project for Modernity and the generalization of a kind of approach that overflows the old limits of the sciences of education53 Exhausted university models? The explosion of knowledge that is radically reshaping our intellectual, political, industrial, cultural, and military environments have been stimulated largely by research initiated in the universities and technological institutes, particularly in the most advanced countries. Certainly, there are but a few of great universities around the world, real centres of invention and innovation, but all of them somehow belong to the international community that give lives to more than seven thousand universities and institutions of higher education and learning, all over the world. But this does not come from the sky, to belong to the international community some efforts are to be made. This is what small and not well-developed countries, from the academic point of view, should be doing; these are the main policies for countries like Venezuela, a country that in spite of the claims to the contrary, by those who see greatness everywhere is a marginal country in the world scale. If she were not to do that the result would be only isolation and backwardness.
53

El proceso de revisin a fondo de los modelos universitarios agotados en todo el mundo suscita un renovado debate sobre la naturaleza y sentido de este tipo de instituciones. El debate no es nuevo. Lo que parece un elemento novedoso es la rara combinacin de una crisis mundial de la educacin como proyecto de la Modernidad y la generalizacin de un tipo de enfoque que desborda los viejos limites de las ciencias de la educacin Rigoberto Lanz, Pensar la reforma de la universidad, February 11, 2004, A-9. Lanz is the main advisor to the Ministry of Higher Education n Venezuela.

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Coming back to that, in fact and truly the universities are these days of a quality never thought before, due in part to the expansion of the knowledge demands of the postindustrial society and the creation of the new technologies of communications that allow centres of invention and innovation to produce new knowledge at accelerated speed which was not possible some say twenty years ago. The model of the university in advanced societies has demonstrated the success of having autonomous and independent academic organizations devoted to generate new knowledge, to solve problems of mankind. The advances of the competitive model working furiously at levels of excellence and virtuosity are such an accepted fact that most advanced countries are just joining this pattern of institutional organization. Industries and multinational conglomerates are opening universities of their own, like the corporate universities that are operating all over the world. The investment in creating new knowledge is staggering. New fields of research are opening all the time and there is no limit to the scientific and technological imagination. Universities are being managed in very efficient ways and new concepts of time, training formats, are joining institutional networks and are adopting and adapting to the new demands of mankind trying as well as to capitalize resources that guarantee results and performance. In these circumstances, in small and backward countries like Venezuela, people are trying to control, instead of allowing people to create and to innovate. No wonder an eminent Indian have written that these days The government should get out of the business of higher education in al matters other than financingat the highest academic level, where creativity is important, individual rights should take second place to merit and social needs as interpreted not just by the government or the market, but by everyone individuals, families, civil society, and indeed teachers in higher education54 In connection with this, what are the fundamental concepts that define a modern and contemporary university, in the knowledge society? It means very simply to go beyond the triad already mentioned and to establish the education quadrangle, which include the teacher, the student, the classroom or physical space whatever than can be and finally the current technological platform that allows learners to eliminate the notion of curriculum, given the virtual and flexible learning possibilities that these platform allow people, which will have the institutions per se disappear and allow for the knowledge communities to come aboard. In the lines of thoughts opened by Crane (1972)55 to the recent thoughts organized by Lesser, Fontaine and Slusher (2000)56 we are not dealing these days with institutions but with networks, all over the world. This is why ideological institutions will be unable to join these areas of academic interest, because theirs will be dealing with
54

See I. G. Patel An encounter with higher education: my years at LSE. London : Oxford University Press, 2003. 55 See the pioneer work by Diane Crane Invisible colleges: diffusion of knowledge in scientific communities. The University of Chicago Press. Chicago, 1972. In the Venezuelan case the concept of the UBV is on the line of a secondary school, having the students come in and out of their classroom and having them being under the control of the teachers or supervisors, in activities which are destined to be supported by emotional outpours of solidarity and chants and joy, like religious groups of the type of hare khrisna or perhaps better like groups of boy scouts or groups like the Salvation Army. 56 See the book edited by Eric L. Lesser, Michael A. Fontaine and Jason A. Slusher. Knowledge and communities. Butterworth-Heinemann, Boston, Mass, USA, 2000.

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people, not with ideas. They are interested in the mobilization of people, not in the race for the comprehension of ideas and to use these to identify and solve problems, either in theoretical or practical terms. In countries like V enezuela the university reform is faced as a legal problem. In this line of though the achievement of academic quality seems to rely upon the analysis were we find the contribution of Edgar Morinwith whom we are designing to reconstruct thoughts that have as the central preoccupation the university reform and that will be seen in the writing of a new law of higher education requested by the Ministry of Higher Education57 This is the obsession, the new law that will regulate and in fact have the state poking their noses in all the activities of higher education. Unfortunately creativity, invention, innovation, academic discipline, academic ethics, even the joys of research, the role of imagination and the good will to contribute to mankind rather to even a specific society or group, are questions that cannot be regulated by law. In this sense the sole idea of a law destroy the basis of the existence of the institution; it is like trying to regulate love and feelings in people and their relationships. This would be as futile as for a government to decree happiness and prosperity, a kind of delirious thoughts that are often expressed by populist leaders, that find easier to promise paradise than to contribute to improve whatever is on earth. This is why institutions like those controlled by governments are ruled by traditional concepts, including maintaining the face-to-face relationship between students and teachers, in the situation in which the trend is to e-learning and to the virtual noncontrollable spaces of interchanging ideas. They cannot grasp the nature of knowledge management and in such a case ends up by managing people. It is quite clear these days that a university is directed toward the four areas of concerning of the knowledge society: production, productivity, diffusion and impact. These areas of concern are developed by scientist and not by institutions. In fact, academic communities, invisible colleges, knowledge communities, are organized around people working in different institutions in such a way as to have the institutions disappear and the knowledge is up front. These communities are trained to deal with unstructured problems, while the ideological universities are dramatically organized to refer to the contrary, to problems very well structured and pre-determined in which case they are not problems at all but pre-fabricated solutions to be followed. This explains why the students of the UBV are being used not to discuss problems and face uncertainty, but to work in the social programs of the revolution, which are certain of their objectives and cannot be questioned, of course. Again, ideological universities are not interested in learners, but in cadres for the revolution. This require to say that ideological universities are not interested in the measurement of the output in none of the four elements of the chain of knowledge, already mentioned as the PPDI (production, productivity, diffusion and impact). This model of four steps in the chain of knowledge is a abbreviated version of the most complete step by step organized by say the OECD, which mention seven of these steps: production, validation, collation, dissemination, adoption, implementation and institutionalization. As the complexity of the knowledge basis increases the less effective is the creation of universities were the only single topic to be handle is the know-how needed by the revolution, skipping the know57

Lanz, Rigoberto 2004, Op. Cit.

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what, know-who and better than any other the know-why and in the line of Lynd, knowledge for what? (1939). Particularly the question of institutional impact is relevant to understand the role of this university in the Venezuelan map of higher education. In current contemporary world science and technology is use to create value, in economic terms. In spite of the fact that we are becoming more dependent on science and technology, few people know how to design and operate complex technological systems. This is exactly the role of the universities, to train people to do that. The links between S&T and society is for those who formulated the policies adequate to those goals, but the internal process of getting to be acquainted with knowledge is an independent and autonomous endeavor that can only be done by universities, away from external pressures. For this reason an ideological and politically oriented university is not possible, at all. However, if the state run the university, establish the links between the university and society and more than that run the state it would be impossible to organize academic growth. Monopolies are restricted in the ways they run and operate institutions, and this applied both to state and markets, obviously. If Venezuela become a society under the monopoly of the state it will be difficult for this UBV to grow in academic terms; more than hat it will be depressing the rest of the higher education apparatus and eventually the intervention of the private sector. Ideological institutions are created to generate another type of impact. In one hand, to train the cadres of the revolution, in the second hand to impact public opinion, as it is being done in Venezuela. In fact, the UBV is being use as an electoral decoy and the effort is not to create spaces for knowledge advancement but to make-believe that the revolution is opening opportunities for those left behind and that the revolution is a fair proposition, hiding or ignoring the possible negative effects when opening institutions which are crippled at birth. By training people to shouting slogan and emotional affiliation the well needed social capital will not be built: less than the knowledge capital that could help Venezuelans to understand their place in the world arena, without waiting for some new Messiah to tell them. Of course, Venezuela 2004 is a society undergoing a bitter ideological and political conflict. In spite of the collapse of the socialist regimes, in 1989, and the failures of the structural reforms, Venezuela seems to have gone back to even more unviable solutions, which have failed everywhere they have been tried. The Venezuelan leader, some years ago, before been elected as President, in 1999, speaking in Havana, said that Cuba was a sea of happiness. In every respect once in power he has translated this believe into actions that signal the massive influx of Cubans and the dramatic influence of Cuba and their leaders in Venezuelan affairs. This has never been seen before. In academic terms in means full state control of higher education, by the state and their instruments, like the political party ruling the Cuba revolution. If this happens in Venezuela, it will mark a profound change in their higher education. This will be examined later on when analyzing the Cuban factor, but many Venezuelans in the know are convinced that only unhappiness will come

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with the application in Venezuela of such a model, very much anticipated by the opening in 2003 of the university of the revolution, the UBV58 . Having said this it is to recognize that the UBV fills a gap in a very unfair higher education system, that makes access difficult for people coming form poor backgrounds. It has been opened actually both, as the university of the revolution, but also to answer the needs of many people that have not been able to access conventional institutions. Venezuelan society is atypical Latin American society, though it does not have an ethnic situation like countries as Bolivia, Mexico, Brazil, Guatemala and Peru, to mention a few. Most countries in the region are unequal societies and most of them penalize minorities, even countries were ethnic populations are not actually known, like in Argentina and Chile, were native minorities are relegated. However, in Venezuelan society the minorities of both native and African origins are and have been discriminated all along the post-independence period. The modernization historical process did opened many opportunities, but still they are plenty of room for improvement. Ethnic discrimination is open in this society and native and people from African origins have less opportunities in life than their counterpart of white origins, meaning descendant of the Spanish conquerors or the European that came later into the country, from countries like Italy and Portugal, who climbed the social ladder because they were had workers but also because they had ethnicity approved by the elite of the society59 . The higher education map in Venezuela does not replicate a fair and just mosaic of the Venezuelan society. In this sense a policy that would promote inclusion is more than welcome. Unhappily the university of the revolution is a discriminatory instruments on he
58

Important to state that the revolution has many adepts, that thinks otherwise. A friendly book on the defense of the revolution is by Steve Ellner and Daniel Hellinger, Venezuelan politics in the Chavez era: class, polarization and conflict. Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2003. Some of the essays published in this book are actually too friendly, advancing the sympathetic views of nave American scholars of the liberal establishment, many times adoring these new darling of the left, like the Venezuelan leader of the revolution. For instance Daniel Hellinger in his chapter Political Overview: The Breakdown of Puntofijismo and Rise of Chavismo writes that Few leaders have so effectively dismantled a well-entrenched political class, challenged the hegemony of a superpower, and animated the desire for social justice of a people. Like the generation of political leaders who founded the Punto Fijo regime, Hugo Chvez Fras attempted to link oil nationalism and economic development to a conception of democracy. Whether he would succeed or instead find himself, as Bolvar put it, plowing the seas depended less upon his personal charisma than on his ability to harness other social forces that asserted themselves during the agony of puntofijismo. Some Venezuelans may think that these arguments are plain exaggerations. The political class in question is very much alive, the challenges to a superpowers are not existent aside from jabs of rhetorical nature. As for the people exactly he came to power because unfulfilled social expectations were still a debt of democracy. He capitalizes on these needs, though after five years in power he has in a way increased these social debts, according to available data. In the same book Kenneth Roberts begin his essay on Social Inequality and Populist Resurgence in Venezuela by stating that The stunning rise of Hugo Chvez to power at the end of the 1990's marked the definitive collapse of the party system that had dominated Venezuelan political life under the post-1958 democratic regime. These political parties are definitive actors in the Venezuelan political arena. They remain alive and well, especially AD, the popular political party nemesis of the revolution. 59 This is a analytical interesting aspect of the Venezuelan revolution, that is a white leadership, exception made of some of the Army leaders who come from the mestizo society; otherwise it is fascinating to see all the leaders coming from the white supremacy. It is either cynical or amusing to listen to their perorate defending equality while maintaining open ethnic and social discrimination.

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other side of the social spectrum, trying to recruit only those in favor of the revolution, trying to train them into an ideological framework. The healthy police would be for the state to pressure institutions of higher education to have quotas according to which all institutions would be democratize. This should include the private sector, of course. But instead of doing this the regime decide to open their own university and eventually to transform the whole system according to their political and ideological views. Ironically the new university is becoming an instrument of social exclusion. As it is also a university excluded from the international and national trends in higher education. Technically speaking the policy of mass higher education of higher education has to be balanced in relation to the logic of the system as well as to the resources available for these purposes. Otherwise the effects would be on the negative side. It would be equally wrong to try to increase in here or four times the students body of the Army schools, without expanding heir capacities to do so. In fact, the access to the Army schools has been kept to the right size according to available resources and the needs of the country. Here is no reason whatsoever to believe hat the same policy should be applied to the non-military higher education. It is interesting t point out that the Army schools utilizes al the mechanism of selection that they feel fit to choose the best students according to some profile, that they individual cost is much higher than in the rest of the system-because they are residential students and that they have employment for life once they finish their studies. Important to let it be said here that the Venezuelan society is very mobile and its elite has many faces. One is that group coming out of the Army schools, who are by definition members of this elite, since they have the power to do so. Those people coming out of the universities and who manage to be part of the political establishment form another. A third is composed of those who either belong to the oligarchy of the Venezuelan society, coming from the Independence times, or are newcomers from Europe that have manage to get access to wealth through work in industry and commerce. But nowhere is the Venezuelan elite with a proportion of either native or Black Venezuelan. The Venezuelan elite is white and only those from the Army contributed in a modest proportion to the circulation of te elite. That Venezuela is a mestizo society is a myth that is happily repeated by Venezuelan of all origins. They like to say that this is a society caf con leche, coffee and milk; but there is no doubt that the elite is predominantly white and linked to the attitude sand expectations of the white elite of the Western world, meaning pro Americanism, all the way. On this the revolution represents this white elite, but via their populist views they have answered to the expectations for equality of the society. The UBV represent this rhetorical answer to the expectations of many Venezuelan to enter higher education. But instead of having a chance to access to conventional universities they are now in what with hesitation it could called a territory for those who believe in the revolution. In a way it is a kind of religious institution, opened only to those of the same beliefs. On the other hand, it is an answer to those who openly believe that universities should be opened only to the members of the elite. This are the views maintained by the most extreme people in the Venezuelan ideological spectrum, people who are openly racist and who see higher education institutions like private clubs were access is restricted in social terms. Anyhow, a common
Cmo aumentar la calidad acadmica Orlando Albornoz

view of Venezuelan society is that is the consequence of a melting pot. This is not so, since their elite has historically be dominated by groups which excludes nearly all persons of less favored origins from elite positions. The ways to access these positions is through political struggle and to the control of the state, the wealthiest actor of Venezuelan economy. He whoever own oil owns the country and this is the case of the revolution, who controls power in the name of the people but somehow and without any mystery at all will become members of the elite. This will happen to the relationship between the new elite and the new university. Though no empirical data exist to prove it, it is a sure bet that the children of the revolution are not studying in the escuelas bolivarianas opened by the revolution to the children of the poor, neither will the young adults of the revolution join the UBV and will actually favor conventional universities, including those from the private sectors. On this question of the democratization of higher education a policy of exclusion would be in applying the principle of taking higher education to the poor areas of the country instead of having students from this area come into the establish universities. Open access to higher education when this is not controlled by variables like gender and ethnicity, and having students to share the benefits of an academic environment would only created more inequalities and be still more unfair that the existing system. This will only provoke regressive effects and have a negative impact. This is what might be happening to those otherwise attractive policies of the revolution, which by trying to do well ends up by doing the contrary. This is the case of the UBV. It is a university created not to compete with the rest, but their imprint it to be different and by being so it leave this institution unable to grow, in the terms already explained, and to have it to live in a vacuum untouched by normal social life. It will be a kind of artificially bread animal unable to join their e quals. It reminds of those Venezuelan students that at a given time traveled to study economics in countries like Bulgaria and could not get jobs once they returned to the country, because their learning could not be matched in the Venezuelan labor market. In what could be a very cruel twist the UBV will be training people for their own labor market, the revolution. If this historical process were to last then there is no problem at all. However, he said recently that the revolution will last between 500 or 2500 years and that is such a long period that the Sancho Panza words are to be remembered, Muy largo me lo fiais seor comendador. In any case, it is now the place to go back to the Documento rector and do some analysis of their man features. A careful lecture of this otherwise artificially complex document does not reveal any justification to open a new university, in Venezuela. In fact, it is rather difficult even for an expert on higher education to find a logical framework of ideas in this document. In general, it looks like any ordinary set of ideas that are used to justify opening institutions of higher education. However, by trying to be new and unique common ideas are reinforced. Whatever is presented lie innovations are actually setbacks in the direction of the working operation of a modern university. The purpose of this document seem to be just to provide a cosmetic adornment to the real objective, which is to create in Venezuela the model of the state university along the Soviet model, followed in the region by the Cubans, when the Soviet were established in the Caribbean island. It is the feeling in this country that would the revolution follow their logical steps of full control of all the institutions the higher education system would be organized along these lines, and the UBV is just the prototype.
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It is possible to recognize some objectives of the UBV proposal that can be discusses in this working paper. These objectives are: local knowledge, alternative knowledge, relationship with the outside community, ideological and political commitment and participation of the academic community in academic affairs. In spite of the very complex language used in this document the main characteristics are as follow:

1. The Documento rector says that the UBV finds a niche in the professional, academic, social development in the local level60 . Been attach to the local the UBV is within the concept of the municipalization of higher education, one of the objectives of the revolution. La UBV is highly preoccupied with international affairs, what they call the international world crisis, part of which was the fall of the Twin Towers61 Municipalization implies democratization of knowledge. The UBV suggest the possibility that the construction of knowledge is a privilege neither of the academics nor of the universities. The UBV suggest at the same time that the construction of knowledge can be shared with the popular groups of society, in as much as they are also protagonist of their social transformation. By adopting these principles the UBV will try to break with the tendency to provide students with rigid knowledge and to help them to face the complexities of professional and social life. 2. Associated with this is the concept of alternative knowledge. This is more complicated to explain. Knowledge, according to this Documento rector, has to surface again, a kind of re-born type of knowledge, free form the ideological attachments of the past, specifically to neoliberals doctrinarian approaches. Those approaches were individualistic and higher education has to be re-created in the collective, in the groups, and so knowledge and ideas are to be generated in dialogue, debates and consensus. 3. The UBV has a vision of the relationship between the university and the external community. According to this view the external community should be a substantive part of the university. The community participation is not just a prerequisite of university life, but also an essential aspect of the role of the university. For this reason the slogan of the university is as follows: The UBV, the community that create community.

4. The UBV will try to attract those traditionally excluded in Venezuelan society, offering equal opportunity to people from the working class, indigenous people, peasants, fishermans, people with impediments and so on. The UBV will apply the rinciple of solidarity because of their mission of social commitment. On this line of

60 61

All quotes on this from the Documento rector. In fact these towers did not fall, they were destroy by a terrorist attack; this interpretation is not accidental, of course. It shows the very childish anti Americanism that would have delighted Lenin.

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though the university will play a role trying to improve the living conditions and recuperating their cultural values. 5. The UBV hopes to exercise the principles of university autonomy, but limiting this concept to the notion of responsible autonomy. It will be an institution respectful of libertad de ctedra as well as freedom of t express ideas and thoughts. They are o sure to guarantee independently of the immediate political interest (This is an open contradiction to a institution opened as the academic arm of the revolution, being very tight to the ideology of the regime)

The UBV is a university with a short-term purpose, to be the university of the revolution. Its destiny is closely attached to the success of this revolution. If the words of the lder mximo are believable the revolution is here to stay. According to him the February 4th military coup of 1992 reverberated and echoes all the instances of the past in which Venezuelan have claimed freedom and liberty. He goes, as back as to say that he first bolivariano was the mythical indigenous leader Guaicaipuro, who faced death around 1560, supposedly fighting the Spanish conquerors, and repeats a long list of freedom fighters who have had some resonance in the years in between, including Bolivar; the revolution is the symbolic instance of resistance, in the past, and of glorious future, foe the next years, actually with no end in sight, since the revolution is forever. If that is the case the UBV will be operating for many years to come. Otherwise, its future is compromised, but from the technical point of view is an interesting case in the development of higher education in the region; and even only for that reason deserves a closer analysis than the one made in this working paper62 . Before leaving the analysis of the UBV let it be said that from a very proper technical point of view this institution is not a university. Shils have written on this,

If a university is conceived as an institution that transmits definitive truths that cannot be improved upon and that cannot be modified or revised without diminishing their truthfulness, the norms governing the activity of teachers would stipulate the complete abstention of the individual teachers from critical intellectual efforts and limit him to repetition of what has already been accepted as truth. If, however, as is the case of modern universities, the objective is the attainment of the best possible truths, with the best possible interpretation, and the best critical improvements of truths already attained, then the governing norms of conduct, method, and theory will require the attempted improvements of truths, already attained, their critical and methodical reassessment, and the

62

The open support of the revolution to the UBV compromise their academic operation and helps to define it as a political instrument rather than an academic institution. One of his Sundays TV and radio performances, in which the main leaders speaks and in fact governs, for hours, was conducted from the UBV camus in Maracaibo, the second city of the country. No words of encouragement were left out and the indirect attacks to the conventional universities were there.

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search for better truths more in accordance with methodologically sound observations and rational interpretations 63 Needles to say the UBV has already their accepted truth; they only have to repeat it and by doing so they become just an official instrument of the revolution, not a university, at least in the terms of Shils. Their truth understood under the format of the dogmas of the revolution and eliminating the possibilities of criticism or open discussion about the pro and contra of this political movement. Actually, becoming the ideological instrument to justify in supposedly academic terms the political programs of the regime. Condemned to follow a doctrinarian approach, the people at this university will be unable to organize their own academic agenda. Their work will become meaningless and they will be an example of the isolated, self-perpetuating, parochial environment (that) can not longer serve a functional purpose for the educating institutions or any of its components64 . They will only be part of the political and ideological apparatus and will survive only as part of the nomenklatura of the revolution. In relation to the epistemological question it would be possible to say that the UBV does not resist the slightest analysis from that point of view. The following table suggests this situation and the non-academic role of this political institution.

Table 2 university

Comparative epistemological aspects of a the UBV and an academic

UBV

Academic University

Local knowledge Community Alternative Consume Closed (doctrinarian approach) Visible Controlled Physical Social role Classroom centered Mass recruitment

Universal knowledge Society Paradigmatic Produce Open (plural approach) Invisible Autonomous Virtual Academic role Lab and field work centered Elite selection

63

See Edward Shils, The order of learning, essays on the contemporary university. Edited with an introduction by Philip G. Altbach. Transaction Publishers, New Brunswick and London, 1997. 64 See Marvin Bartell, Internationalization of universities: a university culture-based framework Higher Education 45. 43-70, 2003, p. 49.

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It would be out of the question to analyze each of the se factors. The only emphasis here would be on the social or academic role 65 . This pressure is felt by universities everywhere, the pressures from the international community to which it belong and those pressures from the society in which it operates. The perfect equilibrium is never achieved but one aspect should not be sacrificed for the other. In the case of UBV they have chosen to work hand in hand with the local, with the communities, attuned to the needs of society and in this case the needs of the revolution. By doing so it has become an institutional part of the machinery of the revolution; there is no way to be freed from those attachment, at a price, which is non other that the negation of academic standard, close as they are to democratic pluralism. In this line of thoughts they have only one track to follow, in ideological terms, a very divisive regime that promote a revolution that exclude those who are a part of it, as defined by them. In ideological terms the revolution is excluding via the imposition of the bolivarianismo. It is not very clear what is the meaning of this concept. One good approximation is the definition given by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports, when reforming basic school. According to this reform the bolivarianismo is something like this: los principios del ideario bolivariano para fortalecer el bienestar individual y colectivo, la economa social solidaria, el valor del trabajo, la convivencia, la interculturalidad, la integracin latinoamericana, la educacin indgena, adems de la historia y geografa local, regional y nacional66 Nothing new, in fact, since these are aspects covered by any purposes already seen in the country.

The achievements of the revolution in higher education

Whatever could be called the achievements of the revolution, after five years, take us to the amazing finding that in higher education the so called revolution is indeed the most conventional way to handle this level of the educational system. In Parsonian terms, the revolution has emphasized the pattern-behavior of the social and educational system. Parsons argues that cultural institution (educational) develop creating moral obligations
65

There is a clear dichotomy between the social function of the university and their academic obligations. On this see the book by Guillermo Villaseor Garca La funcin social de la educacin superior en Mxico: la que es y la que queremos que sea. (la realidad y la utopa), UAM Xochimilco, CESU-UNAM and Universidad Veracruzana, 2004. : La funcin social la entendemos, como la finalidad ltima y amplia para la cual se quiere que el sistema de educacin superior y sus instituciones sirvan a la sociedad en su conjunto, y la cual les es asignada a las instituciones, para instrumentar la relacin que se establece entre la educacin superior y el conjunto de los actores de la sociedad; es decir, que es el papel central y primordial que se espera que juegue la educacin superior en la conformacin de las relaciones sociales, y del cual deber desprenderse el conjunto de acciones concretas que, de acuerdo con ese papel, se instrumentarn en las instituciones de educacin superior y en otras instancias de la sociedad cuando stas se relacionen con la educacin superior. This view is shared by many people in the region, the primacy of the social over the academic. 66 El Universal, February 12, 2004 A-6

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that are transferred to be pattern-behavior meaning evaluative action-orientation, which is the Venezuelan case, depriving the higher educational system of the cognitive beliefs, one of them academic freedom. In this sense, the revolution is reinforcing that was been done, good or bad, without any technical criteria, just reacting to the permanent pressures but without the imagination to change the function and operation of the system in a creative way that would have made the system more efficient. It is easy to stress the argument: whatever was not done in these five years it will not be done in the next five years, if hat were the case. That means that the necessary over-haul of the higher educational system to make it more efficient, thorough all variables, will be left to whenever the postrevolutionary era begins. For the time being there are neither innovations nor changes that could be called structural, but just policies to reinforce whatever was being done in the past. It could be said that if the country does not breakdown the bureaucratic organization and direct the system to the creation of the cognitive complexes, which are indispensable for the development of knowledge, this Venezuelan higher education system will remain instrumental without achieving the role of the motor of society. In the region this is happening only in two countries, nevertheless, in the area south of Rio de Janeiro (Sao Paulo and Rio Grande do Sul) and in Mexico (in the area from Mexico City to the North, Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey) 67 .

The programs of the revolution during the five years, between 1999-2004
For the bright side of the educational policies for higher education during the years of the revolution is the program for the improvement of quality and equity. This has been at the center of the purposes of Venezuelan higher education, as everywhere. D uring the seventies and eighties the improvement of academic quality in Venezuela was directed towards sending students abroad, for extended training in graduate studies. This policy of decentralization paid off in the training of human resources at the highest possible level. These efforts were also done at the internal of the system. Measurements of the results of these policies were not done at the time, and for this reason it is not possible to speak of the achievements or failures. During the revolution the government has decided upon centralized policies, for the improvement of higher education. The revolution claims advances such as these:
67

Creation of the Ministry of Higher Education Opening of four new experimental universities Opening of four new private universities Opening of four institutes of technology Organizing the Alma Mater Program. Payment of accumulated debt to faculty members and increases in their salaries

See Talcott Parsons, The social system. The free Press 1958 p. 58

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Improvement in the physical infrastructure of the campuses Programs of publications Mission Sucre Providing transportation to students68

As said, it is fascinating that all the efforts done by the revolution do not imply changes in the function and operation of the system. The bright side is not as luminous as it looks. What explains that the revolution has been unable to change the system, instead of reinforcing what was in urgent need to be changed? To be absolutely objective, as far as it can, the revolution has threatened, intimidated, shouted, but important as they are the changes are peripheral to the nucleus of the system, which is intact. It is true that the tendency is to deny academic freedom and institutional integrity, but this effort has to do more with the suppression of public liberties, than to directly involvement in academia. One line of thought could say that after all the revolution is taking care of those vital forces that would shape success or failure of the revolution, like the control of the oil industry as well as the tight control of the Army, the Judiciary, the National Electoral Council and so those institutions which are close to the decisions as to retain or to lose power. But the academia is not crucial in Venezuela; its power is purely symbolic. In fact, if the revolution were to intervene those institutions, which are most sensitive in the higher educational system, it would only create a no win game, nothing to win everything to lose. This is why instead of trying to control the autonomous or non-experimental universities the revolution has created its own university, the UBV and has captured an already working experimental university to be included in the revolutionary project, the Universidad Nacional Experimental Simn Rodrguez. This university has even opened an office to assist the social programs of the revolution dedicated to education, Mission Robinson I and II, Ribas and especially Mission Sucre, a programs designed to offer the opportunity to access higher education, for those students left behind in previous years. This university expects to open access to some thirty thousand students of Mission Sucre and is strongly supporting the revolution. This university is well spread thought the country, with some twenty campuses in 16 of the 24 states of Venezuela. The most important of these achievements of the revolution is the Alma Mater Project, devoted to the improvement of both quality and equity. How is the revolution to reconcile the trade-off between quality and equity is open to question69 . Equity is easy to conceive, literally impossible to realize. It is a very attractive proposition part of the rhetorical discourse of the revolution, this Venezuelan one and any other, in fact. But it is a belief that defies any rational analysis. One of the populist proposition as attractive as that one is the belief that strong man can deliver freedom, stability and the well being and power-sharing among the people they govern. Again, the proposal is that people would begin a new scial race, with people all being put back in a kind of starting line. The problem is who is going to determine where the starting line is and how to handle the inheritance of natural abilities, which are not easily changed. Any way, one of the slogans of the Venezuelan revolution is that power will be given to the people and that the people are the leader of the revolution.
68 69

This informations taken from an official publication, Logros de una gestin exitosa, OPSU/CNU 2004. See by Arthur M. Okun, Equity and Efficiency the big trade-off The Brooking Institution 1975

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Empowerment being the crucial and key proposal of the revolution, and apparently many people believe that, in spite of the high concentration of power in very few hands. In relation to equity most people in Venezuela are ready to buy that idea, that people are equal and that only the selfish behavior of the oligarchs have stopped them to achieve the goods that are necessary to have a happy and prosperous life. However, being equity impossible to realize quality is technically possible to achieve. The examples are many, of successful institutions of higher education of high quality, in many places and under different circumstances. One very attractive comparison about achieving quality has to do with trying to explain why and how comes that Americans of the English speaking countries, including USA and Canada have been highly successful in creating some of the treasures of higher learning, while those universities down the Rio Grande are not among those jewels and more than that exhibit some of the weakest and poorest institutions of higher education in the world. But this is beside the point. The questions are the objectives of the Alma Mater Project. They have considered that to improve quality of the system they have to: develop accreditation programs, install procedures to evaluate both the institutions and the system, incorporate performance indicators, to strength the academic career, to stimulate programs to have more people with advanced training up to the doctoral level, to strength the research facilities and to provide assistant to the library needs in the country. The Project is interested in promoting national institutions and only exceptionally they will finance studies abroad70 . Some of these ideas have been around, for quite some time, as it can be seen n the official documents of OPSUs. No data is reported yet, about the results of this Project. It could only be pointed out that the Project, among other things, has provided four millions dollars to buy buses for transportation of the students but half of it, two millions, for academic research. That says a lot about the priorities of the revolution on these maters. In fact, beside the alacrity and the claims for achievements the policies of the revolutionary government are quite conventional, they happen to be more of the same, spending more in current expenditures but not so much in institutional investment. From the management point of view, on the other hand, it is understanding that more expenditure are allocated to material acquisition, like buses to transport people, than to organize research; to facilitate transportation to the students is the best way of attracting and pleasing more people via popular actions, like this actions which makes the authorities look like good friends of the students needs. Organizing scientific and technological research is a very complicated affairs, it must be said, and in Venezuela there are some duplications of this matter, because more that one state agents are trying to do the same; the Ministry of Science and the Ministry of Higher Education are in fact overlapping functions and the result is an evident mismanage of the area of concern. The members of the scientific community are confused, to say the least, because of these bureaucratic inefficiency. In this sense the Alma Mater Project looks like an obstacle to the proper advancement of the stimulus to advances in the area of the sciences. This would be more visible in the area of the social sciences, of course, because these happen to be closer to be more critical of the revolutionary plans and projects.

70

See the series of publications of the Alma Mater Project for details about it. N 8 was published in December 2003, OPSU.

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To finalize this discussion on the achievements of the revolution it should be added that the government seem to see higher education not an academic potential, but as a civic service, which can be, mobilize for the purposes of the revolution. It has been repeated often by the leaders of the revolution that the students should takes the streets and fight for the revolution. In five years hardly a word to encourage students to do what they are suppose to be doing, devoting their time to study and research. This has been the interest of the revolution in higher education; that is to say, they have not been idle on this matter, quite the contrary, but the energies and efforts have been in what many is the wrong direction, since they have implemented a vision and policies hat will not pay off in terms of achieving neither equity nor quality. Because the overt purpose in relation to higher education is simply to control these institution for the good of the revolution, as it is hoped is seeing by reading this working paper.

Research and development, the absence of policy rationality

A word should be said in this working paper on the fact that the policies taken in the area of education, in Venezuela, are the consequence of a political and ideological project, which preempts any rational choice of alternative policies. These policies include those for higher education as well as to science and technology, culture and sports. Being the revolution a project of grandiose international scale, since the leader of the revolution wishes to accomplish in 2004 were Bolivar failed in 1830, an enormous charge of emotionality pervade over any policy decision taken by the Venezuelan government. Every policy is designed to cover all people that could be included in any of these predicaments. All means general policies regardless of previous analysis of the possibilities to apply, means not taking in considerations financial cost and above all with any regard whatsoever to the effects of whatever decisions are being taken. In fact, there are no policies to be applied but battles to be fought, long standing dreams to be achieved and the glory to be a developed country around the corner, in the magical year of the revolution, 2021, when the leader will finally give up his quest for immortality. Of course, research is necessary to improve education, at any level. But here is little educational research in Venezuela. In spite of the enormity of the share destined for education, in the national budget, there is not any national institution devoted to test ideas before their implementation. Education is a standard issue in the mass media and in public opinion, but mostly these are exactly that, personal opinions that carry little analytic content. Wild ideas and proposal can be read daily in Venezuelans newspapers, as to how improve the schooling system, but very few can be taken seriously. This is difficult to explain to foreign scholar willing to understand the operation of the Venezuelan educational system. There is quantitative information, of course, because this is information, which has been collected in the country as part of the bureaucratic routine, but there is little analysis out of that data. The studies and research on question like quality, efficiency, performance, knowledge production, technological processes, effects of the
Cmo aumentar la calidad acadmica Orlando Albornoz

teaching routine in the learning activities, the relationship between the educational system and employment, finding out problems which are holding back the progress of many children, the effect of gender in the schooling outlook, the size and volume of the school system vis vis the educational system, the relationship between the school system and the scientific community these are just a few of the issues about which there is very little if any research done in Venezuela. This absence of research in education may explain why policies taken in the past as those taken in the present some times fail completely. Two of the most celebrated educational policies taken in the recent past, like the one that sent thousand of Venezuelan students to follow studies in foreign institutions, in an accelerated program to train the human resources needed by the country, was a mix success, simply because it was never evaluated fully in order to assert the positive and the negative aspects of that policy. The second policy concerns the foolish proposal that very generously wanted to make Venezuelans more intelligent. In fact, according to those who issued that awkward policy Venezuelan were destined to become the most intelligent people on earth and this country was to have more Nobel prizes than the rest of the world, all together. This policy, Programa para el desarrollo de la inteligencia, which when taken seriously was an offense to those who knew how inappropriate was this bizarre idea and when taken with sense of humor was a very entertaining proposal, failed strenuously. Up to this day there is not even an archive of the application of this idea. This is what is happening today. Policies are issued because they fir political purposes, ideological objectives or simple the emotion of the day. Previous analysis is not done, financial costs are irrelevant and probable effects are not estimated. In fact, there are technical distinctions, which are not made in Venezuela, in this area. One is the critical difference between schooling and education, and second between the formulation of a policy and their implementation. Of course, under the predicament of academic populism it is quite easier and popular to formulate policies that to implement them, because in the latest case inevitable some political price is to be paid and that would shrink the size of the political support needed by populist leaders to keep their hold on power. Interesting to point that in many cases the Third World countries just react to proposal issued by international organizations, like UNESCO and the WB. This can be good, because these proposal happen to be well founded, but there is in each country the need and responsibility to do their own research and actually verify what proposal are and what are not useful for a given country and this is not the case in Venezuela. Needles to say that in this case the inspiration comes not from the rationality of research but from the ideological principles and dogmas of the revolution, no matter how ill founded these can be, how inapplicable and how costly they could be.

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The case of IVIC (Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Cientficas)

On this question of research and development and what could be called the absence of policy rationality it is important to mention the case of IVIC (Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Cientficas). IVIC is the jewel of the crown of the higher learning system in Venezuela. Criticized by many it is the only institution in the country devoted almost entirely to research. According to the principles of the revolution science should b democratized. Apparently this means making science popular. It means to suggest that scientific research is an activity, which is elitist, and on that line of thought the government has declared the needs to invite scientist to come out of their laboratories and join the national effort, without specifying how to do this. Of course, the Cultural Revolution in China offers a view as to the meaning of this type of proposal, as it has happened in every case in which science has been put under the control of the state, be in the Soviet Union, in Germany or in Cuba. Through the years this state institutions has been free to do, as they felt adequate. Man Venezuelan observers though that this institution should be more transparent and more connected to the higher education system, of which it was not a part. In fact, IVIC has played in Venezuela the role of the Ivory Tower, kind of arrogant institution above the rest, occupied in scientific endeavor while the rest of the institutions were just teaching. Located in a bucolic area close to Caracas, it h been referred often as a kind of Shangri La. The as question is that the revolution is looking upon to take what are the logical steps that the regime is taking anywhere, to have IVIC under the control of the state, in this case the revolution. The IVIC is associated in the analysis with two other institutions of enormous importance in the Venezuelan academic map, INTEVEP and CIED. Both of these institutions have been crippled by the revolution after they embarked in an ill-fatted rebellion against the regime, in December 2002-January 2003. This rebellion was ignited by PDVSA, the oil industry, and these two institutions were part of it and when the rebellion failed and the regime took over the oil industry it did the same with this two research institution, one doing research for the industry, the other as the only corporative university of the country. Both the history and the performance of the IVIC deserve more space than the one it is possible to dedicate in this working paper, but no analysis of Venezuelan higher education is complete unless this higher learning enterprise is mentioned an in this latest case the IVIC is the paradigmatic unique example. One researcher, who declared that, has provided some recent interpretation as to where the IVIC should turn: Hasta el momento slo los investigadores, quienes representan apenas el 10 por ciento del personal, participan en la eleccin del director. Creo que tanto el reglamento que se esta discutiendo en este momento como la Ley del IVIC deben adecuarse a a Constitucin de la Republica Bolivariana de Venezuela, l pues esta ltima expresa claramente que el poder reside en el pueblo y que lo

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debe ejercer. Pero en el IVIC, un grupo de personas se rene en asamblea y decide la vida de todos los que trabajamos aqu71 The point to be analyzed here is if the principle according to which any academic institutions should be governed not only by the academics, but by the whole labor community, that is, including workers and employees. If the new principle approved in the Constitution of 1999 is to be applied to the letter even academic communities should accept the participatory democratic principle and all members of any given community should b able to vote and to be a part of the decision that govern any given institution. On the contrary, if the meritocracy principle is applied this would not be possible at all. This is an axiom of the academic world, that maintains that academic institutions should be governed according to the academic principles and that no one from the outside should be allowed to participate in decisions, which are strictly of an academic nature. On this matter it could be said that even the worst managed academic organization, the participation of people coming from outside the academic would still damage further the management of such enterprise. It is analogous to have the Army, which is run in an hierarchal way, from top of it to the rest of the organization, were to be managed with the participation of the soldiers of any rank as well as by the civilian workers and employees. They would know nothing of the complex strategy taking in consideration to run the Army. It is exactly he same in the case of academic organizations. The fallacy of participation is at the bottom of this interpretation. However, in the case of the revolution the whole concept of participation is oriented not to promote democratization of organizational processes but just to use it for political and ideological control. In the case of any academic institution such as IVIC these are rather complex business, which neophytes cannot grasp. Perhaps certain administrative affairs could be conducted by the colectivo, an expression used often by the revolution, who does not like decisions taken by a single persona, since the gospel is that these should be taken by all those affected by a given policy. Otherwise people who does not know a given matter can be mislead about it and accept the wrong turn, simply because ideological stands are not sufficient to understand complex issues like those of the advanced sciences and technologies. In this case there are two contradictory views, of course. In one side the meritocracy views, based upon technocratic thoughts. It is the hierarchical order that takes in consideration academic training, competence, experience, international outlook and above all knowledge. The populist way to look upon public affairs, which is the opposite of the meritocracy, is on the other side. This approach will considers others factors, like face-to-face relationships, emotional and affective links, loyalty and above all fidelity to the doings of both the doctrine and the leader. In the first case the main value to be praised is a critical

71

Luis Bustillos, in El Universal, Autonoma del IVIC se encuentra en discusin, January 14, 2004. p/2-6. Mr. Bustillos is not a researcher but represents the IVIC employees at the governing body but is not a member of the assembly that appoint the director. Its assembly is composed only of the researchers.

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view of whatever issue is being discusses, in the second case the question is how faithful a given person can be around any given issues in discussion72 . Of course, in Venezuela participation is coming to mean government by the majority, without any qualification whatsoever. In the case of the IVIC and only for the sake of clarity of the arguments used in this working papers let see the distribution of personnel responsibilities at IVIC: 882 persons were the labor population of IVIC in 2002. 105 of them with the right to be a member of the meeting to appoint the director, that i to say the researchers: 11 per cent of s the total. 226 were professional people and technicians associated to research work: 25 per cent of the total. Workers and employees were 499, equivalent to 56 per cent. This simply arithmetics indicates that is the principle of the so called participation were to be applied the academic policies would be issued by people in no way able to understand the complex issues of advanced science and technology, in any area73 . If government by the majority is the best principled to be applied to democratic procedure in the open society, it would the wrong way to manage academic organizations or any other one in which the hierarchical order is based upon meritocracy. To suggest otherwise is to create the institutional vacuum often created by populist policies. However, academic institutions cannot work out and away from control of those who finance it, the society at large. In the case of IVIC as in other academic institutions of the country it would be a good idea to have this type of control, to improve transparency, which is indispensable for democratic procedure. It is important to say that institutions like IVIC, IDEA, INTEVEP, CIED, IESA, CENDES and others seem to patronize an idea which is entirely wrong, that no one should interfere with their whereabouts. The best policy to be implemented is to have institutions able to manage their own affairs, but to be totally transparent and to be useful to the needs and goals of society. To try to be off-hands from national and local affairs, to live in the ivory towers and to ask for privileges, which are abuses of public trust, does not help these institutions to really help and contribute to society.

72

It is up to the point to say that the idea of the participation of the workers and employees in academic business has been a long professed ideal in Venezuela. As early in 1970, during la renovacin, even academic evaluation was to be shared by the Faculty members with workers and emp loyees and right now in 2004 one academic unit of the Universidad Central de Venezuela is proposing the same idea. See the standard book on the subject, by Hector Silva Michelena and Heinz Rudolf Sonntag, Universidad, dependencia y revolucin. Siglo XXI, Mxico, 1970. 73 Informe anual 2002. Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Cientficas.

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The case of CIED (Centro Internacional de Educacin y Desarrollo)

One higher education institutions that deserve a comment is CIED, when analyzing the current map of Venezuelan higher education, or higher learning, for that mater. The Centro Internacional de Educacin y Desarrollo (CIED) was the corporate university created by the oil industry. In fact, this is the first institution of higher education, which has been closed by the revolution. It is still legally open, in what euphemistically is being call reorganization but this means in practice closing the institution. Opened in the mid nineties CIED was created to be the organization to facilitate the academic growth of their personnel, establishing a network of knowledge proper of the invisible colleges that develop a new kind of learning environments. It was in fact a step forward from the conventional Venezuelan higher education institution, under the format of the corporate university. His is the most recent model of university, created within the largest corporations to serve, as a link to both the conventional academic market and the specific needs of such an industrial organization. As it is known there are more than two thousand corporate universities all over the world, mainly of course in the most industrialized countries. Naturally, the first Venezuelan corporate university was opened in its largest industry, the oil industry74 . It was a first class academic center. They opened up the kind of relationships that mark down internationalization of higher education. By utilizing their enormous financial and professional resources they managed to link the need of the industry with local and international institutions, all over the world, in order to profit and learn, that is to say, to transform the industrial organization into an educational enterprise. This university worked out ways to produce knowledge, according to the lines of new methodology like knowledge management and knowledge communities. It transformed the notion of learning time, from the class hour concept to the continuous permanent approach to problems, until they were solve. It took advantages of the new technological platforms in order to improve the quality of learning. Actually, CIED worked out fine. Its short life generated a very favorable impact; it could have been eve larger if this institution would have managed to become a participant in the Venezuelan higher education system. It remained isolated and perhaps even aloof from the mainstream of the Venezuelan society. Perhaps their closure is a heavy price for that inefficient ways to manage this university. However, after the strike of the oil industry, during December 2002 and January 2003, the center was taken under control, their leaders were fired and the CIED was put under the orders of an intervener, in this case a person who had been vice minister of education during the revolution. All programs have been cancelled and the excellent documentation unit has been closed and discontinued. However, one word should be said about the internal efficiency of this university. Which means to refer to t e same concept in the oil industry. It h has been argued, that PDVSA was a model of corporate efficiency, and that an incompetent
74

On corporate universities see the pioneer work by Jeanne C. Meister, Corporate universities, lessons in building a worlds class work force. McGraw Hill 2000.

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government whose only objective is to extend its power in all spheres of national life until it achieves the type of control characteristic of totalitarian regimes has sacrificed it. The myth of corporate efficiency is remarkably fragile. In the international business statistics (for 2000), PDVSA heads the list of the 50 largest firms in Latin America and its executives proudly point out that it is in the same league as the private oil giants of the North. But the statistics also reveal that it is not as efficient as we had been led to believe. Some data shows that PDVSA was not among the best-managed oil firms, when information on profit on sales was compared even with other oil industries in the region. On the grounds that the industry needed to be protected from the threat of irresponsible political clientelism and maintained as a serious corporation, many instances of excessive secrecy were imposed upon the Venezuelan oil industry. This applies to CIED. Created as a corporate university and in spite of assisting local universities and opening their doors to Venezuelan students at certain periods of time, it maintained isolation and secrecy and behaving far and above the higher educational system75 . However, the closing of PDVSA corporate university accounts as a loss to Venezuelan higher education. It lacked transparency and showed excessive arrogance and secrecy as a pattern of behavior, but without entering into their failures and successes it was an excellent concept and should have been kept open, by the revolutionary government; their closing might prove that the government did not how to take advantage of opportunities. By transforming this university into another resource for the revolution, in a very rudimentary fashion, do nothing to the revolution and worsen the academic quality of the country. This corporate university is now playing out routines of the revolution which could be fulfill by any other agency of the government, but they did not know how to handle this delicate academic artifact that could have been an splendid instrument for the goals of the revolution. It is important to say that there was not a single protest from the Venezuelan academic community when CIED was intervened and eventually closed down. Perhaps they did not feel that this corporate university was a part of that community. But it seems important to insist that by closing down this fine institution the revolution has nothing to be proud of.

A note on the private sector of higher education

The private sector is a relatively new actor in Venezuelan higher education. However, historically speaking they came to life prior to the expansion of t e public sector. When the h first two private institutions were opened, in 1953 and under the military dictatorship ruling the country at the time, the public sector was rather weak and actually came out strong only
75

CIED never tried to become a member of the Venezuelan higher education community, in formal terms. Never sat down in the National Council of Universities. In short, it was opened as part of the oil industry and remained so entering in touch with Venezuelan institutions of higher education at will and not responding to any scheme of the educational policies of the country. In fact, the Ministry of Education had no contact whatsoever in the programs of this autonomous institution.

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in 1958, when the military regime was deposed. A very strong segment of the private enterprise in the country, it has been left untouched by the revolution. So far the strategy of the government has been directed to try to control the public sector and particularly the autonomous institutions. Attending almost 30 per cent of the enrollment in higher education, the private sector is not a homogenous segment. They follow to the letter the model of the teaching institution of higher education, training people for the professions but without attending the academic standard requested by this level of the schooling process. Some of the private institutions are very prestigious and carry on a large amount of reputation, but not because they are of high academic quality but because they take acre of the children of the upper social classes. Others are of rather low prestige and reputation but hey carry on, attending the demands of working class people ordinarily attending the university while working full time in the labor market. This sector is very strong, both institutionally and from the point of view of theirs gross investment. They are quite powerful and vigorously lobby for their interest. They are inclined toward the right of the political spectrum, but they have so far left untouched by the policies of the government. In fact, the private sector of education was the first to oppose the public policies of the government, when this tried to control basic private education. This sector of the school system perform their functions within the limits of the training society and in fact, their participation in the production of new knowledge is rather marginal. They do not in fact act as members of a scientific community but as units of a very tight network of institutions providing a service, to both the upper and the middle classes. This sector is very useful in as much as it diminishes the pressure for access that otherwise would look upon places in the public institutions. Mind to say that they operate without any control from the government. Supervision in these matter are non-existent in Venezuela, either in the private or in the public sector. Accountability is not an issue in this society. In fact, these institutions of the private sector are entitled to issue degrees with the same validity of the public institutions and that without any quality control. From the financial point of view it is convenient to mention that this market is very profitable, since the demand is permanent, the sector is free from tax obligations and the administrative practices allow for large fortunes made out of the exploitation of this market. This sector plays a very positive role, however, and in many ways is a democratizing element in as much it allow that people already in the labor market to follow higher education studies and become members of the professionals classes. As it happens the private sector of Venezuelan higher education is not a homogenous lot. On the contrary, there are very many differences among the institutions of this sector. Not been relevant as productive members of the academia, in term of creating new knowledge, some of them are very active in national life and have indeed a very clear profile about their goals. Universidad Catlica Andrs Bello, for instance, is very active in public life via a research institute on social issues, mainly studies on poverty. On this they take a highly ideological stand, in fact as a counter offer to the plan of the revolution. His rector, a distinguish Jesuit, play a role in intellectual circles and is openly against the government. Universidad Metropolitana, plays an important role, as well. This s a university created to train the leaders of the business need for human resources; they recruit the children of the wealthy, in Caracas, and have close contacts with institutions like CEDICE, a think tank
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that defends liberal ideology. Universidad Tecnolgica del Centro (UNITEC), plays the same role, in Valencia, a city two hours driving time from Caracas. They recruit students from the middle and upper class in that industrial city and assist this industrial park. His rector, a retired faculty member of the local autonomous university, Universidad de Carabobo, was briefly head of the electoral body of the country, under the revolution. The Universidad Catlica Cecilio Acosta (UNICA), which operates in Maracaibo, the second city of the country, is also very active in the region. His rector is a former rector of the local autonomous university, the powerful Universidad del Zulia, and is a known intellectual very active against the revolution. Not exactly a university, the Instituto de Estudios Superiores de Administracion (IESA), is a well-known business school that train people at the graduate level and provide technical assistance to the business community, but is also very active in political life. Some of his members have been recruited to perform duties as ministry of past governments, including the current editor of Policy Analysis (Washington, USA). They are openly against the revolution, been a liberal think tank. M embers of IESA are constantly been asked their opinions, by the Venezuelan mass media, on economic and social issues. They represent the liberal technocratic views. The opinions of those members from the autonomous universities, incidentally, represent the views from the left and it is to be remembered that many faculty members of the autonomous universities are among those in the leadership of the revolution, particularly from the UCV. A sign of ideological plurality common in public autonomous universities is that most of those rejecting the dogmatic views of the revolution comes from these universities. Others private universities play less prominent roles, some of them rather low profile. Some of these universities are of very low academic quality, with poor physical and academic facilities, that care for a kind of students of second class level of achievement, coming from middle class and middle low class groups and are institutions of low prestige and reputation. They are marginal to political life and keep quite about governmental affairs. What is common of these private universities is that they happens to be at the right center of the political spectrum and in most cases they abhor Marxism or any connection whatsoever with communism. They would be understood as institutions within a sort of academic capitalism in the narrow sense of the concept. As it will be discussed in the second part of this working paper, academic capitalism is directed toward accepting the mechanism of capitalism: production, productivity, diffusion and impact; that is to say, the elements that are the dynamics of a capitalist economy and society. They are academic capitalism in the sense that they accept the ideology, but are not actually within the practice of such a concept. It is axiomatic that for a higher education institution to be part of the concept of academic capitalism they have to be productive, not only participatory in political or ideological life. Still, the private sector of Venezuelan higher education plays an important role in this society. It would be very thought for the revolution to intervene this vast and powerful sector of the Venezuelan institutional framework. It is a network of vested interest that might be a challenge for the revolution, because they will oppose any try to take over with virulence, even greater perhaps that that of the public sector. The revolution has speedy mechanism to be successful in controlling the system, with these two obstacles, in one hand
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the autonomous universities, and then this private sector; both of these sectors have international linkages that would help their procrastination if that were to be the case.

From the renovacin to the re-foundation of the university, 1960 to 2004

This working paper is not the place to do a detailed historical analysis of the evolution of higher education in Venezuela. However, as in any other country present events are explained by taking a historical perspective. To put it simply: whatever is happening in 2004 has an antecedent in the events that took place at the Universidad Central de Venezuela, in 1969-70. At ha time a movement initiated in that university shaked the academic environment in that university and new laws were issued and the government, like the creation of the experimental universities, took a number of actions. At that time the renovacin was a university movement. Those leaders of that movement are now in a power position and whatever the name of the actions forms the revolutionary government; they are the application of those ideas and ideals. So what is now called the re-foundation of the university is no other than the purpose to renovate the higher education system. It should be pointed out that the revolution is trying to begin from zero and to create a renewed set of institutions. The university would not be left out and now that have their model, the universidad bolivariana, the only university in the country to grow and spread all over the country, with full financial and logistics support from the regime. In fact, when the autonomous universities are denied funds for academic grow universities, which are aligned to the revolution, see their budget duplicated from one year to another76 .

The preservation of academic values

To preserve academic values s crucial for Venezuelan higher education. Autonomy of this i community is a healthy ingredient; otherwise this educational level cannot play the needed role as an instrument of development. Academic freedom means a plural view of knowledge, a critical stand and a refusal to accept any fundamental or doctrinarian a view as part of the academia. It means to be linked to the international knowledge arena and to allow for the free flow of the academic actors and their instrument, like books and other. It means to praise and appreciate the need to have an independent number of people devoted to intellectual endeavor risking talent and capital in order to find answers to the need of societies, beyond the clichs and stereotypes of the would-be-dictators able to explain all facts within their often tired and repetitive discourse, people speaking as if they are behind the barricades shooting to any one dissenting and claiming to know. Academic values are international in scope and practice. Perhaps never before academia was a world community sharing and appreciating the universitas in its full conception and
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This is the case of the Universidad Experimental Simn Rodrguez.

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understanding. This is the area in which international organization like UNESCO and the Magna Charta have a role to play. The main one, to let governments know that any violation of values and academic principles will be closely observed and watched by international standards. Higher education has a primary national responsibility but within the context of the international values and principles defended anywhere as an essential element of freedom and liberty. This is the dilemma being resolved in Venezuela. In one hand the preservation of academic values and principles via decentralization and protection by the government of the academic community. On the other hand, having the higher education under the control of the government, which means right now in Venezuela the discretionary ways of a personal rule and exercise of power by a single person. This is much against the values and principles of higher education and university academic environment. Precisely, referring to the university the Magna Charta Universitatum expressed as a fundamental value that, To meet the needs of the world around it, its research and teaching must be morally and intellectually independent of all political and economic power In Venezuela the regime is trying to control higher education and to make the university dependant of a specific political project, in this case the revolucin bolivariana. By doing so the regime should be aware that they are violating these principles of the Magna Charta Universitatum, which is analogous of any government violating the United Nations Charta or in the case of Latin America and the Caribbean violating the principles of the Organization of American States. It must be said that the main Venezuelan university, the Universidad Central de Venezuela, signed the Magna Charta Universitatum, on September 2003. More than five hundred universities have signed these principles of the Magna Charta Universitatum, since 1988. This document is, in fact, the Academic Constitution of the University and the defense of its principles is a permanent issue of universities all over the world. The issue of academic freedom has been paramount in Venezuela. All through her history the university has defended academic freedom, against every autocrat and dictator willing to suppress this fundamental freedom. Democratic elected government has also tried to operate in that direction. This is not the place to mention all instances of the violation of academic freedom and in fact the closing down of the universities, some times for long periods, in one case one full decade. On the other hand, being the higher educational system in Venezuela one devoted to a teaching model and with the lack of an strong academic community, as well as the fact that instead of such a community institutions operate isolated one from the other, academic freedom in itself looks a non essential element of the whole academic enterprise in this country. It s true that the universities have i been able to fight violations to academic freedom, but more often than not just trying to defend democracy as such and not exactly the freedom as a value necessary to the normal set up of academia. The expansion of the private sector goes against academic freedom as an issue, because this institutions are managed as private enterprises where political discussion is non-existent y in fact they operate like businesses. This sector takes political stands, but they do not have a academic community as such.
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The geography of academic freedom in Venezuela would show hat the territory is under the control of the state and in the current experience under the control of the regime. The private sector controls say a third of higher education and the country controls directly another third in university colleges and technical institutes. This leaves only the autonomous universities, the remaining third of this territory, where academic freedom can become an issue. The universities that are under the qualification of experimentales are also under the control of the state/government and academic freedom is not an issue. Since many people in the autonomous institutions are in favor of the regime this leaves actually rather a limited number of people concerns about freedom and integrity in Venezuelan academy. This situation offers to the observer new grounds for analysis, with the tentative argument that academic freedom becomes an issue only when political liberties are at stake. Could it be concluded that academic freedom and institutional integrity are not an issue in societies where intellectual and academic life is marginal to the mainstream of society? Is Venezuela a society where the only preoccupation is the struggle for power and these academic principles and values are important in as much as that are affected by political and ideological issues and not in fact with the right to discuss and pursue academic endeavors? These questions go beyond the purposes of this discussion. It would imply a kind of philosophical analysis of the knowledge ground on which the search of such thing called thoughts in a given society. It would drive us to answer the role of knowledge in the society of power, but this is entirely another matter much away from the analysis of higher education in Venezuela and the treats to academic freedom and institutional integrity in the presence of the current political and ideological situation under the flags of the revolution. Is academic freedom analogous with the c ritical capacity to generate knowledge that can be politically incorrect and in this case go against the views of the literal force of power to be an obstacle for knowledge and thoughts of any kind? The history of these questions during the long struggles for freedom during XX Century are a testimony to the fact that power per se does not stand criticism of any kind and eventually there will always be a struggle for freedom and liberty, that is to say between the expressions of thoughts and ideas and the brutal force of those who think that truth is on their side. The legal aspects of university autonomy are well taken case in the Venezuelan Constitution. However, law and order are quite often dead letters, since the routine is what is generally imposed upon social practices. Venezuelans are not supposed to obey the law. In the Preamble of the Constitution approved in 1999 there is a crucial expression: reshaping the Republic. In Spanish the text refers actually to re-fundar which is not exactly reshaping, but nonetheless the meaning is to go back to the origins of the Republic and to have it developed in other more fair ways. It is the odd idea that times can be recycled; it is the prevalent temptation to go back and begin life from the unspoiled land o f Paradise. In one celebrated opportunity the present leader of the revolution, when visiting Cuba and speaking in that country he said that Cuba was an example of where he wanted Venezuela to be driven, to the sea of happiness77 .
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Venezuela looks like trying to find happiness any where except within their confines. In higher education as in general education and health Venezuela is now depending to Cuba to provide these services. There seems to be a kind of shuttle between Havana and Caracas. This dependence is not new. Less than a decade ago Venezuela trusted the USA to train their students, even to the extreme to design program to send students

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This is essential to understand what is happening in Venezuela in higher education and particularly at the university. It is a political and ideological process which is based upon a historical idea, according to which the republic developed in the wrong direction and that the revolution should take the whole process back to 1930, when the ideals of Simon Bolivar were betrayed by the oligarchs. That group failed to realize the dreams of the Liberator and return the country to the good road to a well-balanced and just life. Of course, this is why the leader of the revolution makes a effort to would-be-Bolivar, because whatever happened between 1830 and 1999 is irrelevant, unfair, negative and in fact history should be re-written as to begin again, this time under the flag of the revolucin bolivariana. This would explain why the revolution is not only a national political movement but one designed to become an international transformation, meaning the reunification of the whole continent, as dreamed by Simon Bolivar. In the Preamble we can read that: The people of Venezuela, exercising their powers of creation and invoking the protection of God, the historic example of our Liberator Simn Bolvar and the heroism and sacrifice of our aboriginal ancestors and the forerunners and founders of a free and sovereign nation; to the supreme end of reshaping the Republic to establish a democratic, participatory and self-reliant, multiethnic and multicultural society in a just, federal and decentralized State that embodies the values of freedom, independence, peace, solidarity, the common good, the nation's territorial integrity, comity and the rule of law for this and future generations; guarantees the right to life, work, learning, education, social justice and equality, without discrimination or subordination of any kind; promotes peaceful cooperation among nations and furthers and strengthens Latin American integration in accordance with the principle of nonintervention and national self-determination of the people, the universal and indivisible guarantee of human rights, the democratization of imitational society, nuclear disarmament, ecological balance and environmental resources as the common and inalienable heritage of humanity; exercising their innate power through their representatives comprising the National Constituent Assembly, by their freely cast vote and in a democratic Referendum, hereby ordain the following: We can also read two articles of the Constitution where there is a clear reference to the autonomy of the university:

to do their secondary studies in USA and European institutions. Venezuela even hired American firms to choose the students and supervise the application of this program, called Program Galileo. The revolution speaks about endogenous development, while doing exactly the contrary, in as much as it is increasing the perverse mechanism of dependence, this time with Cuba, years ago with USA. In the anecdotal area there are interesting pictures, of public functionaries weeping and emotionally moved when saying good by to students flying to the USA or to Europe and functionaries doing the same when saying good by to students flying to Cuba.

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Article 109: The State shall recognize the autonomy of universities as a principle and status that allows teachers, students and graduates from its community, to devote themselves to the search for knowledge through research in the fields of science, humanistic and technology, for the spiritual and material benefit of the Nation. Autonomous universities shall adopt their own rules for their governance and operation and the efficient management of their property, under such control and vigilance as may be established by law to this end. Autonomy of universities is established in the planning, organization, preparation and updating of research, teaching and extension programs. The inviolability of the university campus is established. Experimental national universities shall attain their autonomy in accordance with law. Article 110: The State recognizes as being in the public interest science, technology, knowledge, innovation and the resulting applications, and the necessary information services, the same being fundamental instruments for the country's economic, social and political development, as well as for national sovereignty and security. To promote and develop these activities, the State shall allocate sufficient resources and shall create a national science and technology system in accordance with law. The private sector shall contribute with resources as well. The State shall guarantee the enforcement of the ethical and legal principles that are to govern research activities in science, humanism and technology. The manners and means of fulfilling this guarantee shall be determined by law.

A Venezuelan leader of time gone by once said that a constitution was a little book written every year and violated every day. In terms of university autonomy the application of the law is circumstantial. This is the consequence of the fact that perhaps more the concept of autonomy the analysis should be made around the capacity of the university to be an independent institution. On this question taxonomy could be elaborated.

Institutions which are autonomous and independent: none Institutions which are autonomous and non independent: the autonomous universities Institutions which are non autonomous and dependent of state funds: experimental universities and all colleges and technological institutes Institutions which are non autonomous and dependent of private funds: the private universities

On this matter there is an essential discussion: can a non-independent university be autonomous? Blight has answered this question as follows:

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If universities wish to be truly independent, they must diversify their sources of revenue (consistent with their mission) so that they are beholden to no one master but to many, and that they can survive the loss of revenue from one source by growing others78

When the state finances the public universities one hundred per cent, like in Venezuela, there is little room for maneuver79 . On the other hand, when private institutions are dependant of tuition fees they also have no choice but t bend to the rules of the market. o The whole situation is aggravated by the fact that the governments are not very keen on subsidizing the private sector and the public institutions feel no urgency to collect funds of their own, since they cannot charge tuition and employing market techniques are prohibitive. The market technique is anathema in the Venezuelan higher education discourse. The state is supposed to finance all the needs of this institutions and the private sector should not be allowed to obtain funds from the state. Blight says that Governments are unreliable friends and are likely to place increasingly unacceptable conditions on the provision of funding that will threaten the independency of universities80 . In Venezuela the government has been very friendly but still carry a big stick and used it according to their views. On the other hand, the private sector is unfriendly to the public sector and in fact even so to the private sector. There are not the grand patrons of the academia, in Venezuela81 . To say it in Barblans words, marketing is not part of the old/new order in Venezuelan higher education82 . In any case, investment in higher education in Venezuela, in the public sector, is not supposed to generate any kind of return; quite the contrary happens in the private sector, where return to the investment is expected and it is quite high. In fact, fortunes have been made in Venezuela out of the exploitation of the educational/school market.

Venezuelan universities: autonomous or corporate actors?

The question of academic freedom in Venezuela deserves some conceptualization. From the previous analysis it is clear that universities in Venezuela, not being independent, from the financial point of view, can hardly claim the institutional capacity to be free from their sponsors, in this case the state. Whatever academic freedom they have happens to be a concession. But it is also a constitutional obligation. However, perhaps the better way to
78

See D. G. Blight, Universities : independence of death, a selective guide to being a good university. In: Maaike Dhont and Bernd Echter (ed) Marketing Education Worldwide, Dijon, ACA, 2002 79 Venezuelan autonomous universities do generate some funds, called internal revenues, from different sources, but they are marginal to the contributions from the state. 80 D. G. Blight, Universities Op cit. 81 To point this out it is interesting to say that the private sector has a annual prize to the best educators, basic or higher, and the amount of the prize for a life is equivalent to $ 1.875. However the small and modest size of this prize the act in itself is well publicized in the press, every year. 82 See Andris Barblan. Marketing as part of the new world order in higher education. In: Maaike Dhont and Bernd Echter (ed) Marketing Education Worldwide, Dijon, ACA, 2002

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conceptualize the universities in this country is t see them as autonomous corporate actors, o which have the obligation to serve society. The private universities are concessions, but the state autonomous universities are corporate actors. In the first case the state could close down their activities, claiming the rights of the state to preserve the rights to intervene any institution. The corporate actors are by definition extensions of the state to fulfill certain activities, in this case those attributed to universities, by law. Being this so it is quite easy for the government/regime to control higher education in Venezuela and these institutions are weak in order to organize some level of protest. Particularly when the revolution have a portion of the academic population on their side. It is true that the university as the site from were rebellion to the dictatorship of the Army took ground but in this case the Venezuelan government is a constitutional one and it has all the legitimacy of such a government. Nevertheless, the revolution is trying to control all institutions in Venezuelan society. It did so with the oil industry, it has done so with the Supreme Court, but so far has been unable to control the mass media. The autonomous universities, however, are no match for the powerful revolutionary governments and eventually they will gain control of even these autonomous universities, because otherwise hey control the rest of the higher education apparatus, including the private sectors, because as concessions they are unable to resist the attacks of the revolution. That they have chosen not to do so is irrelevant in terms of these arguments. As corporate institutions of the state autonomous universities will bend to the forces of the revolution. As a matter of fact, they have defended themselves through the five years of the revolutionary government, but they have been unable to carry on a fight against it. The government penalize what they figure out are anti government behavior, they cut down funds, threaten and intimidate and in general the environment in Venezuela is that autonomous universities are ready for intervention, one way or the other. This is the logic of the revolution, any way, to control all institutions in Venezuela society. For this purpose the revolution is using all legal procedures. I fact, the n revolution is obsessed to comply with the rules and have all its actions under a legal umbrella. For this reason it is safe to say that the revolution will never do anything illegal in order to gain control of the autonomous universities. On t e other hand, the revolution is h not threaten by the autonomous universities and having created their own academic institutions they feel safe if they allow the autonomous universities to remain, controlling them as they do right now.

The long-range effect of the Venezuelan policies for higher education

Is this possible of ignoring academic freedom and institutional integrity in a modern society? Can a man no matter his talent and capacity rule a modern society as his own backyard in the name of ideas, which have proved lethal to development, as the tragic cases of the former Soviet Union and Cuba can attest? In other words, can a Venezuelan leader face a showdown with the rest of the world and declare the death of capitalism? Can an anachronism in political and ideological set of ideas help to solve the problems of a complex society? The ideas expressed in this working papers, does not provide an answer to those questions. It refers only to higher education and in fact it only map the problems
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without any intention to offer solutions. Except, of course, to have faith in the fact that freedom will prevail and with it truth and understanding of a modern society. Of course, no matter what Venezuela will not escape the wheels of modernization and with it, again, freedom and liberty.

Interestingly enough the policies taken in Venezuelan in the area of education are shortrange, issued just for the temporary need of a regime trying to please in order to survive. However, in spite of this they will have a long-range effect. Instead of accepting the pyramid scheme of the educational system, implying the needs of basic education for all but sorting people as t allow those in the best positions to profit from it to arrive to higher education. But in Venezuela a very interesting policy is being taken: not a pyramid but a square technique, with all people receiving basic schooling, all people receiving secondary education, all people coming into the universities, and all people obtaining graduate schooling. In this case Venezuela will be the most trained society in the world, with all people having the maximum level of school. These are the promises of the misiones, Robinson, Ribas and Sucre, each one attending the needs of the different segments of the population, a of them capped by Misin Cristo, which means no poverty in the country by ll the year 2021. The notion of mission seems to be inspired by the Christian concept and is has been an attractive proposition all along the history of the Continent83 . With Venezuelans depending more on the state funds, their welfare depends also more than ever on how well their government perform. If the policies which are being issued concerning higher education were to fail, as many experts feel it will happen, because of their arbitrarily and non-technical character the price of these improvisations will be paid dearly for the generations to come. While the regime is enjoying the basket of popularity because of policies that please instead of demanding an effort to improve the chances for development, they are at the same time exercising the exceptional capacity of the regime to frustrate and disappoint its citizens. By lowering the academic standards they will make quite difficult to reverse such a trend that praise political and ideological participation instead of the needed effort to achieve high standard of academic quality. By providing useless training for people searching for job skills to join the labor market, they are building up training for failure and this is the worst that a government can do for those trying to improve their lot. That would be a severe betrayal of their hopes. More than that, by devaluating the concept of degree the government is creating the false idea that to be able to read and write is already a degree and since every one can have a degree no degree will have any value at all. When a million Venezuelans were graduated because they were trained to read and write, it means to many that a degree was quite easy to obtain. Persistent disappointment over the government performance will solidify the public loss of trust and confidence in their capacity to achieve their goals. When the governments allows more than ten thousand non legally authorized supposedly Cuban medical doctors they are sending a v strong message to those which could be interested ery
83

Being the leader of the Venezuelan revolution an Army man and in fact its government ruled by the Army, it is interesting to observe that the political actions of the government were called misiones, and not cruzadas, which is the military equivalent of mission.

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to study medicine in local universities and many are for that reasons taking advantage of the programs initiated by the government to send students to follow their medical studies in Cuba universities, which quality is below their Venezuelan counterpart, exception made of their ideological inclinations. By emphasizing the social role of the university the academic objectives are lost, and in fact higher education is another segment of Venezuelan society to me mobilize in the commitment and defense of a political regime. What will happen if the regime proved wrong and their higher education policies have a negative counter effect? Who will be unaffected by their dogmatic approach to development? What will happen if a widespread cynicism substitute civic involvement for the unhealthy attitude to do nothing but wait for whatever the state will provide, in the format of generalized loans and scholarship without any obligation in return except to be faithful the revolution and to the leader mximo, el supremo, the omnipresent and unique leader basking in a grotesque cult of personality which could be the envy of any leader, past or present? After all, is democracy is a product made by the government or by the citizens? Finally, should the state provide all the needs of theirs citizen or be a trader in order to have them put their best effort to improve society and development? If a government, conventional or revolutionary, it does not matter the definition, tries to do for the people what they have to do for themselves the consequence will definitely be the negation of the personal and individual capacity to be creative and to be able to judge for himself, and tragically to be lead into whatever delirium a single person devices to please himself. Let us believe that this is not the case of Venezuela, at the beginning of 2004.

In defense of academic freedom and institutional integrity: the role of the members of the faculty and the students. Is academic freedom an issue in Venezuela?

Academic freedom might be something of an abstraction, in countries like Venezuela. They have not developed a strong academic community, in need of freedom. Freedom is needed for those creating new knowledge. Those who repeat it can easily go back to whatever is politically correct. In fact, the technical procedure is to find people employed in academia more than people as part of a group called academia. This is not a rhetorical matter, it goes to the most profound meaning of the academic profession, in Venezuela, or the way students view higher education. Since the model of higher education is the teaching instrumentality and the classroom the academic space, teachers are just supposed to give their lessons. No one would ever supervise or check the content of the lesson in itself. It is enough for the teacher to be present and to deliver his/her stuff. Teachers are employees, either from the state or from whomever own or control a private institution. Students, on the other hand, have an almost universal vocational outlook of higher education and to obtain their professional credentials is the orientation of their institutional behavior. Professional credentials allow a person to work for life, and degrees have the same value, no matter how weak or strong the institutions that give the degree. In fact, private

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institutions of very poor quality issue degrees that happen to have the same legal rights of any other one. The notion of freedom at the academic affairs might even be foreign to the preoccupations of those who either as members of the faculty or students works out the daily operations of higher education, in Venezuela. It is clear to observers that a good many of he people who believe in academic freedom are not always eager to fight for it. Members of the faculty seems to be worry about their job security and students are concerned not to loose their lessons and actually will fight to avoid interruptions that cold jeopardize their opportunities to follow their studies. Actually, some elementary arithmetic allows observers to reduce to a minimum volume of the Venezuelan the portion of the academic community interested in the issue of academic freedom. At best the current issue is to protect civil liberties and democratic processes. Without repeating the arguments it s possible to say that the arithmetic are very simple: in most institutions of the Venezuelan academic space academic freedom is irrelevant. Only in those few autonomous universities the violation of academic principles and values would be of some concern. Precisely, for that reason it is indispensable in the Venezuela current situation to defend this basic academic value, freedom and liberty within the working life of higher education. The same way that some international organizations are trying to help Venezuela to a tripartite negotiating mission consisting of the OAS, the Carter Center, and the United Nations Development Program, academic freedom in Venezuela needs such a support, that can only comes from independent organizations working in the international arena. Increase pressure for a lawful, democratic solution and the respect for autonomy and democratic procedures in Venezuelan higher education should be the goals of those with the moral standing capable of bending the authoritarian and autocratic visions that would damage forever the higher educations in this country. When messianic views are imposed upon a country the results cannot be but damaging to the whole society. The Venezuelan leader looks like someone called by destiny to lead Venezuela and Latin America to undreamed-of greatness. By trying to do so they might be tempted to follow the Louis XV dictum, which supposedly said Apprs moi le dluge. Interesting to mention, Venezuelan universities have survived more than one attack from governments and regimes. There is no reason to believe that they will not survive on this opportunity, in spite of the enormous damage that could be done to the working operations of higher education serving the need of the country and not the needs of a circumstantial government, in this case a so called revolutionary regime. Decrying capitalism and freedom of choice as fascist neoliberalism the regime has denounced Venezuelan universities to be the cradle of elitism and calling for universities to change and to come under the wings of the revolution. This is a wrong view of the university. This is why the international academic world should bring sustained pressure on Venezuela's president to agree on a peaceful, constitutional, democratic interpretation of the academic values that should prevail in Venezuela, as elsewhere. As happens to the preservation of these academic values, principles, norms and practices, whatever happens to them in Venezuela is happening anywhere, because the academic world is one and many, at the same time. If these values were to be suppressed in Venezuela the effect would be felt all over. For that simply reason there is a need for action, at this crucial stage of the
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political and ideological development of the Venezuelan situation. Indeed, the butterfly fluttering its wings in the Venezuelan academic forest can provoke disasters elsewhere84 . An epigraph has been used in this working paper on the achievements of academic work in Venezuela. This was taken from the Preamble written by Jaime Requena, for his book Medio siglo de ciencia y tecnologia85 . This otherwise excellent piece of work is a tribute to the work done by Venezuelan and foreigners alike, that have profited from the generous subsidies provided by the Venezuelan state through the last half-century. By doing so they have produced a monumental amount of work that cannot and should be denied. Of course, if the mania of the genesis of things or the apocalyptic views are adopted, either one, then there is nothing done in the past. But this half a century described and analyzed by Requena is a marvelous proof on the contrary, on the efforts done by many which no one can erase except because of ideological blindness. What is at stake right now in Venezuela is the dilemma between different attitudes to academic life. One attitude is to deny and refuse to accept that the Venezuelan academic community should be able to progress and advance, freely, supporting ideas and thoughts than can be away from obedience and submission. By doing so they will try to control, supervise and force people to accept impose views upon them, no matter the anachronism and obsolescence they may be trying to oblige to society. The other attitude is the modern open way to manage science and technology, higher education and higher learning. And that one should prevail. It means to support science and technology, high culture and developed ways of thinking. It is the attitude that is open to uncertainty and ready to take risks. This beyond the temptation of ideological impediments obsessed with the possession of the truth and willing at any time to persuade either by argument or by force of the need to follow a flag, a doctrine and a leader86 .
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The "Butterfly Effect" is often ascribed to Lorenz. In a paper in 1963 given to the New York Academy of Sciences he remarks: One meteorologist remarked that if the theory were correct, one flap of a seagull's wings would be enough to alter the course of the weather forever. By the time of his talk a the December t 1972 meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington, D.C. the sea gull had evolved into the more poetic butterfly - the title of his talk was: Predictability: Does the Flap of a Butterflys Wings in Brazil set off a Tornado in Texas? 85 See, Jaime Requena Medio siglo de ciencia y tecnologa. Fondo Editorial del centro Internacional de Educaciny Desarrrollo, FONCIED/PDVSA, 2003 86 So far the effects on academic freedom are not measurable. The number of researchers accredited in the program to provide assistance to researchers has increased. However, the damage done to INTEVEP and CIED are irreparable and the people participating in this institutions of higher learning did not participated in that mentioned program. If the views exposed on this working paper as to the little value of academic freedom in many areas of higher education in Venezuela we are speaking about values and principles, not about inertia from the majority of people who area not, apparently, concerned with freedom to teach and do research. If the regime manage to change the ways institutions like IVIC operate the damage will be a blow to science and technology in the country. Evidently revolutionary regimes have no use for independent institutions and the academic world would not be able to escape this pressure. The example of the Venezuelan central bank is a good one. In January 2004 the revolution have asked the Central Bank to let the regime use the international reserves of the country for current expenses. If this happens the results can be anticipated, in devaluation of the local currency, inflation and general deterioration of the economy. The leader of the revolution said that is was useless to hold to gold in the basement of the Bank if that money could be use, in this case, for development programs in agricultural investment. The effects of the attacks to academic freedom will take a while to be visible, but once they float around it would be too late.

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International organizations and their role in the protection of academic freedom in Venezuela.
In these circumstances is essential for Venezuela to count on international help in order to preserve academic freedom and institutional integrity of the universities. The same way t at h the country has managed to obtain assistance for the defense of democratic procedure from international organizations, the academic enterprise in Venezuela should received help and appreciation form international organizations, able to put pressure on the government on this area. Important to state that the Venezuelan regime has adopted views which are in agreement with a endogenous vision of national affairs. The regime favors a notion of sovereignty, which is contrary to international tendencies. Human rights are international rights to be defended beyond the national frontiers. Recent examples are testimonies of this trend, well received all over the world. To argue that national affairs are of no concern except to their rulers is to concede that civilized behavior can be infringed87 . The fact that Milosevic is in prison because of his responsibilities in former Yugoslavia, that Pinochet was detained in London and accuse of violations of human rights in Chile, that a functionary from Rwanda has been condemned to prison because his instigation to kill political enemies through radio program, are all but a few examples that above national affairs is the interest to preserve civilized behavior according to standardized values and principles. In the area of academic freedom and institutional integrity organizations like the International Association of Universities, the Observatory of the Magna Charta and the UNESCO can provide the needed umbrella to protect academics rights in Venezuela, if they are in peril. The obvious reason to try to obtain international assistance on these matters is due because national government would never recognize these type of violations. The official discourse in Venezuela is that whatever has been done is legal and that been these internal affairs no foreign organizations has the competence to act. This working paper takes another view. It defends freedom at the academia as a universal principle and value. The Magna Charta Universitatum states very clearly as follows:
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It is proper to remember the existence of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide Approved and proposed for signature and ratification or accession by General Assembly resolution 260 A (III) of 9 December 1948 entry into force 12 January 1951, in accordance with article XIII The following acts shall be punishable: (a) Genocide; (b) Conspiracy to commit genocide; (c) Direct and public incitement to commit genocide; (d ) Attempt to commit genocide; (e) Complicity in genocide. Having considered the declaration made by the General Assembly of the United Nations in its resolution 96 (I) dated 11 December 1946 that genocide is a crime under international law, contrary to the spirit and aims of the United Nations and condemned by the civilized world. Recognizing that at all periods of history genocide has inflicted great losses on humanity, and Being convinced that, in order to liberate mankind from such an odious scourge, international co-operation is required.

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The university is an autonomous institution at the heart of societies differently organized because of geography and historical heritage; it produces, examines, appraises and hands down culture by research and teaching. To meet the needs of the world around it, its research and teaching must be morally and intellectually independent of all political and economic power88

The International Association of Universities published a Statement on Academic Freedom, University Autonomy and Social Responaibility (April 1998)89 . Two of the principles of this Statement are of immediate concern to the Venezuelan situation: 1. The principle of Institutional Autonomy can be defined as the necessary degree of independence from external interference that the University requires in respect of its internal organization and governance, the internal distribution of financial resources and the generation of income from non public sources, the recruitment of its staff, the setting of the conditions of study and, finally, the freedom to conduct teaching and research. 2. Academic Freedom engages the obligation by each individual member of the academic profession to excellence, to innovation, and to advancing the frontiers of knowledge through research and the diffusion of its results through teaching and publication

Academic Freedom and University Autonomy

So that the University may fully assume - and carry out - the responsibilities, which Society lays upon it, the University as an institution of scholarship and its academic staff individually need to be granted certain conditions of work held to be necessary for such responsibilities to be optimally fulfilled. These terms are contained in the two concepts of University Autonomy and Academic Freedom. The former relates to institutional selfgovernment. The latter relates to the individual members of academic staff. And, in respect of the freedom to choose what they will study, extends also to students. These conditions vary in their operational detail, in the degree to which they a applied in different countries re and within countries, to different types of institution within the national system of higher education.
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The Universidad Central de Venezuela signed the Magna Charta Universitatum in September 16, 2003, in Bologna. The Consejo Universitario approved this act and the Rector designated a Faculty member to be present at the ceremony in Bologna and duly sign the Magna Charta Universitatum. 89 The Universidad Central de Venezuela is a long-standing member of the International Association of Universities and during one period the university was represented at the Board of the Association.

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Nevertheless, the generic feature, which distinguishes the University from training, from compulsory schooling and post compulsory institutes of education, is the freedom to learn for students (Lernfreiheit) and the freedom to teach for academic staff (Lehrfreiheit). By extension, the freedom to teach is held to encompass the obligation upon academic staff to contribute through enquiry and research to the advance of fundamental knowledge which shapes the particular area of study to which they are individually committed. (Wissenschaftsfreiheit) Since the time of the Humboldtian reforms of the university and its derivatives, this basic mission has been part of the university's corporate responsibility, often described as the "search after Truth".

Different Interpretations of Academic Freedom

There are many ways of viewing academic freedom: as a functional condition, which allows the University to fulfill its responsibilities to society; as a philosophic proposition and as a moral imperative. Is a professional ethic different from academic freedom? Not all those engaged in the academic community enjoy the same degree of academic freedom. Nor does it follow necessarily that academic freedom can - or should - be extended beyond academia. There is a view, which argues it should be confined to those places, and circumstances where it may be practiced. This distinction is an exclusive one. It denies the notion that academic freedom leads on to the general right of freedom of expression and to the general 'right to know'. Thus, the usual view of academic freedom is that, by definition, it applies to the academic community. Such a view does not go unchallenged by those who view academic freedom as a sub-set of a broader and universal Human Right - that of the freedom of information and expression. This interpretation starts from the premise that academic freedom is a necessary condition for Human Progress. It links academic freedom to the broader issues of social advance in general thereby tying in academic freedom as an element in ensuring one dimension in Human Rights. Knowledge, so this line of argument runs, is NOT finite. On the contrary, progress is shaped by the ability to question, criticize and to enquire. Ensuring progress is one of the responsibilities of academia. It is not, however, exclusive. Since the accumulation of knowledge through enquiry is a condition of Human progress and advance, academic freedom is a condition of that progress. To the extent that progress itself is a Human Right, to that extent academic freedom IS indeed linked with a more general right.

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Clearing House on Abuses of Academic Freedom Launched 90

In June 2001 a new UNESCO sponsored network for international collaboration for organizations active in the areas of academic and educational rights has now been established. The Network for Education and Academic Rights (NEAR) is composed of independent member organizations that have an interest in promoting academic freedom and human rights in education. Founding bodies include the Council for Assisting Refugee Academics (CARA), the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), Human Rights Watch and the Association of University Teachers (AUT). Over 30 other institutions from around the world have already expressed their interest in co-operating. With seed funding from UNESCO and hosted by CARA at the Africa Centre in London, NEAR has launched its own website base alert service that will rapidly transmit information worldwide in English, French and Spanish. A meeting was held at UNESCO's Paris Headquarters on 18 and 19 June 2001 in order to agree upon the network's operating principles.

Declaration: the assembled organizations active in the areas of human rights and education, gathered in Paris, France in June 2001, BELIEVING THAT: Human rights and academic freedom, as enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and elaborated in subsequent international instruments, are essential to the development of open, stable and democratic societies; Respect for these rights and freedoms, including adequate protection of members of the education community, is therefore incumbent upon governments, institutions and individuals; Members of the education community have a special responsibility to assist and support those for whom these rights and freedoms are threatened; HEREBY RESOLVE to establish the Network on Education and Academic Rights (NEAR), and
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Venezuela is a member of UNESCO, of course. One unit of such organization is located in Caracas, IESALC. So far they have taken no public action whatsoever in the university affairs in Venezuela. According to unconfirmed information IESALC happens to be an advisor to the Universidad Bolivariana de Venezuela. However, information provided by the Director of IESALC confirm that no association has been stablish between these two organizations: En relacin a su consulta, le comento que el IESALC no es un organismo consultor de la UBV especficamente y no tenemos ningn acuerdo con esa universidad, aunque obviamente en tanto organismo tcnico de la Unesco estamos dispuestos a prestar su asesoramiento a toda institucin que lo requiere en el marco de sus limitaciones normales. No tenemos en curso ningn proyecto con la UBV, aun cuando ello puede ocurrir ya que tenemos o hemos tenido actividades puntuales, especficas y de duracin determinada con mbitos acadmicos de mltiples universidades venezolanas. La UBV le solicit informalmente al IESALC ser miembro de una instancia de asesoramiento, creo que llamado Consejo Asesor, y se les inform por m que normalmente la UNESCO no es miembro de ninguna instancia externa y que esas solicitudes por estatutos son de decisin exclusiva del Director General de la UNESCO y que no se tiene conocimiento de que en ningn caso se halla resuelto favorablemente el ser parte de ningn consejo ni en forma honoraria o paga. El IESALC no es miembro de ningn rgano externo ni tiene ninguna especial relacin con ninguna universidad, ms all de las Ctedras UNESCO, los grupos de Amigos de la UNESCO, los Clubes UNESCO, y muchas otras instancias existentes. E mail: February 12, 2004.

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through NEAR and our individual member organizations to: Protect the rights and freedoms of all members of the education community by marshalling opinion against those who violate these rights and freedoms; Provide support to those who suffer violations of these rights and freedoms; Inform members of the education community and public through the dissemination of accurate and timely information through the NEAR network; Encourage the development and implementation of international laws promoting and protecting education, academic freedom, and human rights; Follow and aid in the progress of education, academic freedom and human rights using the shared resources of our members.

What this indicates is that academic freedom and institutional integrity is an issue of international concern. No government can curtail these values and expect no answer from the international bodies like those mentioned here, to protest and to disseminate this type of information.

Academic freedom and civic rights

This is precisely the whole point. If in any given country universities and by extension the higher educational system, become threatened in as much as it become dependant of a political authority then academic freedom per se is negated and violated. This situations call for international interest and action. Of course, in matters of university affairs international organizations cannot claim but only moral authority and this have little if any impact in front of strong man weaving weapons of destruction of ideas and the freedom to express them. Autocrats can only accept adulation and submission. This is why universities are among the very first casualties in societies that take the non-democratic ways. This is more so when societies are ruled by man from the Army, whose thoughts are sometimes inclined to fundamentalism that is against freethinking. On this matter a mention should me made of some words said by the most powerful Army man in Venezuela, in January 2004. He declared that
soldiers should disobey any authority that does not pay attention to the supreme loyalty to the country(this loyalty should be paid) first to the fatherland, then to the institutions and then to the superiors91

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General Jorge Luis Garca Carneiro, El Universal, January 17, 2004, p. 1-4. The Army is the decisive institution supporting the revolution. Though the regime has a number of civilians and political parties supporting the revolution there seems not to be any doubt in Venezuela about who is in power, the Army. It must be said at all times that the Venezuelan revolution is a constitutional legitimate government. There is no doubt, at the same time, that the government has become a regime, in as much it is ruled by a single person who uses discretionary power to enact the policies of the revolution, paying no attention whatsoever to the democratic division of power and the democratic procedures. Everything is legal, though.

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This is indeed a frightening speech. This is the type of intimidation that Venezuelans fear is getting into the flesh and bones of this society, under the dogmas of the revolution. If these thoughts were to prevail it would means not only the end of academic freedom but of the whole institutional organization of a modern society. To defend the privileges of democratic ways and anti autocratic purposes political opposition in Venezuela is requesting a recall referendum. The executive officers of the administration have already accused the opposition of wrong doing in the procedures needed to collect the signatures needed by law and have repeatedly declared that this referendum would not take place. This is the dead end in which Venezuelan society is at the beginning of 2004. In relation to academic freedom and institutional integrity it must be said that academic and intellectual life is rather weak to face force. If this were to be applied in Venezuelan university life would come to a stand still and that would be a pity in terms of the future development of the country. External forces only aggravate problems for universities, anywhere and all over the world. If the term and notion of loyalty enter the academic discussion this is finish, by logical conclusion. Loyalty in academic terms implies accepting values and principles of academic nature and they might collide with the interpretation of loyalty exposed by a member of any government. This question has already entered the Venezuela scenario. In one hand there is the loyal institution, Universidad Bolivariana de Venezuela, the university of the revolution. On the other, the autonomous universities, which is the only segment of Venezuelan higher education which is still uncontrolled by the revolution. Of course, according to the above quoted sentence it would be enough to declare the autonomous universities lacking loyalty to condemn them to be unpatriotic and because of that enemies of the state, in this case the revolution. It is a state of affairs well known all over. The defense of academic freedom and institutional integrity give preeminence to the defense of civic values and civil and human rights. When a society is fighting for democracy academic freedom is part of the struggle. Perhaps not a visible part of it, but still if Venezuelans are trying to defend and preserve democracy they are at the same time defending the value of academic freedom, since freedom is not a segmented principle but an overall value to be practiced and worshiped as an essential element of modern society. Is this the case of Venezuela? This is not easy to say. Pro government people will say hat the revolution is a democratic, peaceful and in fact beautiful. The political opposition will say otherwise, that via a poplar election a regime has taken over and in the process denying the democratic due process. Whatever there is a bitter division of opinions right now in Venezuela. If the populism originated in the dogmas of the revolution ends by imposing themselves to the mainstream of society the universities will follow suit and will be controlled by the revolution. The price to be paid by the universities would be very high, among them the suppression of academic freedom92 .
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No need to be defensive in this working paper. However, many times the type of argument used here could be taken as simply as a manifesto against the revolution. That might be since no neutrality is possible. However, perhaps in this case it happen the same that Popper felt at a given time, when he wrote that ?I had no intention of publishing my criticism of Marx, for anti-Marxism in Austria was a worse thing that Marxismanti-Marxism was very nearly identical with those authoritarian movement which were later called

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Faculty organizations and their reactions to the preservation of academic freedom and institutional integrity
The most powerful actor in Venezuelan higher education is the member of the faculty and their organizations. Due to the organization of this Venezuelan system of higher education, the members of the Faculty bargain their job situation in a collective type of agreement. If the student movement was the main actor in the sixties and the seventies, there was an important shift in power relationship and the members of the Faculty took first stage since the early eighties. An institution employs the member of the faculty but the faculty organization regulates his job. It must be said that these organizations only operate in public institutions since the private sector is regulated in an individual basis, deals between the owner or corporation responsible for the institution and the member of the faculty. Indeed, in the private sector the member of the faculty s paid for performance, in the public sector by the function. Performance in the private sector means paying by the hour; if a class is given a class is paid. A very simple arrangement; the private institutions have very few full time members of the faculty. In the public sector the work is done by the function but this is a very flexible arrangements, since once the member of the faculty is within the institution he is ruled by the agreements between the institution and the faculty organization. The individual responsibility is almost a personal one, since it is the organization that would say the conditions of the job, supervise the employee benefits and actually to discuss with the state the salaries, payments and social security of the members of the faculty. Perhaps the best definition of the member of the faculty responsibilities in Venezuelan higher education is to say that the performance u nder the function is a voluntary effort. Not to discredited anyone, but there are very many members of the faculty that do the minimum possible and restrict themselves to the teaching obligations, which amount to a very light load. It is necessary to report hat there are very many members of the faculty in Venezuela that, in spite of all events, do perform at excellence levels and do in fact are members not only of the faculty but also of an emerging academic community, able to produce knowledge and be part of the international academic community, as it has to be. There are two very important faculty organizations in Venezuelan higher education. One is FAPUV (Federacin de Asociaciones de Profesores de las Universidades Venezolanas) and the second is FAPICUV (Federacin de Asociaciones de Profesores de los Institutos y Colegios Universitarios) this is not the place to discuss the nature and functions of these two organizations. In terms of this working paper it would be enough that these faculty organizations are mainly concerned with the defense of the social security interest of their members, more than to academic matters. They have been good negotiators through the
fascist. See Karl Popper, Unneeded London. Many people feel that if the Venezuela the pendulum theory. In that right, will come to power, a frightening power, as they are looking forward to. quest, an intellectual autobiography, 1974. Open Court Publishing. revolution is crushing many practices of democracy it might happen in case after the revolution, extreme left, the counter revolution, extreme though as frightening would be i the revolution were to arrive to total f

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years and the different government, including the revolutionary regime, has been very generous covering the request from the facultys organizations93 . In fact, the employment in public universities is probable one of the best jobs available in the Venezuelan labor market and in spite of the somehow comparatively low salaries they receive their social security is the best in the country, after the members of the Army, who are traditionally taken extremely well care by all governments, for obvious reasons. Members of the faculty have in Venezuela, for instance, total security in both health and life insurance plans, retirement at a relatively early age that allows people to take a second career, receiving increases of salaries and other benefits attributed to the active population even while they are in retirement and to have their benefits inherited by the surviving spouse until he or she remarries, or they died. This imply a tremendous financial effort by the state and many observers believe that there should be a limit to this state generosity, but government after government they comply with this predicament and no one has ever been able to dispute this costly and ineffective arrangement, since most of the income of the higher education institutions is devoted just to pay their members of the faculty, leaving no funds for the academic needs. In fact, the ways both student, faculty members and clerical employees and workers are organized in Venezuelan society is an example of the topic of this working paper, academic populism. In this case because the state has been covering most of the needs of the actors of the higher education system. It is an arrangements completely unfair, because is has left to the state to cover all the cost of the operation of the institutions in the public sector, being the governments been unable so far to impose upon their behavior any rationale that would equilibrate income and expenses. But the revolution has accepted this set up without protest at all and in act it has in fact accelerated the mechanism of financial dependence of the institutions to the state support. According to the Venezuelan lore education/school services should be given for free. This is not an accidental administrative objectives; it is the consequence of the fact that Venezuela is an oil society and this imply that income is not the effect of work but of a rent, which is distributed by state as they please, to attend the needs of the society. This income has finance modernization, as it is financing the revolution, explicable only within this context of a rich and powerful state no matter how poor could be the society. In both cases, they have financed populism, state populism. Indeed, very few modern economies, even in the Third World, depend more from one single product than Venezuela, which generate huge income and allows for the capricious and arbitrary ways to handle a modern society, as the revolution is effectively doing. The Venezuelan rent-state economy helps to explain this revolution; otherwise funds to subsidize this political movement would not be sufficient94 .
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The relationships between the government and the faculty unions are regulated by the Acta Convenio, signed every some years. The latest is of 1998. These agreements regulates every possible detail of the faculty job, like how many hours they should give a week in the classroom (maximum of twelve, minimum of eight), the steps into the bureaucracy, holidays, privileges, social security and so on. In fact, academic employment in autonomous Venezuelans universities is for life. People cannot be fired, except in very few circumstances. Interesting to point out that those who retire from the university continues to obtain all the privileges of the active population, including the increase in salary. 94 Being Venezuela an oil economy no fair judgment of this society can be done without analyzing the role of this industry in the historical process of the country. One of the best political interpretations on the role of oil in Venezuela society in the book by Terry Lynn Karl, The paradox of plenty: oil, booms and petro states.

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However, these organizations are not indifferent to the political consequences of the policies taken by the government. In relation to academic freedom hey have been slow to react. They do not have a paramount position on the subject, beyond the generalities, which are common on this question, but it is necessary to say that they have consistently questioned the efforts done by the revolutionary government in order to intervene institution of higher education, as people that are publicly against the regime control them. These organizations are very powerful. They have come to be the mediators between the institutions and the members of the faculty. However, they do accomplish their objectives only in the public sector. The private institutions have little room for grievances, of any kind; they do not have these types of organizations, though in some cases they allow some rudimentary forms of unions, but without any relevant power, at all. These labor unions show their power in organizing the institutions to stop activities, whenever they feel that their rights have been infringed. Their academic interest is secondary to those of the defense of the faculty members. They are not indifferent to it, of course, but the main concern is the security of their members. As it has already been mentioned there are three types of universities in Venezuela, the autonomous, the experimentales and the privates. In each instance the revolutionary government has tried to intervene. Over all, by the way, these actions amount to a longterm plan in order to intervene the whole higher educational system. It is the political philosophy of the revolution to control all the institution of society and this include higher education, a number of institutions that deal with, give and take, a million people directly involved in the system, either as students, employees or faculty members. The whole sector of higher education has been under stress, during the years of the revolution, because of intimidation and coercion, using a methodology that allows institutions to remain open but been slowly but surely put under the control of the revolution. Of course, education has to work freely, otherwise denies the formation of purpose, explained by Malinowski, whose concept are examined in the second part of this working paper. But suffice to say here that the revolution is exerting pressure to all institutions of society, particularly on educational and cultural institutions, because these types of all inclusive regimes needs to control all institutions; it is their nature, it cannot be helped. Without doing an extensive analysis of this it is necessary to point out the actions taken by the government in each case:
University of California, 1997. Many observers feel that both the modernization process begin under the military dictatorship that was in power between 1948-1958, the modernization governed by the civilian elites between that 1958-1998 and the years of the revolution could not have financed but because the oil income. The revolution is powerful precisely because it owns the income of the country, oil, as well as the weapons of the Army. The popular supports looks like a marginal factor, tough one of the tactics of the revolution is trying to organize this popular sector into a lasting element of support of the revolution. The social assistance to the poor is only a instrument trying to proceed to this organization. The word paradox comes n often when trying to explain Venezuela. In an otherwise not very important book, Stan Steiner speaks about In search of the jaguar, growth and paradox in Venezuela. Times Books, New York, 1979. Indeed, the remarkable paradox is not why Venezuelan have achieved through the years but what they have not done, having had a huge and constant flow of capital, which have been dilapidated without any moral or technical justification.

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1. In the private sector by imposing regulations as to the increases in their fees. In February 2004 he government freed the amount for fees of the private institutions. The government in November 2002 has frozen the amount of these fees. It must be said that he private sector of higher education has navigated undisturbed by the government, in spite of their obvious political opposition. However, by regulating the fees that they can charge the possibilities for intervention are open. The government has authorized increase up to fifteen per cent, with an inflation of thirty per cent. 2. In the autonomous we have seen already the incidents that took place at the UCV, the main university in the country. Public opinion is very sensitive about these universities and in fact autonoma is well appreciated by society, though the meaning is not clear to many people. Even most members of the universities regard autonoma only as libertad de ctedra, the right to give their lessons as they feel fit, in accordance to the curriculum but without outside interference. 3. The universities that have been intervened by the government are the experimentales. These universities, opened in the 70s had begun their relative autonomous functions in the early 90s. In 1992 the government issued some instructions as to have these universities achieving certain control of their affairs, including choosing their authorities. In effect, in May 25, 1992 the Ministry of Education appointed a Commission to discuss the feasibility of self-government in these institutions. Resolution N 537 (Ministry of Education) stated that in view of the development of these universities they could take over the responsibility to choose their own authorities; for that reason elections were to take place for that purpose, with full participation of their academic communities95 . In 1999 the revolution decided otherwise. Since their creation these universities are thought by public opinion to be governmental controlled, and so there are much less sensitive than the autonomous, in front of public opinion. The interventions have taken place as follows96 : However, one word about the concept of intervention. We are not speaking here of pristine academic fields brutally attack by a primitive political regime. These universities are examples of a very mediocre academic quality. Since there creations each of them have been submitted to perverse mechanism through which people without academic credentials have found their ways into heavenly employment. So the word intervention should be taken with a grain of salt. In fact, the revolutionary government has not acted differently from what has been done in these institutions since they opened. Any way, most of these institutions have been given to people loyal to the revolution, as they were given in the past to people
95

In 1990 Julio Lpez Prez and Jess Ortega Gonzlez published a proposal for the open elections of authorities in these universities. See Eleccin universal ponderada, directa y secreta propuesta de un sistema para las universidades experimentales. Coro. UNEFM. 96 All the information on these matters, from the Gaceta Oficial de la Repblica Bolivariana de Venezuela and from the Resoluciones, Consejo Nacional de Universidades, years 1999 to 2002. National and regional newspapers are on higher education a very erratic and bias source in Venezuela. Those from the institutions are good sources, though many times they are just propaganda of their authorities, as it happens with the publications of the Ministry of Higher Education, full of adulation of their functionaries.

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loyal to whatever government was in power. However, the Resolution already mentioned of 1992 had opened the ways for these institutions to choose their own authorities and perhaps that step would have improved their quality, perhaps not. The revolution, nonetheless, decided to side step this development and to appoint politically all these authorities. See the following actions taken by the revolutionary government: Universidad Nacional Experimental Rmulo Gallegos (UNERG, 1977) In April 5 1999 the rector was dismissed and in April 7th a new rector was appointed (Gaceta Oficial de la Repblica Bolivariana de Venezuela N 36.675) The new rector said at the time that I am in complete agreement with the leader of the revolution, in all aspects. When he died in May 2000 the vice-rector for academic affairs became the new rector; he resigned in November 2001 and replaced by the administrative vice-rector, who became rector, until now. Both the first rector and the vice rector came from the faculty of UCV. The rector that was substituted was in power during eight years, since January 1991. He came back later on to the Consejo Nacional de Universidades as the rector of a private university. Universidad Nacional Experimental Simn Rodrguez97 (UNESR, 1974). In May 5, 2002 a new rector was appointed. This university has become the second revolutionary university, after the UBV. This university was before the revolution under the full control of one political party and the previous rector was in power during two periods, a total of eight years. First in 1992 and in 1996. He was previously rector in one of the autonomous university of the country. In April 24, 2000 the elections were cancelled. In February 2000 the Consejo Superior asked to replace the authorities. They declared that Autonomy at the university cannot be under any circumstance a license to do wrong. The head of this Consejo Superior became vice minister of higher education and later the rector of UBV. Universidad Nacional Experimental de los Llanos Occidentales Ezequiel Zamora:98 : (UNELLEZ, 1974) In June 1997 a r ector was appointed in this university. On May 2001 a rector substituted this rector; three days later another rector was appointed. In June 2001 another one came to the rector, in December 2001 still another and finally since October 2002 a rector has en in charge. In November 17, 2000 the Consejo Nacional de Universidades had opened legal action against the rector, who indeed was dismissed in

97

Next to the UBV this is the university closest to the revolution. In fact its budget was double from 2003 to 2004 and his rector is one of the people from higher education close to the leadership of the revolution. As well as the rector of the UBV this rector comes from the bureaucracy of the UCV 98 This university is situated in the region were the lder mximo was born (Estado Barinas) and in fact they gave him a doctorate honoris causa. In that historical occasion he gave students the privilege to have free meals and other benefits. The Universidad Nacional Experimental Rmulo Gallegos also gave him a honoris causa degree, as well as one from the Universidad Nacional Experimental Politcnica de la Fuerza Armada Nacional.

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May 16, 2001. This rector promoted himself in the academic hierarchy after having taken retirement, an illegal step. This instability has created tension in the campus and disrupted normal academic activities. Universidad Nacional Experimental Francisco de Miranda: (UNEFM, 1977) A rector was appointed in Februay 25, 2002. Elections to choose authorities were planned for November 24, 1999, but cancelled. In November 24, 1999 the elections were cancelled. This university has adopted the revolutionary model of society and its being transformed along those lines. Universidad Nacional Experimental de Guayana (UNEG, 1977) in June 2000 the rector was criticized in October 27 2000 a rector was appointed. This is a university completely controlled by people close to the revolution.

For this reason and without prejudice these interventions are a normal way of life for this institutions; the successive change of rector only produce academic instability and increases the chances of political clientelism. Excessive tensions are felt in the campuses of these universities, replacement of faculty members done at will, without any criteria. However, whatever the legality or not of these appointments the fact is that the government directly controls all these universities and with it a large size of the academic map, in Venezuelan higher education. FAPUV has protested the excesses of the government in these experimental universities. According to this organization these universities have been intervened: FAPUV insiste en la democratizacin de las universidades intervenidas por el ejecutivo Nacional. Rechazamos las presiones que se ejercen sobre estudiantes, docentes, empleados y obreros. Especial atencin merece el caso dela UNELLEZ, donde segn denuncias de APUNELLEZ, entre otras irregularidades se han abierto expedientes y consignado acusaciones penales en contra de la presidenta d APUNELLEZ; 126 estudiantes tambin sufren e la apertura de expedientes polticos; se niega el uso de las instalaciones para la realizacin de Asambleas de Profesores, hecho que violenta el derecho a la reunin consagrado en la constitucin y la libertad de pensamiento cuyo escenario principal debe ser precisamente las universidades, se viola la libertad de ctedra con la imposicin de supervisores dentro de las aulas de clase; se difunden panfletos ofensivos e intimidatorios en contra del gremio profesoral y los lideres gremiales99

These experimentals universities are young institutions, created in the seventies. They have never being either autonomous or independent and right now are tightly controlled under authorities faithful to the ideological process of the revolution. They were an easy pray for the revolution to take care off, as they have been under any other government, as said before. These institutions lack autonomy and public opinion does not seem to move except
99

FAPUV, El Nacional, 14 de febrero de 2004, p. A-18

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when the autonomous universities are threatened. However, it should not be left to the reader the impression that these universities were intervened by the government breaking the legal procedures. Truly, they were intervened, no doubt about it. The government imposed new authorities upon them. Some of the new appointees are simply bureaucratic members of the revolution. But this has been a routine, for these universities. They have been in past as they are now instrument of the political clientelism of the different governments and the revolution is not different in this behavior. When the government created these universities did so in order to make a by-pass of the autonomous universities, in open rebellion; but the effect has been negative, because the easiest way was taken, meaning that instead to face that rebellion and tried to keep those fine institutions going on the government side steps and created their own academic institutions. This is exactly what is happening now under the revolution with the UBV; instead of improving the e xisting, the revolution is opening their own academic apparatus and this policy only reinforces academic set backs easy to identify. There is plenty of room for improvement and the potential is enormous, like in the case of the experimental universities. Either by accident or luck there have recruited very many good and talented people, in their faculty, and their students are highly motivated, but instead of facing the existing problems and obstacles, the revolution has taken the easy rerouting, which in the long range will be more costly and inefficient. That is to say, instead of solving problems they create new ones, like opening new institutions leaving those behind without the needed academic reforms they are urgently claimed for. These practices have to do with the principles of gobernability in Venezuela. A careful study of the appointees in these experimental universities show that, first, they are sent to each university directly from the center of decision making process, in this case the Ministry of Higher Education, but in the past even political parties were able to select the person to be sent to a given university. The existence of this face-to-face ways to choose people to govern a university is similar to the procedures to appoint a member in pubic administration. These appointments are done within small groups, which are politically oriented and politically motivated. That is to say, since there is not open competition to appoint authorities in Venezuelan universities, the authorities in each one of them depends of support via political clientelism. In the autonomous people would make political careers. In the experimentales choices are made from within the government and in the private the procedure is totally accidental, decisions taken by ether the owners or whatever the corporation that governs such institutions. The whole question is that there is not any sign of meritocracy in Venezuela to chose a authority in higher education; the procedure is erratic, and that means that a first class competent person can become authority, or that people without any credential achieve this100 .
100

Many people thinks that universities should chose their authorities in open national contest, but such a procedure would be against the political culture of Venezuelan society, which is to vote directly, though most elections are carefully manipulated. That type of choice would be national, meritocratic and would make clientelism disappear at once; choosing among the academic community in each institution is a guarantee of reinforcing political clientelism. The current procedure is closed to the members of each universitys community and is an open field to those who behave like politicians, promising what can not achieved and making deals that eventually would prevent them to almost do nothing while in office. In fact, many p eople that come to be rectors of Venezuelan universities are counted among the best politicians and the worse academics; happily to report there are many instances of brilliant people who have all academics credential

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On the other hand, this means that meritocracy is not found in the place were it should rule. A detailed analysis of those who have been authorities in any Venezuelan university will show something fascinating: they happen to be the same people, all over and over. Many people do come in and leave without actually becoming part of this groups, that is to say, some are like accidental tourist, but in general there is such people somehow managing to survive at the crest of the wave, as power people in academia. Most people who become authority in an experimental university usually come from being an authority in an autonomous university and the authorities in private institutions are either from the autonomous or from the government, people with experience somehow in the bureaucracy that governs academic institutions. This means that the academic people does not have any interest to become members of this bureaucracy that govern the universities, people connected with power, not actually with academic merits. In fact, to become an authority is a kind of political career inside academia. In some cases, people without any experience whatsoever become rector of a university, and no questions are asked abut qualifications, including without the academic credentials that are suppose to be demanded to become authority in a university. This is not the place to do this analysis, but the careers track of people that are the authorities in Venezuelan universities would certainly show a personal history of bureaucratic steps. In the end this become like a club. It happens with the same Asociacion Venezolana de Rectores, who include among its members not only those who happen to be rectors but also even those who have been rectors. In which case this association is a meeting of has been, with not much impact in society. The argument in this question is not to deny that very many excellent and dedicated people access to authorities in Venezuelan higher education; the question is that the selection process is bias toward political and ideological activism and not to merit. The only way to open the management of Venezuelan higher education would be through open national selection, but clientelism is a powerful as well as attractive procedure. In this case Venezuela will keep this ways to choose the people who manage higher education. The same happens with the administrative units that supervises and control the universities and higher education in general. Without prejudice, it is interesting to observe that both the Ministry of Higher Education and the main body of this Ministry, the Oficina de Planificacion del Sector Universitario, mostly employs young people without any experience and w ithout the training to be able to understand what is going on these matters. Some of this people are very energetic, hard working people, but some of them do not have the capacity to work within this complex scenery, which is higher education. These people are recruited among people in government and this again is not an exclusive pattern of the revolution, but a long routine implemented by all governments, present and past. Sadly to say that in some instances these young people are damaged for life, since they reach high positions in the administrative skeleton at an early age, without having mature enough, and once they leave the government and the position of power they become a kind of ronin, looking always for the second chance in the possession of power.

and still do good as politicians and achieve positive changes for their institutions. The government uses the worst possible procedure, which is to appoint as rectors their acolytes, who often does not have capabilities whatsoever for the job.

Cmo aumentar la calidad acadmica

Orlando Albornoz

Coming back to the interventions of the revolution in higher education, the hardest blows against institutional integrity have been the actions taken to the non-university sector, the three years institutions that graduate TSU (Tcnico Superior Universitario). This is the weakest academic sector of the post-secondary system. They are vocational institutions, were most of the students comes from the middle and lower strata of the society, have good connections with the labor market without the high expectations of people coming out of the universities, with the degree of licenciado. Public opinion does not feel very high about these institutions, which otherwise have provided an excellent and probably at a very reasonable cost. This might explains why p ublic opinion have not reacted in relation to the take over of these institutions by the revolution, not even their institutional peers, the universities, who look upon these institutions as second class units of the higher education system. FAPICUV signs collective agreements that regulate the work place of the faculty members at the institutions belonging to this non-university sector. The last one, the VII of these agreements, was signed in December 2000. Nowhere on these agreements are mentions of academic freedom; at best they speak about libertad de ctedra. However, this does not means that academic freedom is not under stress in these institutions, even if the concept is not exactly contained as such in this academic environment. This non-university sector is also a non-autonomous one and for this two reason the weakest and the most vulnerable. According to the leaders of FAPICUV some 2000 faculty members have been replaced, for people more in agreement with revolutionary policies. All the institutions belonging to this sector have been intervened, the whole leadership body was fired and there are under the strict control of the government. However, no protest has been seen from inside these institutions, no claims of support from other sectors of Venezuelan higher education. Nevertheless, this has proved true the actions of the government in order to take over full control of these institutions. Of course, the higher education system in Venezuela has been in need of an over-haul. No doubt about it, in fact. Excessive bureaucratization, political clientelism, high inefficiency, lack of proper evaluation of academic standard, absence of academic supervision, even widespread administrative and academic corruption, lack of empirical research as to measure problems and evaluate effective solutions, fragmentation of the institutions, weak leadership due to procedures to design authorities inside the institutions without opening this recruitment of authorities to an open academic market, deterioration of the physical facilities and set backs of the technological platform and in general the learning resources needed to improve the quality of the whole system, and so son and so forth. To aggravate some of this problems the country is facing a centralized form of government, a revolution that is including the faithful but excluding those who do not enter into the flock. The consequence seems to be a set back that will be difficult to reverse. For the development and improvement of higher education, in Venezuela the state should play a very important role, in order to stimulate and to do provide a free hand, which should be given to these institutions and this system; to do otherwise will only tighten the traditional negative role of the state, as a controller instead of a stimulator. Above all this should be done in the ethical aspects of higher education. Ethics is rather low in the Venezuelan case. Academic corruption is not a rhetorical arguments; it is a fact. Faculty members and students, both in the private and in the official institutions, carry on practices that are against a healthy behavior, in these matters. Given
Cmo aumentar la calidad acadmica Orlando Albornoz

the ethics of the society at large and the pressure not to lose time and get their degrees as soon as possible, every academic obligation seems to have a way to be shortened and avoided. Faculty members happen to get sick as often as needed; students cheat profusely. The advent of the computer age has make matters worse, since students are accustomed to give their papers without any control from their supervisors. Of course, in careers where the lab is more important than otherwise these controls are exercised, or in disciplines were cheating is more difficult, but in he careers of business, social sciences and education, to mention three areas, these unethical practices are the order of the day. Of course, there is no way to prove this question, as it is impossible to prove the unethical practices in Venezuelan society; cases are in the newspapers, every day, but no legal or social punishment is given to violators of the law or the decent social routines of a modern society. In higher education one degree is identical to any other degree and no question are asked about the how these degrees were obtained; the same value has a degree from the top institution in the country, to one degree obtained in one of those institutions which are openly selling degrees101 . Excessive control will only further damage the options for improvement. It will reinforce the negative aspects and be an obstacle for the creativity, flexibility and spontaneity, which seems to be essential ingredients of this delicate environment that is the academia. Above all a drastic ideological background surrounding the functions and operation of this system will make criticisms rare and will build that wall of silence and intimidation with correspond to permanent denial and because of that the negation of any negative aspects and the glorification of whatever s done as the best solution. That is to say, the procedure through which the dogmas of the revolution prevails on reason102 . It will impose upon
101

Of course, cheating and unethical practices are common everywhere. In the case of USA see the article To Catch a Cheat by Brian A. Jacob and Steven D. Levitt, August 2003 issue of the Quarterly Journal of Economics. Published by the Hoover Institution, 2003. (see the web version of this article at www.educationnext.org). What might be unusual in Venezuela is how widespread is cheating and unethical academic behavior, like destroying or stealing books from the public libraries and actually offering resumes which are just pure imagination. To mention a common trait: in Venezuela every one is a doctor, unless proven the contrary. Foreigners are surprised when they sit down in a restaurant in Caracas and are immediately called doctor. Not to mention that otherwise people are commonly called either professor or still the more colloquial maestro. To lower this level of academic corruption and cheating would undoubtedly raise the quality standard of the leaning activities in Venezuela, but in this society the type of action would be very unwelcome. The most fragrant abuses of academic ethics are found in some of the private institutions, were approval of the students performance is almost given as a matter of fact. In fact, in some cases students are approved and given their degrees as long as they pay the fee. In some official institutions the toll is of another sort but the process is the same, with those in the know will always manage to get a degree. Jacob and Levitt estimated that cheating occurred on at least one subject test in 3.4 to 5.6 percent of all classrooms. Using the same methods the percentage in Venezuela would be in some cases close to a staggering 30 per cent, in provincial institutions. 102 One journalist that writes in favor of the revolution recently stated that Today, Venezuela is the Latin American country with the highest level of development in this are (education) in the last four years. Mary Pili Hernndez, El Nacional, February 4, 2004. In fact, taking at random one single variable, like the acquisitions of learning material in higher education the country shows in the last two years loses of some 30 per cent. With a tight currency control that have lasted more than a year, with the reduction on the number of people studying abroad being drastically reduced, with the imposition of a highly political and ideological elements in the management of education, science, culture and sport, it is quite improbable to speak about Venezuela having the highest level of development in Latin America. In nay case, the Venezuelan level of performance in this area is somewhere in the average of the region and does not seem to be coming up.

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academic affairs the unquestionable power of the state. However, there is no reason for panic, at present. In spite of the threats the system is still working along expected lines and it would be misleading to argue otherwise; on the other hand, these intimidation, those threats are been built into the real and effective possibility that the revolution, as it developed its logics, will definitely intervene all institutions of Venezuela higher education. For those who believe in academic freedom and institutional integrity this is the time for action, in defense of these values in Venezuela. As it happens in the area of civic values, which are being defended in Venezuela by international pressure (OAS, Carter Center and the UN), the same situation that opened up that pressure is taking place in Venezuelan higher education, particularly in the universities. This alone would justify the participation in Venezuela of international organizations that defend academic values. Such a presence would be welcome in a country whose academic world is sometimes not well aware of the consequences of repressive policies. Many in Venezuela would think say these claims about academic freedom and institutional integrity is rhetorical aspects without any importance at all. Particularly the official sector would deny any infringements to the practice of these values. But the expert eye would not be deceived. Venezuela is taking slowly the road to repression and suppression of these academic values. It would be fortunate to see that the views expressed in this working paper are wrong and that academic health is well and alive in this country. In the meantime and spite of all the circumstances of the ideological and political problems happening in Venezuelan society higher education seems prostrated and dormant. No protest comes from the political activism of the students, the faculty association are preoccupied about their social security and the payments of theirs salaries, the institution are in hibernation waiting for the development of affairs to whom they do not look as part of their survival and in general an external observer would think that any claim about attacks and threats are only product of the imagination of some delirious minds. The private sector has been associated with the hated ideology of neoliberalism and they have to restraint and defend their place in the system very carefully. In a way the barrage of attacks and insults to the higher education s ystem from the leaders of the revolution may have already taken a toll. As with any other Venezuelan, the refuge at this stage of the development of academic affairs would be to join the wait and see game that most Venezuelan are playing in this turbulent times.

Academic standards in Venezuelan society

One topic of concern in this working paper is the question of academic ethics in Venezuela. Without ever using the word corruption in this context it is to be said that academic ethics
Except in the official propaganda. For instance, on July 5, 2004, the national date, Venezuela will be declared territory fee of illiteracy. The revolution will present this as an achievement and it might help the country to r appear in international statistics as having done the job of eliminating this problem. Attractive as the idea in itself might be he true is that this program has been organized only to ideological and political purposes. In that respect is an achievement, otherwise it does not have real educational value. Venezuela will remain an oral society and these programs only touch upon the surface of the real needs in order to transform an oral society into a literate working operation.

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is rather light in this society. In Venezuela ethical preoccupations are secondary to the ends to be obtained, and the academic world is no strange to these practices. There are many examples of people escaping their obligations in Venezuelan academic environment. There are a number of unethical practices which compromise academic quality. One, which is known, has to do with the thesis that students are supposed to write, in each step of the academic ladder, first, second and third degree ( Licenciado, Maestra and Doctorado). In some cases students are unable to write down this pieces of work and they come to very active entrepreneurs that write the thesis for them, for a stipend. The people running these businesses are, some times, the same teachers working at the institutions in question. One recent example is the following, given here without implying dishonesty or corruption of the agencies involved. It is just an example on how academic matters are managed in this society. Three agencies of Venezuelan public administration published in 2004 the first number of a journal, Experiencia universitaria, revista venezolana de la educacin superior (OPSU, CNU and MES, Volume 1, N 1, July-December 2003). This publication make strong claims, about been submitted to neutral arbiters, as any academic journal should be. But truly this is not the case. In the very first number the editorial, written by the Minster of Higher Education it can be read that How corresponds to the academic environment, this space will be destined mainly to stimulate the study of the problems that affect higher education, as well as the diffusion of the current thought and of the results of the research being done on higher education. This will allow, further from the positions that irrationally assume much of the academic statements today, a really objective treatment of the matter and, as a consequence, the establishment of solutions or ways of action 103 . Why mention the supposed irrationality of the so-called academic people? Who defines rationality on this question and would not be any definition of such ambiguous concept allows dividing who is going to be published and who will not? It is easy to see the academic dishonesty of this approach. The editor of this Journal is the Head of one of these agencies, OPSU, author of two of the four articles published in this first issue. Another functionary of this agency writes a third article. One of the articles written by the editor of the journal was received on October 7 and accepted only six days later, on the 13th . Who th could publish in this Journal except those members of the revolutionary bureaucracy? Would the articles published in this Journal have been approved for publication in any serious Journal, either in Venezuela or abroad?104 Any way, OPSUs journal is an excellent example of the situation of academic freedom in Venezuela. Academic freedom means to respect and obedience of the international standard requirements to advance academic life. OPSUs do not do so. They do not follow the norms and procedures of ISO (International Organizations fro Standardization). In relation to academic journals that imply that the articles to be published are original, and
103

Como corresponde al ambiente acadmico, esta espacio estar destinado principalmente a estimular el estudio de los problemas que afectan a la educacin superior as como a la difusin del pensamiento actual y de los resultados de las investigaciones que se realizan en torno a la misma. Esto permitir, mas all de las posiciones que hoy asumen irracionalmente muchos de los llamados acadmicos, un tratamiento verdaderamente objetivo de la temtica y, como consecuencia, el establecimiento de soluciones o vas de accin. 104 This Journal published as the requirements for the arbiters all the paraphernalia of this type of periodical publications. But it is apparent that they do not follow them.

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approved/disapproved by external referees and preferably through blind appraisal. In Venezuela the COVENIN norms are followed: Norm N 3292 (1997) that correspond to norm ISO N 215 (1986). In academic terms it oblige periodicals publications to identify date of reception and date of revision of any article submitted to the publication, but the ethics of academic integrity suppose that at least three arbiters evaluate each article. See on this ISO Bulletin and ISO Focus, 2000/2004. Of course, the OPSUs journal could claim that they have sent their articles to referees and it to be said that this is not the only periodical publication in Venezuela that claim to be accept evaluation of external arbiters; but many do not do it at all. Of course, why would state agencies break in such crude ways the ethics of academia and set the wrong standards for the academic community at large? The point raised here is how the Venezuelan academic activities are in fact understood only in the context of a national culture, which does not seem to be very keen on accepting norms, values and principles. Since 1958, when democracy came back to Venezuelan society, the university life was reformed along the lines of a modernizing process. It was well planned but poorly executed. At that time the modern university was created n Venezuela, open, plural, efficient and linked to national development. The state played a very positive and important role in improving the whole academic apparatus, including helping the private sector to join higher education. Through the year the bureaucratic way to work out came to be more important than the academic substance and instead of academic life being privileged political activism took its place, until today. Some people saw in higher education an open field for lucrative business and instead of growing in academic standard some have created huge fortunes by explaining this huge uncontrolled market. Many people and academic units are still trying to behave accordingly to academic standard, but the struggle is up hill. This situation is very further complicated by the current political instability. The revolution is trying quite hard to control all institutions. The leaders of this regime are making frequent threats to the private mass media, while controlling already the state mass media. This state TV and radio apparatus is becoming a propaganda set up at the service of the revolution, making state instrument revolutionary extensions105 . In these terms society have been sequestered by the revolution; Spencer dictum man against the state is becoming the state against man, in this case Venezuelan man. For Spencer, 'liberty' "is to be measured, not by the nature of the government machinery he lives under [...] but by the relative paucity of the restraints it imposes on him" (The Man versus the State (1884); the genuine liberal seeks to repeal those laws that coerce and restrict individuals from doing as they see fit. Spencer followed earlier liberalism, then, in maintaining that law is a restriction of liberty and that the restriction of liberty, in itself, is evil and justified only where it is necessary to the preservation of liberty. The only function of government was to be the policing and protection of individual rights. Spencer maintained that education, religion, the economy, and care for the sick or indigent

105

The head of Venezuelan state TV declared recently that I am on TV as Nacional, February 15, 2004. p A-6. In this case being a politician means argument have been used by leaders of the academic area designed by the the revolution said a rector of an experimental university. In Venezuela, neutrality, people and institutions are either for or against the revolution.

a politician not as a journalist. El defending the revolution; the same government: I am here to defend under the revolution, there is no

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were not to be undertaken by the state106 . The ideology of the revolution goes to the other extreme, the state is to organize society along their political lines and the people are able only to say thank you. In this sense the state is no longer associated with society, but with the people ruling the revolution. Once again, this is the way academic freedom should be seen in Venezuela: is there any set of ideas, norms, values and principles which can be defined as contemplating liberty and freedom in a given space called academia, in Venezuela? What is the relationship between economic freedom, civic values and freedom and liberty in the open society with restricted freedom and liberty in specific spaces, in this case academia? The final question is, of course, can higher education and especially the university keep freedom and liberty in a society were freedom is at stake, if that is the case in Venezuela? Can the university flourish in a one-dimensional ideological and political design, were all institutions have to submit themselves to the official organization of the state or in such an event these institutions will slowly die and disappear? These are some of the critical question asked in this working paper. Perhaps a proper answer is not given, but it is worthwhile a try.

Venezuelan higher education and the context of development of Latin America and the Caribbean
Any way, these are the dilemmas being faced by Venezuelan at the beginning of 2004. It is too early to anticipate the results, but this working paper may give some ideas about the possible outcome. An overall analysis of the Latin American and the Caribbean situation should also be considered. Some people see the revolution in Venezuela linked to a kind of movement that would indeed unite the region around a single political and ideological project, of which the natural leader would be the Venezuelan lider mximo. The Presidents of Argentina, Nestor Kirchner, and Brazil, Luis Ignacio Lula da Silva, are mentioned and these two powerful countries would join countries like Cuba and Venezuela to create this movement, which position would be to face the American proposal for a free trade region. Some analyst thinks that this is wishful thinking. However, the fact is that only the leftist leaders have the popular credibility t placate the disenchanted masses. And o seeing it from the Venezuelan experiment they would even destroy the economy in order to do that, to pleased the needs of the masses looking at the short term, in view of their political tactics just to hold power. Interesting enough to have an understanding of Venezuelan higher education and the role of their universities there is a need to have a long-range view. It means seeing the over all policies of the government and within those see the development of higher education.
106

On this see by Susan Strange The retreat of the state.

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Venezuela is definitely going against the trend that links development of higher education to the USA market, as it did in the past. Nowadays it is trying to organize a kind of bilateral academic common market with Cuba, a country which as already said it is at best in the same level with Venezuela and at worst well behind Venezuelan academic development, particularly because in Cuba there is not such a things as university autonomy and academic freedom. Those who give any credit at all to these values would discard the Cuban case as an example to be flowed, but state reasons are to explain this academic business between Cuba and Venezuela. In the context of the region Venezuela is a country that carries a reasonable capacity to have a voice but undeniable is behind the three large countries of the region, in their ambition to lead the region into a single political and ideological project. Venezuela does not have the muscle to do that, less of al in academic terms. Mind to remember that the region does not allow for sweeping generalizations. Beside the three large countries already mentioned, there are a number of countries, which carry some strategic importance, like Venezuela, Chile, Peru and Colombia. Of the 34 nations in the region, 23 of those countries account for only 1 per cent of the regions GDP. In academic terms Venezuela is a country importing educational goods and services. It does not have the best institutions in the region, is a non competitive actor in the production of learning resources and does not produce enough knowledge which were to be linked to the productive economic apparatus of the nation or the region, for that matter. Venezuela is an importer of higher education, does not export this. For this reason it depends of good criteria in order to formulate policies of academic trade with a healthy capacity to invest well. If the region is on the brink of another lost decade, in academic terms the only way to be protected is to diversify the imports of higher education and re-distributing their academic market. Blinded by the political and ideological connection with Cuba, Venezuela is taking the less favorable option, which is to take Cuba as an exclusive academic connection, which will prove ineffectively in the long range107 . In any case, it is reasonable to understand, on the other hand, that Latin America and the Caribbean desperately needs and wants increased access to markets in the United States and Europe, but the region doesnt want to pursue trade deals on what it perceives to be unfair terms, according to all public information through the region. This is what happens to academic trade. In the past countries like Venezuela have had links with USA, which were unfair to academic national development. National academic development is the

107

Dagoberto Rodriguez, Cuba's top diplomat in Washington, said that the most inexplicable and troubling development has been the recent U.S. allegation of Cuban meddling in Latin America, sometimes in collaboration with the country's main South American ally, Venezuela. See Diplomat Worried of U.S. Plans for Cuba. New York Times January 19 2004. Fidel and Chvez review cooperation agreement in Havana the presidents of Cuba and Venezuela, Fidel Castro and Hugo Chvez, spent time this Wednesday reviewing the integral cooperation agreement between the two countries. A communiqu broadcast on Cuban television explained that the Venezuelan president had made a stopover in Havana "after intense and exhausting work at the summit in Monterrey," Mexico. The two leaders exchanged opinions and news for several hours during the afternoon. Chvez, who left for his country yesterday evening, was accompanied by the Venezuelan ministers of communication, public health, culture and sports, amongst others individuals Havana Cuba, Granma International Edition January 18 2004

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necessity to both look upon trade with foreign countries in academic terms, but also to strengthen national institutions, in order to diminish academic dependency. Instead of a single channel of academic trade Venezuela should have long searched for multiple ways to train their people abroad, including extended cooperation with countries like India, China, Brazil and Australia, to just name some few alternatives to both Europe and USA. On the other hand, to believe that changing turn from a developed country like USA to a mediocre country like Cuba, in academic terms, is to loose completely the perspective of what means good business in academic trade. The best policy on this academic trade seems to be the profiting from different alternatives and not to follow a single track. That would only stress dependency and that is a wrong strategy. The best way to do that is via the creation at the national level of what is commonly known as an observatory, to study trends in science, technology, arts and humanities, all over the world. It seems to be suicidal to believe that Venezuela should stop any links with the international world and to promote the integration of the region before reestablishment links with the most advanced countries. The future academic agenda of countries like Venezuela should be to improve institutions and incentives; to promote competition, the search for the best talent available and to redirect their higher educational system to the production of knowledge and no longer to expand the stage of the training society. There is reason to believe in the opportunity of an over-haul of the higher educational system but the worst policy would be to keep the high and negative politicization that has been one of the almost pathological traits of this system. The internal efficiency of the Venezuelan higher education increases every time it reinforce the training outlook and does not invest enough in research and development. The policies to be taken by the country should be very aggressive on these concerns. However, as seen on this working paper this does not look to be the prospects and expectations of those who write down the educational policies in the country. On the contrary, the same way that Venezuela has given up his national responsibilities in the area of the delivery of medical services which has been given to the more of ten thousand Cubans medical personnel working in the country, or given up simply basic educational training in the hands also of Cubans, the country s eems ready to give up their national responsibilities in higher education in that pro bono connection with Cuba. To make use of a very facile phrase, this connection might end to be a fatal attraction, at least in academic terms. Cubans have provoked mix reactions in Venezuela; some people tuned with the official propaganda see them as a kind of social liberators, full of candor and love for the Venezuelan poor people, uninterested and with complete solidarity with the revolution. There are those, however, that see them as a kind of mercenaries taking away jobs from Venezuelans, members of the Cuban police at the ready to be a military force to defend the revolution and actually invaders, in one word. Instead of focusing in improving the performance of the educational system Venezuela seems inclined to join those who believe that denouncing the problems is a good formula to solve them. In this sense the Venezuelan revolution is just a wish list. Who does not want to eliminate poverty, close the inequality gap, provide food and shelter to the poor, control citizens security and erase illiteracy? This is not a problems, to wish these problems to disappear, the question is how much does it cost to do that, what alternative policies to be taken, how much times it would take for any policy to be implemented. The question is a
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rationale, not a set of proposals. In fact, as sociologist knows it, the wrong policies can have perverse effects, which are often very costly. The worst scenario is for a single person to take all decision, in any area, without any technical assistance. This is happening in Venezuela, where all decisions are taken by the very narrow group of persons ruling the country, aside from any technical assistance than can be provided by the very valuable technical stock of people available in the country. In Venezuela eyes and ears seem to be closed to any other message, except the wishful thinking of the ideological and political solace of those who believe in a single track for decision-making process. In a world of increasing complexity single-minded can be the worst possible decisions to be taken. But it is to be recognized that these messages are very pleasant music to the uneducated people willing to follow any leader singing these tunes. This is perhaps why populism and demagoguery are so much welcome in Venezuela these days. The needs of every day life are so great that any juggler and magician offering to solve these problems is well received, no matter that at every turn they are disappointed, until the next new leader arrive with the same set of promises108 . In relation to the school system empirical research shows very clearly that the investment in school and education, pays off in terms of development, social and personal. There is not a single doubt about it. However, investment is not as easy as it looks. It is technical enterprises were mistakes are paid dearly. A recent UNESCO/OECD study confirms that investment in education and economic growths go hand-in-hand109 . But though the benefits are huge, investment has to be considerable. Up to now Venezuela has been able to support all the initiatives, but is has reached a punt in which the state has to share with the private sector, communities and parents the heavy cost of schooling all the population, both in basic levels and the highest possible meaning higher learning and producing new knowledge. However, in Venezuela the revolutionary government is trying to take over all financial responsibilities, though is has left untouched the private sector, for the time being, at least. In this line of thought is might be said that poor techniques and rationale used to invest in the schooling process can derive in heavy financial and social looses. For this reason it is axiomatic to believe that investment in education makes a country prosperousexcept when it doesnt. When investment does not follow a rationale, when emotional and circumstantial decisions are taken by government interest to use but not really care about educational outcome or results, these are poor and in many occasions counter productive 110 .
108

In relation to a populist of former times, a graffiti read at the entrance of the Universidad Central de Venezuela read as follows: Carlos Andrs (Prez), before you invade USA, why dont you please fill the holes on the roads leading to the university?. That was the time of the incendiary rhetoric of another Venezuelan President at the ready to lead the Third World. This shows how, in spite of the fact that each one call himself new this is common actor to be seen in Venezuela. Income from oil seems to provide the opportunity to make these leader believe that it can be translated into political power in the international arena. 109 See Financing education investment and returns. UNESCO/OECD, Paris 2003. 110 In Venezuela the state is trying to take all responsibilities to educate their people. This looks like a good idea, though might generate rapid disappointment because the effects of improving the levels of schooling does not produce neither rapid nor sure results. The Venezuelan regime has organized their propaganda arguing in favor of total free schooling for all Venezuelan society and this is simply not possible nor actually a healthy proposition. It tends to bureaucratize society without obtaining minimum returns. Reinforcing the

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This is why in relation to higher education it is possible to speak about academic populism. In this case the offer is so attractive that it cannot be denied it is full of crude but successful imagination: it means to offer to all people higher education, for free, most of the time with scholarships and to guarantee to all of them not only the first but also the second degree and in many occasions an easy transit in a not demanding academic effort and full state employment once they leave the university. The idea behind this so noble goal is that everyone should have the same opportunities. In fact, to provide more opportunities to those who have been left behind, for whatever circumstances. Of course, the world is largely ruled by ideas, true and false. When Jefferson said, all men are created equal it was easy for his critics to point out his error; however, his idea is today part of the social accepted true, because while not all men are created equal all are equal before the law. In Venezuela today this is part of the idea behind the ideology of the revolution: men are not only created equal, but they all deserve equal opportunities. No one would dispute this argument. The whole question is, again, the practical aspects of this in relation to higher education. Once and for all it is necessary to insist in a reality point: not all people are in a capacity to follow studies in higher education, who are more and more complex and complicated, by the simple fact that knowledge is growing in such a way and in such a rapid growth that people have to make extra efforts to keep pace with this changes. This is why any rational thoughts about the development of higher education have to take into consideration factors like justice, fair treatment, equal opportunities, but, at the same time, two additional set of factors. One concerning the necessary steps to choose the best people available in order to train them at the maximum possible level with the, second, the available resources, which are always scarce. Excellence and virtuosities are not necessarily easily reached by all, but by a few. And this few are the nucleus from were academic and intellectual development can grow. Of course, this leaves alive the discussion about the ideological factors affecting any group, massive or elite. As seen before when explaining the role of the university of the revolution in Venezuela, this institution is opened under the axis of the principle of exclusion. Meaning, this institution will operate under the principle that it will train only those, which are loyal to the objectives and practices of the revolution. This is why scholars are opposed to higher education systems, like in the case of Cuba, where the state and the ideology of the revolution dictate all ideas and arguments to be followed. This does not mean, of course, that the system in Cuba is flawed, in their organization and operation. In spite of their efforts, which are called achievements, the Cuban system does not allow for open discussion of ideas or criticism of the regimen or their leaders. Many Faculty members in Cuba are fully aware of their shortcomings in these lines of thoughts, but in spite of that many put on their best face and try to do their best, under all circumstances. But others are punished, persecuted and in one word, excluded from higher education. Nothing of this is discussed in the official documents of the

training society only creates expectations to get into the labor market and this is not actually growing as to absorb all those searching for one place in that market.

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revolution. As such they are part of the government and they are official state institutions111 . The same will happen in Venezuela. The Universidad Bolivariana de Venezuela will become part of the institutions of the regime, will be surrounded by the nature of official state university, where the ideology of the revolution become the key to open or to close doors. Outsiders will not be allowed. Funds will be given and appreciation will be shown to this revolutionary institution. This is, after all, an instrument of the goals to be pursued, the creation in Venezuela of the two societies. One the Bolivarian society, approved by the regime. The other would be the society of the ancient regime. The first devoted to achieve the goals, objectives and purposes of the revolution, that will end up with the creation of the new man, trained and educated under the flag of the revolution, full of all civic virtues endorsed by the ideology of the revolution. The second belonging to the past, people corrupted by vicious ideologies, like neoliberalism, whatever that may be. The first model of society those believing in solidarity to other people, as well as to loyalty to the regime and their leaders. The second model of society would be that one being trained in egoism, individualism, ambitions for competitive pattern of behavior. It would be a futile exercise to describe and analyze these two parallel societies. In the second part of this working paper this topic will be addressed, but it might be a good idea to say here that this is a rather interesting way to create a society while eliminating the other, using the power of the state, without open violence, employing a pacific strategy to advance one society at the expenses of the other. In the case of Venezuela the main instrument of this power is the Army, which is also being transformed, from the traditional Army of the ancient regime to the revolutionary Army of the revolution. In due time this will be the case of higher education and the universities, in as much as those traditional institutions will somehow fade into oblivion and the new one will flourish and be the symbol of the academic world under the revolution. The powers that be in full force and strength, without any doubt. In the meantime a set back will fall upon higher
111

Visits to Cuban universities will allow observers to see two perspectives. One the university closed to any discrepancies, with people following strictly the ideological track of the revolution. This is the university of the political apparatus of the regime. However, underneath the tensions are visible. 45 years of revolution has not erased the spirit of the university in Cuba. Cuban scholars are more than willing to have a different kind of university. Certainly the bureaucrats and member of the Cuban nomenklatura will affirm to the contrary. The case in Venezuela is completely different, at the moment. The Universidad Bolivariana de Venezuela is just an experiment. The autonomous universities do maintain their profile, being autonomous, intellectually independent and able to criticize the revolution. But even if this were to change and the universities to become part of the state controlled institutions, the university, somehow, will manage to survive, as in a way it as happened in Cuba. On Cuban higher education see the traditional ideological oriented views, in La educacin en Cuba. Ministerio de Educacin de la republica de Cuba y Organizacin de Estados Iberoamericanos para la Educacin, la Ciencia y la Cultura, Madrid, 1987. A more recent book that incorporates some modern views is La educacin superior en Cuba. IESALC/UNESCO, 2003. See it on: http://www.iessalc.unesco.org.ve Not a single mention is done here on academic freedom, though there are references on freedom to create, for instance. In 4.1.4 of this document, p. 48, there are references on the autonomoy of the universities, sayings simply that these institutions are autonomous as long as they follow the social role attributed to them by the state. The Cuban system s organized under the principles of Marxism-Leninism and Castros thoughts. Technically it follows a centralized way to organize institutions, from top to bottom. Cuba is a police state and in these circumstances are pure rhetorical thoughts to speak about freedom of any kind.

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education in Venezuela. There is no modern system of higher education that has developed with direct ideological and political control. The state do have a very important role to play in that development, everywhere, including USA and Europe, but in no case is that state dictating the ways in which a system should operate, in spite of formulating the over all policies affecting both higher education an science and technology. The needs for trained scientist and technologist are enormous. In 2000 the U.S. spent 287 billions of euros in research and development with 166 b illions spent by the European countries. Soviet type of system of higher education does not work, at all. Which is the Cuban model, for instance, and which is being followed by the policies of the revolution, to the letter. In the former Soviet Union this activities were tightly controlled and the bureaucratic obstacles were impediments for creativity and advancement, above all in the social sciences, were ideological dogmatism entered and dominated freely. This situation will open the road again for the brain drain. This is phenomenon known all over the world. It would be a tragedy for such a small country like Venezuela to loose their valuable stock of scientist and technologist that will emigrate to developing countries. These areas era eager of absorb any talent available, in these areas. The European Union needs 700.000 more researchers by 2010 and the U.S. is practically an open market for Latin Americans willing to take the road of exodus. Venezuelans with talent and training are going away. It is not still the exodus of Cubans under Castro or Chileans under Pinochet or Argentineans under Ongania or Brazilian under the military government, but rather un dramatically and slowly the stock of knowledge is beginning to become weaker. At the autonomous universities people are retiring as soon as they can and those able to do so are leaving the country, mainly to USA. Other countries in the region are not attractive, not to mention that the country to which Venezuela is more attached, which is Cuba, is not a favorable destination. Such a regime as the Venezuelan revolution does not have room for technical and professional participation, except under the format of the faithful believers in the dogmas of the doctrinarian approach of the revolution and to the standard adulation of the lder mximo, who happens to be in a permanent ego trip, which many Venezuelan find unpalatable112 . This is not new in Venezuela. Under previous administration political exclusion worked beautifully, to the extent that control of the possibilities of power came always into the hands of those inclined to accept the governmental policies without criticism. However, under the revolution this predicament is getting closer to fanaticism
112

It must be recorded here that there is a free press in Venezuela. Side by side the revolution has taken over the public broadcasting system and many times uses the expedient of the cadenzas, a legal way to connect all broadcasting units into one, some times for hours and actually quite often. In the Venezuelan newspapers there are permanent attacks to the revolution and its leaders. In the latest case many see recklessness about the man, adolescent screw-you defiance or the Hispanic dictum, me da la real gana; other see him as a kind of clown or a corporate cheerleader, more than an administrator. The truth is, however, hat he has a powerful grip on Venezuela society, is widely popular and no matter the opinions against him he has survived quite well all these years since 1999 and is imposing to Venezuela his vision, nor the one that the country could claim as her. In fact, the gentleman has managed quite cleverly to transform the revolution into his own personae. He is the revolution and he is not the main actor, he is the actor. He is the beginning and the end, in short. He pretends to be destined to the long run, the revolution lasting 500 hundred years and he in power at least until 2021.

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and political paranoia. The regime is in fact ruled by a very small number of people, most of them coming from the Army or from the left over of the sixties, who finally were brought to power, after many years in the dark, as well as by many small political organization which have emerged under the opportunity of the revolution. Along these lines political and ideological exclusion is proceeding as a very perverse demonstration of clientelism and more than that nepotism and favoritism113 . This is in part explained normal in a society were the principle of reward for performance does not exist. What is found in Venezuelan higher education is a system that reward roles within a bureaucracy and pays people according to a very inflexible pattern in which being is better than doing. Anyhow, these techniques of exercising power are affecting the management of Venezuelan higher education. State control means in Venezuela conducting institutional life away from meritocracy and close to personal ways to handle public affairs. Unhappily the meritocratic ethos is totally absent form the dogmas of the revolution. This implies stimulus for the brain drain and having small groups of people obedient to the doctrinarian approach of the revolution to run institutions of higher education, as well as science and technology. Instead of meritocracy a highly hierarchical and bureaucratic regime is taking over in Venezuela, under the alibis of the revolution. The fascist cry of all inside the movement, nothing away from it is being duplicate in the Venezuelan case by saying all inside the Constitution and nothing outside it, though the principles of the Constitution might be broken at every turn to accommodate the supreme interest of the revolution. As these are total control of the Venezuelan society, all institution, including higher education, will eventually fall upon the full control of the regime. And all of this will be done within the Constitution, completely legal. The Venezuelan revolution, as it happens with any other modern autocratic government, attach a curious importance to clothing their views with a semblance of legal propriety and this is what happens of with the Venezuelan Constitution promulgated by the revolution, in 1999. In fact, in the name of the above-mentioned Constitution every abuse of power is being allowed and since no checks and balances are alive today in Venezuela, this leave the door open for a personal regime in which a single person is ruling all areas of society, in a very peculiar and probably awkward way. Those who believe in the separation of power in a modern society, and who believe in the systems of democratic checks and balances, in the fact that men ruling a country should be responsible to the whole society, will look upon this revolution with very little confidence. Popper was mentioned before in this working paper. He defended the concept of the open society. He meant by it, in short and in his own words, a societyopenness to criticism readiness to be criticized, and eagerness to criticize oneself. In Venezuela the society is closing, or being closed the difference is purely semantic. The dogmatism and fundamentalism of the revolution is causing an aurea on moral superiority and the vindication of the powerful strong man incapable of error, which is driving this society into the abyss of the caudillo era that was an essential part of the history of the country in XIX Century.
113

Nepotism is highly visible in the ways the revolution manage public administration. Close member of the family and other relatives has come to power, with each members of the leadership of the revolution having their own political territory. This may bring back t e worse examples of administrative corruption and in fact h the lack of administrative transparency seems to be a characteristic of centralized governments. It is to be added that the revolution is very secretive about their dealing and even of their private lives.

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This is perhaps the opportunity to quote Bloom. Aside from the irony of the nietzscheanization of the left, which can be applied to the Venezuelan ideological components, the analysis made by Bloom deserve merit here. He thought that
There is no need to prove the importance of education; but it should be remarked that for modern nations, which have founded themselves on reason in its various uses more than did any nations in the past, a crisis in the university, the home of reason, is perhaps the profoundest crisis they face114

This is what is happening in Venezuela. A modest but still advancing system of higher education is being dismantled and imprisoned, because closing here means the imposition of a doctrinarian approach to academic life, which is a brutal blow to whatever academic decency stands for. A very unreasonable vision is taking over in Venezuelan higher education, the state control that disregards any criticism, because the dogmas of the revolution would not accept questioning and any one doing it would classify as an enemy and be excluded. The kafkanian notion of the process defines the territories of those who can get in and those who are out. It means that those who are not inside the spirit of the revolution should not be allowed into higher education. The emblematic procedures are those applied by the Universidad Bolivariana de Venezuela, which is only accepting as students or Faculty members those aligned with the ideals of the revolution, as we discussed before in this working paper. One sentence of Simon Bolivar is used as the slogan of the Universidad Central de Venezuela, which was defined by the founder of the republic as The house that defeats the shadows. Well, the whole point is that shadows are falling upon the Venezuelan higher education and those who believe in the revolution are evacuating the home of reason in the name of dogmas of very poor value, any way. The hopes of the members of the Venezuelan academic community, a feeling shared by those all over the world that profess respect and allegiance to the values of the university, is that situation changes, eventually, and that higher education and the university, in this country, g back to be a standard member of the o international academic community. Higher education in the version of the knowledge society can be a tremendous asset for national development. Beyond being the university the home of reason, it is a very practical instrument for development. It means to be linked to the marvelous achievements of current science and technology, in the arts and the humanities, because in these terms whatever is done in the institutions of excellence and virtuosity can be shared for those who happen to live and work in societies usually called Third World and that can become First World utilizing the magic and miracle of the technological advances made by men, any where, any time. This is also the essence of the international academic community, to which we all belongs, without discriminations of any sort. This is how academics understand democracy, free access to knowledge, with the obligation to reproduce it for the mutual benefits of mankind.

114

Quote Bloom

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The obligations of the university

The university has a mission as well as an enormous responsibility and obligations, to defend their privileges and none is more important than academic freedom. I does not matter that the phrase is heard so many times as probably means not much, to the people involved in their daily affairs regardless of the extent to which they are free to do as they feel like, in academic terms, or they are being watched by the infamous Big Brother. Donald Kennedy, in his Academic Duty, said that
As easily understood as it is important, academic freedom refers to the insulation of professors and their institutions from political interference. It asserts the claim that in academy more than in other domains of American life, heterodox notion and unconventional behavior deserve special protection115

In Venezuela, under the revolutionary regime political interference is present, as a new set of the academic space is being created, obedient to the ideological fundamentalism of the leaders of this political movement. In this situation academic freedom is left unprotected. In view of the relationship between Cuba and Venezuela, it could be feasible to say that Venezuela will go wherever Cuba has gone and this means full control of the institutions of society, including, of course, higher education. In such a case freedom per se will be eliminated, because police state control does not allow for dissent or opposition. If that were to be the case Venezuela will have a single voice and the university will cease to exist. Even technological instrument like Internet will be forbidden, as they are as a mater of fact in countries like Cuba and North Korea116 . Every revolution involves a tragedy, and the Venezuelan one is no exception. Every revolution is a tragedy since in a way by definition it is obliged to destroy, many times without a positive counter part. Any fundamentalism is a set back in modernization and whatever could be called progress. An this because as it happens in Venezuela after five years of revolution the ideological proposition is non democratic, it excluded those who are supposedly against the proceso, it persecute at least by intimidation those who dare to think otherwise, who are accused of being evil; worse than that, to be neoliberals, such an ambiguity that can be applied to any one and in fact makes any one an enemy of the country, in as much the proceso is made analogous to the country, the same analogy made according to which the leader is the people and vice versa; the same way that the Army is the people meaning is the leader, and so on this syllogism can go endlessly to justify the hold to power. Among the common scapegoats of populism none is so popular as to fight elitism, which to many is one basic component of higher education and especially of the
115 116

See Donald Kennedy, Academic duty Harvard University Press, 1997 The uses of the Internet are being closely controlled by the state, in Cuba. I is not forbidden but the obstacles are so great as to discouraged any one trying to use. This does not come as a surprise. All mass media are state controlled in Cuba. There is no freedom at all, neither at the press nor at he university, for that matter. Is not the case of Venezuela, where the opposition is fighting the revolution, in many grounds, with the interesting exception of academic freedom. On Cuba and the prohibitions for the uses of the Internet see La Nacin, Buenos Aires, p. 1-2, Veda casi absoluta de Internet in Cuba. 24 de enero de 2004.

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university. In Venezuela the expression elitism has come to outstrip even racist as the most grave pejorative to be direct to any one felt against the revolution. For these reason the Venezuelan vision is anti neoliberals, anti elitism, anti intellectual anti academic so the final result is that academic populism ends up by denying the very existence of institutions devoted to knowledge, as such. They are thought to be instrument of the revolution and that is the only function of the institutions under this kind of regime. Under these circumstances how to protect academic freedom and how can a society fight to preserve what is an essential element of freedom and liberty? Is the Blooms dictum correct, according to whom the free university exists only in liberal democracies, and liberal democracies exist only where there are free universities? In other words, how can the dilemma between the academic university and the university at the service of a regime be recon ciliated as to preserve freedom and liberty and keep the university as the home of reason? By applying this format of populism the prophets of revolution annihilate all public and civic values, in the name of whatever wild dreams of social and personal transformation and redemption they have in mind. The worse scenario is that given their faith in their own beliefs and proposal they end by applying these by force. These and other related questions will be examined in the second part of this document on Academic populism. Before doing that, however, this is the place to quote Daxner,

As a person, I am rather pessimistic about SEE societies capacity to support and sustain a change in their grammar if higher education institutions are unable to take the lead in the debate and transformation. This essay, like the Magna Charta, is a bet placed on the university and academias ability to turn to social advantage the difficult situation from which the Balkans or other unfortunate parts of the world- are facing the challenges of the new century117 It is to wonder if Venezuela is one of those unfortunate parts of the world. Mind to say hat perhaps in the national Venezuelan debate universities are retreating and not taking the lead. This is most unfortunate, indeed. In fact, at the beginning of this part of the working paper we used a phrase from Rmulo Gallegos, the praised Venezuelan novelist, who became the first President ever elected by popular vote in Venezuela and actually the first to be overthrown after only some nine months as President, by an Army coup that lasted ten years. The sentence says, in Spanish,

No prostituyas la dignidad intelectual. Letras que deberan grabarse sobre los prticos de nuestras universidades, a fin de que el ingresante a ellas trasponga sus umbrales con emocionado sobrecogimiento de penetrar en moradas de excelencia

117

See the document by Michael Daxner Academic freedom and university institutional responsibilities in the Balkans (1989-2003). Carl von Ossietzky Universitt Oldenburg.

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It is fitting to end this Part I of this working paper using Gallegos beautiful sentence, moradas de excelencia, which is definitely lost in translation when we say in English places of excellence, because in Spanish morada is the place but the place understood as the proper place, the place which cannot be otherwise, like home for every peaceful and content citizen. This what is meant by morada de excelencia, the level of excellence as the proper place of the university, that is to say, the university is the house of excellence and does not admit anything less.

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PARTE II

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Debemos estar entre los primeros lugares del mundo en cuanto a impulso a la educacin
El Nacional, 29 de octubre de 2003

Hugo Chvez Fras, Presidente de la Republica Bolivariana de Venezuela

The social revolution...cannot draw its poetry from the past, but only from the future
Karl Marx The Eighteen Brumaire of Louis Napoleon (1952)

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The focus of this case study

This is a case study of the current situation of university autonomy and academic freedom in Venezuela. This South American country is undergoing ideological and political changes that are affecting the ways to understand such principles and academic values. The focus of this case study is very precise and clear. It is a country analysis from the technical perspective of how to see these academic values and visualize in the tradition of democratic political regimes. These allow the university to work within the boundaries of democratic pluralism and to respect the values of the academic rigor, which is indispensable for the modern university. Teaching and research of high quality can only be done efficiently in a modern institution in terms of the necessary universality of knowledge. Needles to say university autonomy and academic freedom can be analyzed through a number of perspectives. In the Venezuelan case the long history of the interventions of the governments in institutional life in higher education makes a priority to defend these institutions, from undue external intervention, either from the market o form the state. Venezuela is a typical teaching society devoted to train human resources, but lately there is an important segment that operates toward the knowledge society. Both they need these principles to be applied118 . In fact, they should be preserved both in the public and private sector, under the understanding that these principles should be supervised by the governments in as much hat they is no freedom without control. However, this is exactly what might be happening in Venezuela, control of the State without any principles of supervision being applied. Supervision is, of course, a technical concept, not a police criterion. It means technical reviews of access to higher education, selection of talent, training of teachers and researchers, allocation of funding, relationship between academia and the economic apparatus, scales of prestige and reputation of the different institutions, diversification of the system and stimulus to improvement in quality and in general the creation of a culture that would validate and appreciate schooling and education at the highest possible level. For the actors of the academic process to enjoy institutional autonomy and academic freedom to devote their efforts as they please, in spite of the fact that academic accountability is also a necessity to be both accepted and in fact stimulated. The academic world is defined as an international space and each country no matter how backward it could be has to make all possible efforts to be aware of the leading ideas in each field and try to answer both the national demands but above all those made by the international academic community. It would be suicidal for universities, these days, to look inward instead of looking outward, in both instances in academic terms. And this may be happening in Venezuela, were a radical ideological vision speaks of an endogenous and self-sufficient model of development and in fact advances a process oriented toward isolation defined by internationalism instead the necessary internationalization of higher education, an essential need of contemporary knowledge systems. Still, it is an interesting
118

To see the analysis in the European case see the document by Ulrike Felt on University autonomy in Europe: shifting paradigms in university research? Autonomous universities in knowledge societies: the impact on research. Magna Charta Universitatum, Conference on University Autonomy and Research, Bologna, September 2003.

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instance of political and economic development, the Venezuelan situation. It is not just another example of instability in a Region that has seen many autocrats and dictators come to power and in many opportunities destroy the institutions and proceed to the pathos of tragically outcomes were freedom and human rights are curtailed. It is a more interesting case because slowly the Venezuelan regimen is achieving their goals of total institutional control, without having retorted to the violent procedures common in the Region. Apparently, peaceful means can be more effective than the instrument of violence. When examining the tragic cases of some countries in the region, Venezuelan case is an example of civic culture. In fact, in countries like Chile under Augusto Pinochet, Cuba under Fidel Castro, the Brazilians under the military junta, the civil war that has make life unbearable for Colombians, Peruvians under the corrupt duplet of Alberto Fujimore and Vladimiro Montesinos. In Central America, under the brutal military regimes that came into power in these countries and decimated their population and have provoked the stampede of their population, and so on, then the. But it might not be so and under the apparent peaceful management of the political situation political forces are breeding discontent and such are the division created in this society by the unfinished revolution that many fears the worse, which would be an open violent conflict that will make irrelevant the issues of university autonomy and academic freedom. That is to say, apparently things will get worse in Venezuela until they can be better. Let us see why. Of course, this case study is written for the Observatory of the Magna Charta and it can be said that Europeans looks with horror and sympathy to whatever s happening in Venezuela as it has happened in other countries in the region in terms of the destruction of functioning institutions and in his cases universities have been obvious casualties. That is to say, Europeans can teach Latin Americans one lesson or two on the tragic management of university autonomy and academic freedom. However, that is exactly the purpose of this case study, to provoke the moral support that institutions like the Observatory can provide, in order to protect these principles of university autonomy and academic freedom in an operative stage. This is more important because curiously enough not many members of the Venezuelan academic community are aware of the risk and perils to which these two crucial concepts are being managed at present in Venezuela. More than that, many people in Venezuela, both in government and in academia, would utterly surprise to find out that the principles and values of the university are a preoccupation and international concern. There is not a national sovereignty on this question, because precisely the university is the most universal of all institutions. The main observation made on this document is that Venezuela is going backward, instead of taking advantages of her possibilities to go forward. By doing so, Venezuela could isolate herself from the mainstream of scientific, technological and intellectual development. Beyond the struggle for political and ideological power, which seems to be the order of the day, Venezuela needs to look ahead and realize that small countries have to make extraordinary efforts to avoid being outcast from the inventions and innovations that are produce all over the world. If a country does not develop, at least an small academic community able to look ahead beyond the daily facts of life, it will be unable to identify and chooses from the enormous range of products being offered by the international academic market. Many products and services are incorporated in the daily routine of transference of technologies, in a globalize world which we can oppose but mot deny.
Cmo aumentar la calidad acadmica Orlando Albornoz

Especially by small countries that are not able to continue to the world per capita in these technological and scientific terms. For this simply reason Venezuela should invest in learning at the highest possible level in order to be able to catch up with contemporary developments. It is the contention of this case study that instead of doing that Venezuela is taking the opposite, creating institutions of higher learning that respond to indigenous political struggles for power, instead of using power to increase intellectual participation in a global scale. In such a case Venezuela could be another example of the known syndrome of missing he boat, failing to internationalize higher education under the evidently wrong believe that globalization can be stopped and that looking inside instead of having a global view development is closer119 . Venezuela has chosen an anti globalization stand as a revolutionary policy. Plausible way to take ideological approaches that are very popular with the international left. However, by escaping trends that are outside the control of small nations the consequence would be isolation. In spite of al ideological protest, globalization is having a profound influence over economics, environmental, social, scientific, and technological affairs. A country can choose to ignore globalization, but it could be a very costly enterprise. One leader of the revolution declared recently that countries like Venezuela should stop buying from developed countries120 . That sounds good as a moral purpose but it is impractical and perhaps improbably, due to the fact that international commerce and interchange of good and services is a flow quite improbable to avoid. The regimen has consistently said that there are tow issues, which are essential to the revolution, one is the effort to eliminated poverty as characteristics of the society, and the second is nationalism as the approach to all incidents and events of public life. Is it possible to have nationalism as a country policy, in the era of the globalization? National sovereignty in times in which the international markets, legal instances, the flow of information and in general the shrinking of the planet is the order of the day? One of the theoretical justifications of this case study lies in the fact that perhaps Venezuela could be a real unique example of a country trying to navigate in the opposite direction of international trends. A country, which is rapidly closing her doors to the international, contacts which are indispensable, at least in the areas of science, technology, higher education and higher learning. Instead of keeping that approach Venezuela has chosen to organize a very tight alliance with Cuba, a country, which at best is not an international reference in neither of those areas, mentioned above. Only time will show the advantages and disadvantages of these Venezuela policies, through which the political and ideological techniques of populism are being applied., A kind of populism understood as a regime under the rule of the typical Latin-American strong man, deciding the ways a society should be run without the checks and balances which are common in any democratic society. As it will be seen later on in this case study in Venezuela, this populism is trying to create a new State, a news society and why not a new man, all of this under the umbrella of a revolution which is taken care to do whatever they
119

See the book by Craufurd D. Goodwin and Michael Nacht, Missing the boat, the failure to internationalise American higher education. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press, 1991. 120 See Roy Chaderton October 13, El Nacional. Chaderton is the Venezuelan Foreign Minister.

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intent to do under the most scrupulous legal artifacts, even if by trying to d so they might o impair the concept of political legitimacy. The Venezuelan revolution came to power through open and popular election. It is a legal government with complete and total legitimacy. However, once in power the leaders who have obtained popular support transformed the vision of the government into a revolution, which in the words of many experts on constitutional studies is not a legitimate movement. Its stated goal is to destroy existing Venezuelan institutions and replace them with a doctrinarian revolutionary regime. Legal as it is there seems to be no doubt that by the end of 2004 the democratic checks and balance have been altered and that a dictatorship is in the making, leaded by an ambitious leader who is more than willing to sacrifice anything in order to keep power. He is not alone. There is a powerful set of interest that has been created along the five years of the revolution and they support the regime at any event. The opposition is also strong and many claims that anything should be done to get rid of the regime. This is the Venezuelan drama. Two opposing political and ideological forces that is spite of the good wishes of all seem to be at the verge of a armed conflict. In any case, the Venezuelan situation is no longer a national affairs, but a regional problems and an international interest. The outcome does not look very promising at the time of writing.

The theoretical perspective of a case study: the methodology

Being a case study, it does cover strictly the purposes of such a methodology and the topics chose to be covered. At the same time, it is a country analysis. In this instance it means that the analysis if restricted to a country, Venezuela, and to the themes chosen for the case study, the management of autonomy and academic freedom in this country. For the sake of a clear understanding of the case study, it has been written from the theoretical perspective of macro sociological approaches to higher education. For these reason it is neither a historical study nor it is a dossier in order to denounce ideological purposes of the current Venezuelan government. In other words, it is not a judgment but an analysis of public policies in higher education and for hat matter in education in general. It is the moment to say that here are for areas of concern for the public administration in Venezuela; education, that deals with basic and secondary education; culture, higher education and science and technology. As the government is trying to impose a centralized operation of the public administration all this units of the Venezuelan public administration are working under the same ideological and political umbrella, in this occasion the principles and values of the revolution. In terms of the postmodern thoughts, the discourse is one and unique, though because of lack of discipline in administrative terms in many opportunities each unit developed their own ways without concerns for the others. The revolution is under the guidance of the main leader of the revolution, President Hugo Chavez, and as it happens in these circumstances no idea or project is valid and legitimate if it does not have the approval and stimulus of the mean leader, omnipresent in Venezuelan society as perhaps never before in the history of the country. The current President, who happens to be the great communicator, might explain this because of the personal approach to political life
Cmo aumentar la calidad acadmica Orlando Albornoz

carry on. In fact, there is almost not a single day without the President speaking a national radio and TV. On Sundays he has a radio and TV program that last hours and in which the canny President hire or fire the members of this governments, threaten the political opposition and in fact dictates the policies of his government. In as much as possible, the opinions of the author a going to be left out in this case study121 . However, I have always re maintained that in spite of the needed objectivity and neutrality of case studies, we intellectuals and academics are not free from value judgment and this opportunity is a good example of this ethical orientation. That is to say, the author believes in democratic pluralism as a precondition of university autonomy and for the exercise of academic freedom. However, there are clear beliefs in the role of accountability in academic life122 . For this reason autonomy and academic freedom are not abstractions but practices, be managed according to the changing circumstances in which the university developed their institutional identity. The goals of this study include an examination of the (a) The formulation of public policies in higher education by the Venezuelan government and (b) Economic and social aspects of the effects on diminishing university autonomy and academic freedom. The objectives deriving from those goals are: 1. An assessment of the management of both university autonomy and academic freedom in Venezuelan higher education. 2. An evaluation of the centralization/decentralization of public policies in Venezuelan higher education. 3. Establish a basis for understanding the current and future development of academic life in this South American country, Venezuela, within the parameters of a deepening of political autocracy or the return to democratic pluralism The research questions arising from the above objectives are as follows: Objective 1 above is addressed by the question: "What patterns of management of autonomy and academic freedom emerge from the current political and ideological environment and the perceived needs for preservation and changes in these areas?"

121

My criteria on higher education and the revolution in La reforma de la educacin superior y la revolucin bolivariana (Caracas, Venezuela: Universidad Central de Venezuela, 2001 122 An early work on my views on this matter in ."Autonomy and accountability in higher education", en Prospects, UNESCO, No. 78.

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Objective 2 is addressed by the questions: "What characteristics of the political and ideological Venezuelan environment contribute to the patterns of management mentioned above?" "What managerial issues arise from the preservation/violation of autonomy and academic freedom and how important have these principles become essential to the academic organization?" "How will the institution balance the need for technological changes with the need to continue the accomplishment of an academic environment were the principles mentioned above are kept and respected?" Objective 3 is addressed by the questions: How can a country like Venezuela realize her very modest size and importance in the space of inventions and innovations and understand that just to identify trends of the international knowledge market? How can a country like Venezuela equilibrates the ambition for political and ideological power with the needs to learn how to manage technological transference, knowledge production? How to privilege investment in higher learning and in general do all this with the preservation of university autonomy and academic freedom, meaning the capacity to take risks and eventually the right to be wrong in the quest for knowledge, in as much there is no certainty in such a search? Is autonomy and academic freedom substantial part of democratic political life or can these principles be negotiated under political system ruled by autocratic principles123 ?

Any way, when we speak about a case study we mean this according to the Harvard Business School, "A case is a partial, historical, clinical study of a situation which has confronted a practicing administrator or managerial group. Presented in narrative form to encourage student involvement, it provides data substantive and process essential to the analysis of a specific situation, for the framing of alternative action programs and for their implementation, recognizing the complexity and ambiguity of the practical world." This case study is informative and critical of a given situation. University autonomy and academic freedom, principles, which have been historically under pressure, are so now under greater risk to be weakened. This has happened before in this country, whenever autocratic forces have tried to control the operation of institutions and n is more vulnerable one than higher education and particularly the universities, which re the only autonomous institutions in the Venezuelan academic spaces. This is so because they
123

A warning on Venezuelan higher education: there are a number of reports written about the behavior of this system, there are statistical information provided and in general there is enough comments in the mass media about higher education. Unhappily, there is not much empirical research done in this area. This show unequivocally the ways policies are organized, many times paying attention to rhetorical thoughts and not to whatever evidences could be gathered on a given issue. For instance, the hypothesis that the larger the enrollment in higher education with constant investment will derive in lowering academic quality is a statement that would have to be proved but otherwise it is a matter of opinion and opinion govern judgment in this and many other areas in Venezuela. Policies in these affairs are arbitrary and do not obey logic or empirical validation.

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are recipient of funds from the government to carry on their functions and activities. It is convenient to describe the academic space in Venezuela 124 .

In defense of the revolution, the moral indignation

It is important to state that many Venezuelans found credible the proposal of the incoming candidate, in the presidential elections of 1998. They voted him and his political movement. It could be said that the candidate was very nave and honest to let people know about his political views. The population was well aware of his background. An army man that failed twice to get to power via the coup detat, he was an attractive defiant man, young and daring that rapidly became the hope of that voiceless portion of Venezuelan society. The traditional left saw an open opportunity an surrounded the young candidate. He has been welcome in Havana in 1995 and as soon and he won the election paid the political favor by having the Cuban leader to have a privileged place next to him. In fact, to many Venezuelan Cubans and Castro is almost co-government en Venezuela. The Venezuelan revolution justified its goals in moral terms. In December 1988, people voted the newcomer, in spite of his irregular past. He tried and failed twice to overthrow constitutional governments. However, the traditional political parties had lost the sympathy of the majority of Venezuelan and they decided to try one outsider. Needles to say not many envisioned that the newcomer had in mind to accomplish a revolution that would try to destroy the same political system that allowed him to come to power. This is not the place to enter this analysis. It would be suffice to say that the revolution is for real and tries to answer real issues, like poverty and inequality125 . The revolution is a serious effort to
124

There are some 510.967 higher education students in Venezuelan universities, 23 per cent in the private sector. Including all institutions of higher education, the volume raises up to 803.755 students. Some 114.454 enrolled for the first time in 2000. The dropout rate is very high, particularly in the last five years, because of the difficult economic situation of the country. Some 49.275 people were members of the academic staff. While the proportion of students in higher educations institutions of he private sector is 23 per cent, it is 17.29 per cent of the teaching staff, which already says much about the quality of the private sector, or perhaps it is sign of its efficiency. There are in year 2000 42 universities in Venezuela, 21 of the public sector, 21 of the private sector. The career orientation is towards the area of the services with fewer students coming into the hard sciences & technology. Professional unemployment is on the increase, some 11 per cent, as compare with 23 per cent for the non-professional sector. 125 The Venezuelan revolution has as one of their primary goals to break with a long history of inequality in Venezuela. This society needs to undertake deep reforms of political, social and economic institutions, improve access by the poor to vital services and assets, especially schooling/education, deliver income transfers to poor families, and adopt specific policies to help indigenous people and Afro-descendants. In this sense, it does not make sense just to oppose the revolutionary government because it is attempting against freedom but also to elaborate a program of justice and redistribution of wealth within the context of democracy. In moral terms the revolution is right. What is wrong is the ways it is trying to achieve goals like eliminating poverty and redistributing wealth. The revolution programs are also right to make the emphasis that poverty is not only a national problem but also a regional one and it is attached to the ways the economic system has been operated by previous governments. The revolutionary answer to their ways to handle these affairs is that democratic governments failed in solving these problems. If that is the case they will also fail because their policies are entirely wrong because they are not producing but using State resources to

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build a different society and a new organization of political and ideological power. This is being achieved, adopting a messianic populist doctrine that is not recognizing the traditional share of power of the different areas of interest. It is concentrating all power into the hands of the supreme leader and his very few p artisan and fellow travelers, most of the first from the Army, most of the second from old political parties and pressure groups that finally came to power in the carrier de la revolution. The new government, the revolution, is trying to play a different game from the traditional state of political affairs in Venezuela. The political and ideological opposition is trying to stop the revolution and to return somehow to the establish ways to manage political and ideological power. It is true that Venezuelan society is and has been an unequal society. Social differences are enormous, profound ethnic discrimination is visible, minorities have been excluded from social benefits and unjust ice and unfairness have been prevalent. On the other hand, Venezuela has been a society of opportunities. Free from religious rifts and from social violence certain equilibrium and social cohesion was achieved during the years of democratic rule. The revolution took advantage of the division of society and has taken the strategy of deepening these social divisions in order to capture more power, actually to take over the power that was in the hands of the oligarchy. However, being Venezuela a society with a very rich and powerful State economy whoever take over the government takes over the wealth of this society and this is what the revolutionary government is doing, using the wealth of the country to retain a disproportionate share of social and political power. This is the source of the open conflict, found at the middle of the political and ideological disequilibria, which is current in Venezuela. This conflict is breeding a civil war. Such is the division of Venezuelan society at the end of 2004 that it would be miraculously if civil war is not the outcome of this conflict for power which is taking place in Venezuela, between the government and the political forces of the political and ideological opposition. This conflict goes down to every institution and higher education is not excluded from this struggle. The struggle for power is the struggle for control and on these question the government is taking a tactic of peaceful changes, via the creation of the parallel State and this seem to be the key to understand what is going on in Venezuela, in higher education as well as in the society at large. In general, there is an enormous credibility gap in Venezuelan society126 . The society is divided, along its natural lines plus the artificial clash created by the government as part of their strategy for total control. No institution is well respected by the nation. Government is distrusted; their leaders are looked upon as ambitious people trying to take advantage of their having arrived to power. The opposition is not trusted because many expect them to just want to return to their privileges of the past. News and information about the widespread administrative corruption and fortunes made over night do not help to have
redistribute wealth in such a way that perhaps they are creating more poverty instead of new wealth. God intentions are not enough to solve social problems and ineptitude and inefficacy helps in the opposite direction 126 See the book by Seymour Martin Lipset with William Schneider, the confidence gap: business, labour and government in the public mind (New York: the Free Press and Macmillan, 1983), (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, expanded and updated edition, 1987

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faith in the government. Information about Venezuela being one of the most corrupt governments does not help either. In international relations there are many complaints because of the anti Americanism of the leaders of the revolution and the over presence of Cuban and Cubans leaders in national affairs. In this public climate and the more the struggle for power fill the days of Venezuelan there is little room for the preoccupations of academia. When the whole society is seen at the verge of a political catastrophe whatever happens to higher education is not as important as the political decisions that are being or are not being taken. The ills of society have increased their volume and visibility. Unemployment, poverty, corruption, inefficacy, incompetence, poor use of available funds, arbitrary behaviour on the part of the political leaders who some times seem to manage the country as their personal property, lack of moral transparency of the leaders and lack of adequate reliable public information. These entire questions are driving Venezuelan society into a real difficult situation. In spite of the lack of public interest on matters concerning institutional autonomy of the university and the infringement of academic freedom, makes more urgent to call attention to the violation in the objective management of these two values of university life. This is one of the reasons for this case study to be written, to defend the principles that make an essential part of university life anywhere. This purpose can be achieved without condemning the revolution as a kind of diabolic enterprise. This revolution is the consequence of a political and ideological development. It is not an invention coming out of the blue. The political and ideological forces that are in currently in power have been active in Venezuelan political life all along the last half a century. It is not a question of saying that university autonomy and academic freedom have been a pristine territory and that the revolution has emerged to destroy the principles and values. What is new is the purpose and objective to mobilize higher education in order to be supportive of the revolution and it has applied to higher education the same principle applied to all institutions in society, to create alternative institutions while keeping alive but restricted the previous ones. While doing this, the revolution is approaching the autocratic and dictatorial stage, according to what can be seen in Venezuela these days. This behaviour from the government will undoubtedly damage the academic environment of Venezuelan society, in such a way as to make the recuperation quite difficult. Particularly because the revolution generate actions that will diminish the volume and importance and the human resources devoted to science, technology and knowledge, in general. One of these negative consequences is the brain drain. Requena has written on this matter: In spite of great sacrifices to train a significant number of students at an excellent level, mainly through the Fundayacucho (Gran Mariscal de Ayacucho Foundation) we have witnessed a tendency to loose the best-trained minds, which has undermined the sector. Differences in labour conditions and facilities for creative work have caused a continuously increasing brain drain. Critical areas, such as biotechnology, microelectronics, telecommunications and information technology have suffered the most. The issue here is that precious financial resources and time are consumed while no social return is obtained127
127

See by Jaime Requena his chapter Research & development: our passport to the future, in Venezuela Positiva. Fundacin Venezuela Positiva, Caracas, 1998.

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Perhaps the country is repeating pattern of failures. When the massive program to train human resources abroad was installed in Venezuela, Fundayacucho, the country was successful in that goal but it could have strength heir universities and do improve the quality of them by bringing in foreign professors and know how. By sending students abroad the social and financial returns were lower than expected, if the country had invested in the development and improvement of their own institutions. The same way, the revolution has taken the trouble to create new institutions instead of improving the existing ones. When policies call for restraint they are still expanding, but in such a way that instead of going ahead they are going backward. Policy makers in these times of revolution do not obey neither logic nor quantitative analysis of the relationship between investment and return but simply applied those policies that have failed everywhere, like universal access to higher education, a very costly and inefficient way to manage the needs for human resources and knowledge production at the highest possible level. They just accept at face v alue the doctrinarian stand of the revolution128 . And they go on in closing the only corporate university in the country and open the academic arm of the regime, the university of the revolution. Probably the revolution found a corporate university incomprehensive to their ideological goals and could see no way to control the autonomous universities, which do not support uncritically the political and ideological stands of the revolution. The revolution is little by little searching to accommodate to the nation what is politically unacceptable, the only one and uncritical line of thought. If this happen freedom at the university will collapse and with it freedom in society. We cannot go further on this in this case study. It would suffice to quote the main leader of the evolution, who with pristine clarity expressed the essential thought on this doctrinarian approach, his: Todo funcionario pblico debe escuchar Al Presidente, porque desde aqu mando instrucciones y lineamientos estratgicos 129 . This manner to govern is the most centralised version of the known one-man-rule. Public administration as such will disappear and the mood of the leader and his emotional attitudes will be the only criteria through which a modern nation is to be organized.

128

Without implying any judgment on the professional doing the job of planning higher education many of them with very elementary training in the area, they are under the pressure to advance the plans of the revolution. This could be an example of the typical dichotomy: either these people are ill prepared to do the job, in which case it is a common case of ignorance of what is going on around the world or being capable of understanding these question they still go on accepting that pressure, in which case the are responsible of moral weakness. 129 El Nacional, October 20, 2003, p. A -6. Every public employee most listen to Al Presidente, because we give from here instructions and guidelines of strategic character. Public administration is the first employer in Venezuela.

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What is higher education in Venezuela?

In short, being this case study prepared for an international audience, unfamiliar with the data on Venezuelan higher education, it could safely be said that the educational system of Venezuela higher education is characterized by: New: It is only after 1958 that Venezuela did organize a higher education system. When the Army dictatorship ended in 1958 higher education was reduced to a small number of institutions. University autonomy was non-existent and academic freedom was heavily restricted. When the democratic government replaced the dictatorship they rapidly expanded higher education, particular in enrollment on order to satisfy the repressed demand for places in higher education. Since then the system expanded beyond control but with a clear rationality, understanding that the country needed higher education to advance. During the years between 1958 and 1998 this school level grew and expended though academic development has been slow. In 1992 the country began the change from the training society to the knowledge society, but this stage is still in the initial level and research is still a kind of curiosity without any close relationship to the social demands.

National: The Venezuelan system of higher education is a national one, with very few students and members of the faculty coming from abroad. This item is crucial to understand the vision that is common in Venezuela higher education, their local and regional perspective. Students and members of the faculty do not travel; they do their studies and academic careers in just one institution. They might have interest to travel abroad, but otherwise they are restricted to a very narrow view of their professional and academic responsibilities. Diversified: it is a system well diversified, with a proportion of say 70 per cent in public institutions and the rest in private financed institutions. On the other hand it is a system that could support further expansion and improvement, since the infrastructure is well organized. Expansion is goal achieved if technical criteria are used to evaluate the system and perhaps more selection and academic demands are to be made to improve the internal quality of the system. Unequal academic quality levels: Since there is not any technical reference on academic quality the best it is to say that in the large autonomous institutions there are spaces of high excellence and many are mediocre units that only stretching the concept would fall under the denomination of academic environment. Some experiences show that the level of academic quality is inexistent. Members of the faculty are not evaluated, nor are the professional emerging from the different institutions, since the degrees they provide are legal even if the institution is not capable to do a decent job in academic terms. Degrees are for life and are not subjected to any evaluation, except the institutional sanction. Knowledge production and productivity: knowledge production and productivity is rather low. Around four per cent of the members of the faculty are engaged in some type of
Cmo aumentar la calidad acadmica Orlando Albornoz

scientific and technological research and their findings receive limited diffusion and generate just a marginal impact. Research does not obey any principle of attachment of the academic units to the economic and financial apparatus. It is a very interesting area devoted to personal and individual interest obeying the call of vocation and curiosity.. Modern, plural in social terms, open opportunities. The Venezuelan system has been an open one, with many restrictions and many limited opportunities for those students coming from poor background. Interesting to say, however, that the members of the new ruling elite were trained during those years, 1958-1998. Many of them taking advantages of the opportunities to pursue studies abroad, up to the advanced level, in the best and most prestigious universities. Social mobility has been of the premium of the distributive justice in Venezuela, no matter how restricted could that be considered according to personal judgment or experience or even political and ideological orientations. Teaching oriented: the classroom is the center and essence of Venezuelan higher education. The system works around a transient population that commute from home to the nstitution i and back and these students and members of the faculty work around the classroom. There is no other interaction except that one when members of the faculty teach and students attend his or her lessons. More space would be needed to explain why i Venezuelan higher n education, for instance, the textbook is not an obligatory instrument to the teaching learning process. Students learn in fact via whatever the teachers may provide, in most cases. This is not the case in the units of excellence. But hey are limited in volume and impact. Heavy state responsibility: The expansion and relative consolidation of a Venezuelan system of higher education has been possible because of the continuous support by the State, though the contribution of the private s ector has been also very important. In spite of the many criticism made to those programs Venezuela sent thousand of students to follow studies abroad, under the Ayacucho Program. This was an excellent program though many felt at the time that instead of sending so many students abroad I could have been more efficient to improve Venezuelan institutions of higher learning. Bureaucratic: I have often made the distinction between employment and work, using the distinction made by Herzberg130 . It is the same line of thoughts of Arendt in her distinction between labor and work, laborare and facere. People in Venezuelan higher education are employed; they do not see themselves as workers. It would not be an exaggeration to say
130

See the book by Frederick Herzberg Work and the nature of man. Cleveland, The World Publishing Company, 1966. Important to state here that Venezuelan economy is based upon the oil industry, first developed by multi-national firms in early XX Century and nationalized in 1975. The country has been dependant upon this industry since 1921 and in fact, it is increasing that dependence of a single product. The democratic period of Venezuela, 1958-1998 could not be explained without the oil income. Needles to say the revolution would neither be possible without this State income. Diversification of the economy has been an unachieved goal in Venezuelan history. One of the paradoxes of the revolution is that instead of diversification it is using oil income to centralize all aspects of the economy and their social policies. Contrary to widespread pinion Venezuela is not a wealthy country. It is a poor society with a rich state. In addition, whoever gets power gets oil. With that, a huge income that explains the unequal social structure of the country, that operates under the principle of the subsidies and not on the productive work of the population.

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that this bureaucratic approach is observed in the fact that the institutions of higher education are encroached under the regime of subsidies given to all members of the faculty independently of their performance. This relationship is in the hands of the al-powerful faculty union. These have achieved to make individual responsibilities disappear and manage to make the academic employment an activity defined by collective bargaining and denying in fact any individual level of academic efficiency. Whatever the level of individual performance, every member of academia is judged as part of the whole, a depressing environment that does not stimulate excellence but mediocrity. The nature of academic employment in Venezuela: an easy life few duties small obligations. It is almost a kind of voluntary work, like the type of work done by people affiliated at voluntary NGO,s. They are paid well and they have full social security, to them and their families. As members of a well paid bureaucratic elites they hold privileges which are beyond belief. For nstance, having their children to have secure access to higher education, i in spite of the fact that some of them had not approve the national test which is mandatory to all secondary students in order to be able to enter higher education, according to some quotas established by the different institutions and the availability of places in the professional careers. Small and restricted intellectual and academic life: There is not an academic market in Venezuela. One indicator is the volume of journals and book publication. Another one would be the limited importance of the higher education libraries. They are under funded and provisions to them are being cut. The system is in fact paying the salaries of the members of the faculty and other members of the labor force of Venezuelan academia but learning resources are scarce. The whole style of academic life does not allow the creation and/or integration of a strong academic community. Institutions operate isolated one from the other, even if the function in the same city. The flow of information does not cover a common geography but a kind of academic institutional separation. This is not a Venezuelan style but in fact a common trait of institutional and organizational behavior through Latin American and the Caribbean131 . The research university is still an exception in the area. There are fine academic units in some of the countries in the region, mainly in Brazil, Mexico and Argentina, in that order, but the typical institutions would be devoted exclusively to the teaching model with no inclination whatsoever to research.

131

In Venezuela the higher education libraries are a proof of how little funding in the area goes into this type of learning resources. In October 2004 the situation worsened. The autonomous libraries reported that the 84 libraries of the Universidad Central de Venezuela have not keep libraries updated funds in the last two years. IVIC, the main research center in the country obtained funds for only 25 per cent of its needs. There is not a connection between the classroom activity and the library resources. Perhaps for this reason the lack of financial funding for the libraries does not affect that much the academic routine in Venezuela. On this see El Nacional Sin recursos bibliotecas acadmicas para adquirir nuevas colecciones. October 11, 2003, p. B-16.

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The need for continuity for the success of academic enterprises

One the most important elements for the success of academic systems seem to be continuity. Meaning the possibility of a given academic system to work out their objectives without interruptions be they from the inside or the outside of the academic environment in which such a system is operating. During a century the Venezuelan academic system has been subjected to many interruptions, some of them from those factors at the interior of the system, or be from the external pressure. In the first place interruptions are provoked because of the intervention of both students or members of the faculty. In the second case pressures, which originated in the market forces or the state interest trying to prevail and manipulate institutions, which like in the case of the university work best when they are protected from unduly pressures that try to control their goals and objectives. Venezuelan academic system is new. In fact, it was created in 1958. Before that the academic space was captive of autocratic governments. President Juan Vicente Gomez, an old fashion self-made General ruled the country between 1907-1935 and actually closed down Venezuelan universities for then long years, between 1912-1922. Again, between 1948-1958 the university was under the control of a strong man, in this case the General Marcos Perez Jimenez, who ruled the country under a nationalistic vision, el nuevo ideal nacional, a mixture of modernizing purposes associated with the known tactics of control by the Army. It was only when democracy was installed in the country, in 1958 that a long period of some forty years allowed for the continuous support of the state in order to expand and strength the academic system. At the same time it kept democratic pluralism alive and allowed for the expansion of the private sector, that has been created under the autocratic government of Perez Jimenez. In those years between 1958 and 1998, continuity was many times under pressure. First because the radical students of the 60s wanted universities to be the cradle of a revolution inspired by the Cuban model, which has come to power in January 1959. The guerrilla movement of those years obtained financial support from those in Venezuelan academic campuses and in fact they recruited their members from those universities. The university was closed down many times during that decade. In the seventies the nucleus of protest shifted from the students to the members of the faculty. These wanted their privileges to be maintained and in fact opposed any changes in the kind of welfare state that was given to them when dictatorship was overthrown in January of 1958. All in all in those twenty years the academic space in Venezuela was very much under pressure and continuity a casualty of the struggles taking place inside and outside the university. However, expansion was the pattern. In fact, the level of institutional expansion of the Venezuelan school system was spectacular, between 1958 and 1998 and the new government inherited this solid organization, which was in need of an over-haul but still with the necessary infrastructure to allow for it. The new government, however, denies any achievements done in those years and have fallen into the syndrome of the zero year, as if nothing has happened before the revolution.

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The emergence of the new autocratic government

It is essential to point out that the government that came to power in elections held in December 1998 and begin his period in February of 1999 is a legitimate government, elected in popular and legal elections. The new President, Hugo Rafael Chavez Frias, a former paratrooper who has failed twice to come to power by trying out military force came to power via the constitutional meas. Nevertheless, once in power he changed the rules of the games and having used brilliantly the opportunities of democratic procedures he has installed a new ideological authoritarian view, the revolucion bolivariana, inspired in the legends of the Liberator of the country, Simon Bolivar. The goals are to create a new state and obviously a new society. This deserve a detailed consideration in this case study, the emergence of a new state by way of creating a kind of parallel set of institutions that would create the conditions to have a new society. The new society means the new man and the new man is the believer of the principles of the revolution, whatever way they define revolutionary values. In any case, they are defined by exclusion: those who are not with me are not patriotas and are against the revolution. A revolution born of the collapsed of the political parties ruling the country since 1958 that opened room for what many considers a disaster. A new constitution was drawn and since its approval, it has served the purpose to the goals to adapt this Venezuelan society to the codes of the revolution and this done within the legal framework of that constitution. The idea of governments creating new states is not new, of course. Getulio Vargas in Brazil had the idea of O estado novo132 . The Portuguese sociologist Santos has recently analyzed the theory behind the parallel state133 . Most contemporary theories of the State refers to
132

In 1937, the President of Brazil, Getulio Vargas, created O estado n ovo, a dictatorial centralized view of ruling such an enormous country. Vargas tried to operate a policy of industrialization and economic independence through state participation in public affairs. He committed suicide on August 24 1954, during his second presidency, to which he has been elected in 1950.
133

See the two books by Santos, Boaventura de Sousa (org.) (1993) Portugal: um retrato singular, Porto, Portugal and Boaventura Santos O estado e a sociedade (1974-1988). Edies Afrontamento. Amaral and Carvalho express this view as follows: This political characteristic is the reflection of what the Portuguese sociologist Santos (1990, 1993) designates the Parallel State, to characterise the double-dealing attitude from the State, which on the one hand assumes a progressive legality pattern, but on the other hand tolerates the systematic violation of the corpus juris in force. The 1976 Portuguese Constitution passed after the Revolution had many characteristics of extreme socialism but after the first general elections neither the Communist Party nor any other extreme leftwing party came into office. The result of this was a mismatch between the Constitution and the policies implemented by successive governments that was translated into this concept of parallel state. Sometimes the contradictions were surpassed by cunning interpretations of the Constitution, and with the passing of the years several Constitutional amendments trimmed the most visible ornaments of socialism. See Alberto Amaral and Maria Teresa Carvalho Cipes, Porto, Portugal, Universidade do Porto and Universidade de Aveiro Autonomy and change in Portuguese higher education, 2003.
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their down sizing, like in the analysis of Strange134 . The idea of the large State dominating all activities in any society is repulsive to the democratic vision. It brings about the tragic experiences and practices of the totalitarian regimes and the theories of people like Lenin. Only in tightly controlled societies like in Cuba, to mention Latin America and the Caribbean, is found the State as the instrument of regulation and control of daily life. However, Venezuela is joining this reduced group and political ideologies that believe in the supreme role of the state to improve the conditions of the society and, it follows, the role of the supreme leader as the supreme guide and omnipresent messianic over dimensioned person. The Venezuelan case could be one of those examples that disturb, Big Brother playing God. However, the moral justification of the revolution is not a game. It is a well-organized set of norms and rules, destined to create a government that would last forever. This would imply the three levels of the utopia of the revolution: a new State, a new society and a new man, all of them free from negative attitudes and behavior and full only of the positive and the best manifestation of the human condition. Love, beauty, justice, tolerance, real democracy, unselfish behavior, social equality, and no social problems at all, meaning no poor people full equality, no person outside the school system no person without full health care. These are grosso modo the political ideology principles of the Venezuelan revolution. No one can argue against those principles, but many questions the possibilities of realizing those ambitious goals. Particularly, if it happens in such a fashion that they might just serve as an alibi to obtain and retain political power. It is within this concept that Venezuelan higher education should be analyzed. Before doing so, however, it is essential to discuss even briefly the purposes and objectives of the revolution that is taking place in Venezuela. It is a revolution, no doubt about that. It is a well-conceived ideological and political set of principles, which are being applied since
134

See by Susan Strange her book The retreat of the state, the diffusion of power in world economy, Cambridge University Press, 1966. See also her paper The erosion of the state Current history November 1997 pp. 365-369. I have no the intention to discuss here the theories of the state. However, the brilliant but flawed pamphlet by V. I. Lenin on the State and revolution, the Marxist theory of the state and tasks of the proletariat on the revolution (1918) looks like having a profound impact in the discourse of the revolution and it could help to understand the vision of this Venezuelan revolution about the role of the State. In any case, what is happening in Venezuela is contrary to what Strange analyzed in her book. Instead of retreat, the allpowerful State is becoming a monster, in Venezuela. It might also prove of some interest to see texts like Hans Kelsen, General theory of law and state, Harvard University Press 1945 to see what possible is in the minds of the political opposition in Venezuela, in relation to the role of the state. Interesting to say that Venezuelan political opposition seems to rely upon the Kelsen doctrine on the role of the state. Kelsen's monistic theory of law, according to which international and municipal law have the same subject-matter, paved the way for the dominant contemporary doctrine: international law can encompass every aspect of human life which warrants international legal protection of human rights. Kelsen's doctrine of the identification of law and state held the legal order of the modern state to be the pattern of every legal system. Since, moreover, he considered physical coercion to be the very requisite of a legal normative order, Kelsen was bound to look for such a coercive element in the international order and found it in war. The experience of World War Two led Kelsen to develop the doctrine of the 'just war' (bellum iustum) as the appropriate sanction for violations of international norms, a theory which is had to reconcile with his condemnation of every form of natural law. Kelsen's narrow definition of law prevented him from assessing the true nature of normative systems, which do not fall within the state-based definition. Venezuelan political opposition is right now looking forward for international intervention to save democracy as they think it is fit for national development

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1999 with cold head and satisfying a chronogram which is the consequence of a very detailed analysis of the strategies and tactics which best fits the goals of the revolution. The purposes and objectives of the revolution are as follows: (a) a historical approach according to which any thing done before the revolution was tainted by corruption, neoliberalism and control of power under the oligarchy. The poor, the Indians, the marginal people were outside the benefits of the wealth of the country and the revolution will recuperate and pay back the social debt accumulated during the past. The main strategy is to go back to the origins. To try to go back to the moments in which the society was organized and then try to return to the present but correcting the ills incurred in those centuries. The main ideology of the revolution is Simon Bolivar, which has been sanctified by the revolution (b) create a new State, and t is implies a new constitution that supports the revolutionary principles: the h State as the main institution of the society, and for citizens to be protagonist, participative and solidarity. The power under the new State is going to be handed over to the poor so that they can get out of poverty and misery. Until the State can achieve the sole representation of the society there will be a parallel State, one the old State as conceived by the oligarchy and the new State as conceived by the revolution (c) organize a new society, which is an equal society, without any kind of discrimination. The new society will develop a new model of the economy, endogenous and self-sufficient. The concept of the parallel State will influence society in such a way that in each one of the institutions of society new institutions are being created. A parallel Army will be organized, a new judiciary system, a new legislative system, a new health service and a new higher education system. Power will be centralized (d) design a new man, who will have a moral view of society. The model of this new man is, of course, Che Guevara, the Argentinean leader of the Cuban revolution who died in Bolivia. Finding inspiration in Che Guevara one of the leaders of the political party created to support the revolution defined what is a revolutionary135 . These are the characteristics of the new man: These are the characteristics of the new man: Humanist. Decent worker, tireless and notable. He is the most diligent, the most helpful and the most competent of government employees, he is a free being by definition. He despises all privileges. A true revolutionary man is a coherent teacher, that is why his lessons must be taught mainly through the example of his life. He is also an eternal student. He is ready to learn all the time. A true revolutionary man is humble. A true revolutionary man is a critical being by excellence. A true revolutionary man is generous. Finally, a true revolutionary man is somebody armed with love, with that love so big that can ead you to give your life l for your believes, as the Che did. This does not mean to be a fanatic, unconscious or to have the vocation of a martyr. It does mean to assume the engagements with all the consequences. However, the charge of love must not be selective. A true revolutionary man must feel sincere love even for those who oppose him, because the revolution is also for them136 (e) the new leader, in this case the supreme leader of the revolution, the messianic

135

This is not incidental. In Venezuela the revolution begun as a political accident and has created the institutional support after coming to power. 136 Mari Pili Hernndez Che 10 October 2003 El Nacional p 6. Every revolution builds up the idea of some new values and new principles. The Venezuelan revolution has that set of norms. However the moral issues in a social perspective, like solving problems like poverty and inequality, this political movement ha snot made an strong emphasis on individual family values. In fact many of its eaders were members of the elite of the l old regime. Some others have family lives, which are not prototypes of exemplary behaviour and others, have join the bad habits of administrative corruption and profit openly for the opportunity to being in power. On

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leader able to read the needs of society and to emerge as capable of reediting he achievements of Simon Bolivar and to be the new leader of the political and ideological left all over the third world. The revolution is not just a national movement but also an international approach with the very modest goal of creating a new world. It is the predestined man through who speaks the wretched of the earth. Like in the very many historical instances the supreme leader is omnipresent and infallible. Whatever he decides is right simply because they cannot be wrong. Many people ask a very illogical question: how can a nation fall into the hands of the wishes of a single man? It would difficult to articulate an answer in the Venezuelan case. It is obvious that the idea of the Messiah is a very attractive one. This could be answered with another question: How to explain cases in which nations much more developed felled into the hands of delirious leaders who took their nation into catastrophe? Hitler in Germany is an excellent example. This does not mean or imply an association of the Venezuelan leader with the most hated man in history, but there is indeed useful as an example. Perhaps the closest association would be with Fidel Castro, the durable Cuban leader who is the prototype of leadership to many Latin Americans. Castro has been a hero to a generation, because his string and fierce stand against the Americans. This is the mantra that given the circumstances would be inherited by the Venezuelan leader, the new darling of the left. No analysis of any Venezuelan institution is possible this day without paying attention to the revolution is taking place in this country and to her supreme leader and higher education is no exception to that. This is paramount to understand this South American society. A s ociety divided in terms of their social structure, which have been cleverly amplified by the revolution in order to capture and retaining political and ideological power. In fact, in the dichotomy of the revolution the world is dividing inside and outside the country in friends and enemies. Internally the enemies are the remnants of the oligarchy, of the rich and the wealthy. The friends are the people, stated in general abstract terms, but they are the poor, those who indeed found a voice in the demagoguery of the revolution. Externally the enemies are those in favor of capitalism, neoliberalism, transnational firms et cetera. The friends are those who are supposedly aligned in the same purpose of radical change, mainly Cuba but more recently the leaders of countries like Argentina under Kirchner and Brazil under Lula da Silva. The mentor is Fidel Castro, the aging Cuban leader who still has the approval of the older left and in this case the new left, in the Region. Moreover, the promise is very attractive, a new world, who can refuse that offer?

The public policies on higher education during the times of the revolution
The present Venezuelan government has taken a different path from previous examples of intervention of autonomous universities, in the Region. It would be useless to say that the current government is taking an ideological stand in relation to higher education. All
this question see the book by David L. Hoffmann, Stalinist values, the cultural norms of soviet modernity Cornell University Press, 2003.

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universities are ideological, but not all are doctrinarian. This is axiomatic. The main policies of the revolutionary government in higher education are as follows:

1. Expansion of access, universal enrollment: In 2000 according to official information there were in the country 384.952 students in higher education, in public institutions. The new policies will try to incorporate as many as 400.000 in 2003 and 2004. This means to duplicate the enrollment without any considerations whatsoever to feasibility, cost and rationale. An example of the ways the government uses data and information, misleading many times the logic of the schooling system in higher education is the public discussion made by the government on the human resource in the area of medicine. According to the President of Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela 100.000 thousand of the mentioned 400.000 students, were to initiate academic activities in November 03, 2003. No provision has been taken to attend this increase in more than 25 per cent of the total enrollment. He said also that in four or five years times some 40.000 medical students would graduate. This is impossible. In 200o and according to the statistics provided by the government there was an enrollment of 11.924 students, with 1.460 of them initiating their career. He same year 1.489 students received their degrees. There is not the capacity for the university that have faculties of medicine to absorb enough students to graduate 40.000. In fact, to graduate 40.000 professional in the area of medicine the enrollment would be net volume of some 320.000 students. The faculties of medicine would need a huge investment to be able to absorb such a number of students. This is equivalent to an amount close to the total enrollment in public institutions of higher education in Venezuela in 2000137 .

2.

Mass higher education: The revolution is expecting to take higher education to a level of mass enrollment. The rationale is to allow for social inclusion but in the process creating more social exclusion and disillusion. The idea which is rather plausible and interesting, is to square the schooling pyramid in such a way that all those who are teach how to read and write, in three months, will come immediately into basic school, in two years, then in three years they will do their secondary studies and after that all of them into higher education. Such a mass policy will have a n effect, the lowering of academic quality. Quality in et higher education and in higher learning is a mystery not easily managed by imperative orders of political nature. Very few people master in any given

137

The statistical information is available in www.cnu.gov.ve The comments by the President were made during his radio and TV weekly program Al Presidente, Sunday October 12, 2003. The studies to train people in medicine are the most expensive. In Venezuela, only the public financed institutions can have these programs. The private sector has not been able to compete in this area. This sector is in fact offering an excellent service to their professional demands but they are not competitive with the public sector, not offering areas like medicine or sustaining the costly research apparatus-

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discipline the level of excellence and virtuosity as to make people able to generate new knowledge. This policy however so attractive is counterproductive. It takes years to train a scholar or scientist of international quality, a proportion of which are indispensable even in the poorest country. Many factors stimulate or negate the opportunities for this to happen. It needs above all the comprehension and support of society to appreciate excellence and virtuosity. Whoever is taking the steps to formulate these policies, which are wrong from the very beginning, is going to cause an enormous amount of damage to the economy and the society, in Venezuela. They might be attractive in the beginning and they satisfy an immediate demand for access to higher education. However, there is no way to lump the creation of talent able to produce new knowledge that can help development. If these policies are applied, the result will be that countries like Venezuela are simple spectators of world events, some times even unable to understand what is going on. The late Lord Jenkin used to say that 50 per cent of the British public does not understand what 50 per cent means. Happily, this is not true in Venezuela. There are enough people in Venezuela as to see the dilemmas that are artificially created in Venezuela. In a capacity to see the right way to be taken, the necessary policies for development and the enormous social and economic returns of sound policies in higher education and higher learning. In the meantime, it is possible to warn Venezuelans that whatever wrongs will be caused by taking policies, which are ineffective, will cost proportionally to restore things, as they should be. The official discourse of the revolution, however, is plainly anti technocracy, anti meritocracy and in many ways anti academic and antiintellectual, which should not come as a surprise to international observers. In fact, these are characteristics of the academic populism being installed in Venezuela.

3. Internationalism instead of internationalization: the best way to see this development is by figuring out the map of the foreign policy of the revolution. This has a focal point, Cuba, a second level which are the friendly government in the region, Argentina and Brazil, then the rest but in any case the objective is the integration of Latin America in a single nation. Being the revolution a return to the notions of union of Third World countries, their foreign policy shows the distaste for those developing countries that according to the Gospel has mistreated these countries, especially USA and the former colonial European powers. Venezuela has chosen internationalism instead of internationalization, which means to open contacts only with those countries, which are equal in level of development or analogous in their political, and ideological approach. Internationalization looks terribly complex to the leaders of the revolution, though many of them trained abroad, as already mentioned. Internationalism means to negotiate with leading countries, means multi linguist and the management of variables, which escape the simple vision of national grandeur. 4. Control of institutions, the new, model of higher education: from a technical sociological point of view the revolution is first and utmost interested in social
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and public mobilization of the different social groups. The new model was based upon community work in those programs at the service of the revolution and in the possibility of students, in this case, to be a civil and mobile revolutionary force. The vision of the revolution is that it would be a waste to have the students able to devote themselves to academic and professional matters. They should share their knowledge and know how with the communities and try to help solving their problems. This involve the promises of the higher education institutions as instrument for immediate answer to social problems, including the notion of community work parallel with academic activities138 :

There is no new model of the management of higher education in Venezuela under the revolutionary government. It is simply the old steps in order to get full control of this level of educational system. The classification developed by Olsen and adapted by Gornitzka and Maasen139 allow us to see the Venezuelan case in clear terms. According to the classification, there are four models:

Table N 3

Model of higher education

Model of higher education Characteristics The sovereign, rationality-bounded State State control model Accountability to political authorities Assessment based on political effectiveness Centralized decision making Change in HE follows political change Autonomy of the university: if government is overloaded then technical decisions can be left to the organization
138

It is typical of populist rule to make promises that are never fulfilled and mostly forgotten. It is easier to make promises than to take action, of course. On this see the book by Campbell, C. (1996) The Myth of Social Action. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. In one delirious sentence the leader of the Venezuelan revolution said that in few years time the new university he was opening would be one of the best of the world (sic). 139 See the classification by Asa Gornitzka and Maassen, P (2000), Hybrid steering approaches with respect to European higher education, Higher Education Policy, Vol 1., an adaptation of Olsen, J.P. (1988). Administrative Reform and Theories of Organization. In C. Campbell & B. Peters (eds.). Organizing Governance. Governing Organizations. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press. 233-254

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The institutional model

left to the organization Tradition based Policy arena dominated by institutional leaders Decision making is traditionalist and specialized Assessment criteria: effects on the structure of meanings and norms Autonomy of the university is based on shared norms on noninterference University challenge the monopoly of power and control through the State Decision making is negotiated and takes places after consultation Actors in policy making pursue their institutions interest Societal participation through organized interest groups Government interference depends on negotiations with other forces present Autonomy of the university is negotiated and a result of the distribution of interest and power Minimal role of the State and other public bodies Universities deliver services Assessment criteria: efficiency, economic flexibility and survival Dominant organizational form: a corporation in a competitive market Change depends very much on the environment Little direct interference by the government Autonomy of the university depends on institutional ability to survive

The corporate-pluralistic model

The supermarket State

This classification provides many ideas that are relevant to the Venezuelan case. Obviously there is a profound shift of paradigms. During the years between 1958-1998, the model applied was the corporate-pluralistic State. During this period, political parties participated in every kind of decision. Universities and other institutions of higher education were opened and operated under the ideological and political inclination of those in power. In the
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large autonomous institutions, the different academic units were also under the influence of whoever could manage to control them. All venues of academic power were used to control the institutions and their units. Governments tried to control the institutions, sometimes through open intervention and the history of the Venezuelan institutions is full of examples of these incidents. Military government of Gomez and Perez Jimenez closed the universities and the civilian governments intervened and created the legal instruments to control these institutions, many time as an answer to the vast network of violent opposition to democratic governments, when the guerrilla movement took over the autonomous universities. In these instances the government claimed that intervention was obligatory to preserve institutional autonomy, with the opposition instrument autonomy to execute subversive plans against the government. Interesting to say that the completely higher educational system in Venezuela is far from autonomous and academic freedom is taken for granted as equivalent to give lectures as it pleases the professors. Only a tiny number of Venezuelan institutions are autonomous, though they are the most powerful institutions of higher education in the country. The private sector is completely independent. Once these institutions are authorized to function very little if any control is upon them. They are not autonomous since hey are under the ownership of private interest. They are almost completely teaching institution doing no research whatsoever, with few exceptions. They are institutions working more toward the supermarket model. The whole sector of colegios and institutos universitarios are under the total control of the government and so the so-called universiadades experimentales and they have no autonomy nor have them academic freedom, because this control form the government implies that the ideological and political sands of the governments are used as instrument of institutional control. This is more so, under a highly doctrinarian government. Like the one opened by the revolucin bolivariana. However, the financial situation reveals clearly the institutional universities in Venezuela: the government pays all the public institutions. The leverage is high, of course. The government indirectly pays the private institutions. The reason being the fact that most of the members of the faculty in private institutions work only part time. They are mostly employed by the public universities, and moonlight in the private ones. The whole system is then dependant of the government, whose ideology attributes low importance of knowledge as a primer mover of the social dynamics and prefer the imposition of doctrinarian approaches. The control of the higher education system will be in the hands of the students. The proposal made by the Federation of Revolutionary Students is rather interesting. The government of the university should be made analogous to the organization of power written in the revolutionary constitution. The University Parliament will be organized in these proportions: Students, 30 per cent; members of the faculty 20 per cent; employees 10 per cent; workers 10 per cent; representatives of the community; national government 10 per cent and 10 per cent the graduated from the university. The university will have the privilege to annulated any academic credential if such a person commits unfriendly acts against the constitution or even if such a person uses alcohol and/or drugs. This proposal has been made by this students organization, which define themselves as follows:
Cmo aumentar la calidad acadmica Orlando Albornoz

What is the Students Bolivarian Federation? It is a platform of common struggle for young people and students for the leading participation and work without rest, in order to consolidate the Venezuelan Nation as a democratic, participating, leading, multiethnic, pluricultural and Latin-Americanist society through democracy and justice as reflected in the Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. The constitution consecrates freedom, independence, peace, solidarity, coexistence, common wellness, self-determination of the people and the empire of work as supreme values that guarantee the education, the health and the work of Venezuelan people, guiding us consciously towards the historic and heroic example of the Father of the Venezuelan homeland and Liberator of an united America, Simn Bolvar This kind of ideological fundamentalism will guarantee the imposition of a doctrinarian view not only in higher education but also in society. As it happens there is not a mention whatsoever on academic matters in the way this Students Federation is defined. The revolution is interested in popular mobilization and the student body is an ideal group for this purpose.

The theology of populism

The theology of populism is well understood in as much as populism is not a fashion or a cosmetic political and ideological proposal that emerge from nowhere. Quite the contrary, populism is an answer to specific situation. In fact, in Venezuela populism is not a rhetorical accidental proposal but a very important element of the mechanism of exercising power in this society. The present rulers have not invented populism but taken it to extreme. Populism was the answer of those who overthrown the last military dictatorship, in 1958, trying to answer the social demands of those who have been excluded during at least a decade from the benefits derived form the huge income of oil, then in expansion. In higher education that meant what can be called error de origen, meaning that to please those forgotten duties of the State the action of those then in power was to provide, with a responsibility from those receiving the benefits of the welfare state. In this sense the present Venezuelan rulers are just the continuation of the theology of populism. Populism is a costly endeavor. It implies policies that have as the main rationale to satisfy demands without taking in consideration others factors, like cost, viability and consequences. The present Venezuelan rulers fall into that category. They offer to satisfy all demands, accomplishment little because there is no techniques applied in order to optimizer the scares resources. Instead of improving the institutional network they are creating new parallel institutions. This is the case of higher education, a system that needed a very profound over-haul, but instead of doing it hey decided upon creating new institutions. This is easily explained. The existing system is full of stake and the political cost would have been great. Instead, by creating new institutions, no matter how backward their rationale, they are able to satisfy social demands without touching upon the existing
Cmo aumentar la calidad acadmica Orlando Albornoz

system. They have continued to pay for the old but are privileging the new. This n eeds an explanation. In the meantime, the promises that are hear once and forever. Populism is in fact a proposition full of promises, one after the other. The slogan of the Venezuelan revolution is standard in this type of regime: power to the people and the people will free from their problems. Of course, nobody says how people can be empowered. But the cycle of promises and hope makes the future bright particularly for those who have no power at all and whose only hope is not for power but simply for jobs, health, schooling and social protection of some sort. The most perverse promise is the full and total equality in the future, a cruel promise, to begin with. The social systems are perverse in their hidden ways to operate. Inevitable those who make revolutions are not indifferent at all to the joys of power and with it all the privileges and advantages. The hated elites are, in fact, replaced with new faces and the round of the hazardous distribution of wealth continues their endless road. As Thomas Nagel has put it, Perhaps there is some alternative method of using straightforward economic incentives in such a way that large economic inequalities do not develop from their operation; but no one has yet dreamed up such a system 140 . Nor has the Venezuelan leaders manage to create a social system in which new inequalities develop in the efforts to eliminate them. What the Venezuelan leaders have in mind is a society conducted and directed by a powerful State, that would control every possible social and personal activity, along the lines of say the autocratic societies that were organized in the name of socialism and national socialism, in Europe. The opposition to the revolution would like otherwise, to have the minimal State described by people like Nozik141 . In the first instance the State as ruler, in the second the State as a simply instrument of the activities of those in power. Revolutions are fond of the opposite, the large role of the State. Always repeating the Orwellian Nineteen Eighty-Four, the contemporary Leviathan of Thomas Hobbes, a State like the vision envisioned by the Venezuelan supreme leader, who wants to give orders to the people. Orders to be given all the time, like the Big Brother he feels he is or better the Big Father and even better to have some form of electronic mechanism in order to control Venezuelans, day and night, in order to supervise the accomplishment of the revolution, a process that according to the latest news will last five hundred years. Of course, Orwell is the parody of absolute power, a topic taken also by Chaplin in The Great Dictator (1940). The fear of totalitarianism is well known in democratic societies. This type of regime destroys all humane values, liberty, fraternity, social justice, love of literature, belief in moral decency, enjoyment of life, in general. This is not the case of Venezuela, yet. However, the ambience of hostility is such that many fear the worse and whatever happens on this line of political development higher education will be one of the first casualties. As it has happened, everywhere when totalitarian governments have arrived to power and developed the obsessive mania for control and domination, social and individual142 .
140 141

See Thomas Nagel book Equality and partiality New York Oxford University Press 1991, p, 128 See the book by Robert Nozick Anarchy, state, and utopia. Basic books 1974 142 On this see From Big Brother to Electronic Panopticon David Lyon The Electronic Eye: The Rise of Surveillance Society (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1994): 57-80. The Venezuelan situation reminds of the Orwellian Nineteen Eighty-Four, with the state that using a huge bureaucratic apparatus,

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The creation of a new university as part of the political project of the revolution: academic capitalism vs academic populism The main argument of this case study is that the university issue as well as higher education in general, in Venezuela, is understood only through the global concept that characterize the ideological and political system being advanced in this country, a revolution that is crating their own set of institutions, in fact a new state and a new society. The university will be functioning within the context of a very extreme form of populism, under the leadership of a singe person, the leader, who does not share power with any one. The university will not escape this syndrome of political populism. For this reason we have to speak in Venezuela about academic populism. We define it as a particular form of political populism143 . Populism is, at the most basic level, a political ideology which holds that the common person is oppressed by an elite in society which exists only to serve its own interests, and therefore, the instruments of the State need to be grasped from this selfserving elite and instead used for the benefit and advancement of the oppressed masses as a whole. In many ways this is what is happening in Venezuela. The populsim of the revluton is exactly anti elite, anti meritcocaryc and anti intellectual. Higher education and the university has been, according to this interpretation, part of te idoelogical package of the elite. For this reason mokery is made of those with Ph.D degres, who have study abroad..etc The term academic populism is the oppsite of academic capitalism, of course. This late concept has beeen clearly defined by Slaughter and Leslie:

Academic capitalism deals with market and marketlike behaviors on the part of universities and faculties. Marketlike behavior refers to institutional and faculty competition for moneys, whether these are from external grants and contracts, endowment funds, university-industry partnership, institutional investment in professorss spinoff companies, or student tuition and fees. What makes these activities marketlike is that they involve competition for funds from external resource providers. If institutions and faculty are not successful, there is no bureacratic recourse; they do without. Market behaviors refers to a for-profit activity on the part of institutions, activity such as patenting and subsequent royalty and licencsing
'thought police', and the figure of 'Big Brother' on the ever-present telescreen to intervene in the smallest details of its citizens' daily lives. Within sociological cues are taken from Orwell. The only limits to the present day realization of the Orwellian, nightmare lie in the level of available 'surveillance capacities and on the fact that there is a tradition in Venezuela of private ownership of the mass media, which are not under the control of the revolution. It is the opinion of many analyst of the Venezuelan political and ideological situation that the current revolution will try to reproduce in this country the Cuban model, State ownership of all mass media, with al the consequences, meaning t e single line of thought. It should be said that in spite of h all the intent for the revolution to capture control of the mass media the private apparatus continuous to operate, under heavy pressure. 143 An excellent interpretation of academic populism, in a different sense of the way I use it, in Victor Davis Hanson, John Heath, Bruce S. Thornton, Bonfire of the Humanities: Rescuing Classics in an Impoverished Age. Wilmington, DE: Intercollegiate Studies Institute, 2001.

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agreements, spinoff companies, armss-length corporations, and university-industry partnership, when these have a profit component. Market behavior also covers more mundane endeavors, such as the sale of products and services from educational endeavors (e.g. , logos and sport paraphernalia), profit sharing with food services and bookstores, and the like. When we talk about reestructuring of higher education, we mean susbtantive organizational change and associate changes in internal resource allocation (reduction or closure of departments, expansion or creation of other departmnentes, establsihmnts of interdisciplinary units); susbtantive change in the division of academic labor with regard to research and teaching; the establishment of new organizational forms (such as arms length companies and research parks); and the organisation of new administrative structures or the streamlining or redesign of old ones144

Academic populism is the opposite of this academic capitalism. In the case of Venezuela, the situation is rather complex, because the whole higher educational system is subsidized by the State funds, with the exception of the private sector. Capitalism is out of the system and in fact there is prevalent ideology anti capitalism, though the practices of individuals is very much done according to the practices of profit. This is a contradiction worthwhile examining here. The Venezuelan academic community is very much inclined toward the left of center of the ideological and political spectrum. This means they adopt the rhetoric of anti Americanism, anti imperialism, pro Cuba, pro liberation of the oppressed people of the world. This academic community is very much involved in socialist stands and most of the leaders of the political and ideological left have come somehow from the campuses of the autonomous universities. In fact, those who now rule the country under the revolution have professional degrees from these universities and in many occasions have profited from scholarship to pay their studies abroad. Most members of the intelligentsia of this society are or have been members of the faculty in public institutions and many combine gracefully the duties at universities with those of public life. Since these academic duties involve only lecturing in classroom they are not expected to do research or keep a rigorous academic life, it is quite easy to get in and get out of this sacrosanct space and carry on duties in public life, particularly political life. This does not prevent them to fight for their privileges, which are many. Academic employment in autonomous universities and for that matter in Venezuelan higher education institutions is employment for life. Though a respectable number of the members of the faculty are responsible workers and fulfill their duties with seal and commitment, many others simply take the position quite light and they can navigate thorough twenty five years at a giving institutions not doing much but still expecting all. Most the revere retirement, with full salary and receiving the increases paid to the active members of the faculty.

144

See by Sheila Slaughter and Larry L. Leslie their book Academic capitalism, politics, policies, and the entrepreneurial university. Baltimore. The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997. p.11.

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The legality of this new university is not an issue, though technical procedures were not respected145 . But this is not unique in Venezuela. Other institution of higher learning has been created using the same procedures, no matter how arbitrary they might be. This is not the point. The issue here is that this called new university is just a political front for the revolution, advancing the model of academic populism. By turning into academic populism the current Venezuelan government is simply consistent with their ideological stands. To be anti capitalist means in ideological terms means to be anti meritocracy and to be anti competitiveness. This put forward an enormous pressure on the academic institutions. This will be so because the new university will not obey the principles of autonomy and academic freedom. As it will not follow any academic standard like those achieved by the Venezuelan academic institutions, oriented toward research even if in a modest scale. It will be the most traditional university, devoted to teaching meaning indoctrination. It will play the role of the Presidents university, undoubtedly. The Universidad Bolivariana Venezolana (UBV) is essentially an instrumental institution at the service of the revolution, not a normal institutions organized toward the so-called normal function of universities. It is created to satisfy the need of the revolution. It does not plan to be a part of the international network of knowledge. On this Bartell has said that: Universities, in respect to their primary functions of teaching and research and their secondary function of service to the surrounding community, are confronted by a compelling need to relate programmatically to the scope and intensity of transnational connections at all levels of society146 . On this, two questions are to be discussed. One the fact that no universities should be opened without the transnational connections. Second that universities have a primary function and when this primary functions is confused with the secondary one the objectives of the institutions are negative instead of positive, in their results. The Universidad Bolivariana will be a step back to the development of higher education and the pursue of knowledge, in the Venezuelan academic space. It will be costly and ineffective. It is not an autonomous institution but an instrumental one. The healthiest policy should have been to improve the autonomous academic institution buy they happen not to be instrumental to the revolution. The revolution should prevail, according to those who have created this university. This is an enormous pressure on the academic institutions, of course. This university will work out a timetable organized as follows: students will come to their classroom in two groups. One will attend their academic duties three days a week, Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, with the second group doing the same on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. The day off will be mandatory for the students to do community work on the projects of the revolution. The government will pay them a salary and they

145

The National Council of Universities approved the university on July 01, 2003 and by Presidential decree on July 18, 2003. Technical steps that are to be taken in order to have a new university open were not satisfied, like the previous studies to justify the new institutions. 146 See the paper by Marvin Bartell, Internationalization of university culture-based framework. Higher Education vol. 45 N 1 January 2003. p. 66

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will pay no fees at all. This university will have dormitories for the students, the only institution in the country to provide that facility. The members of the faculty of this university will be recruited among those already retired from state universities. This is an interesting policy. There are no studies done in Venezuela on the efficiency of higher education members of the faculty. One hypothesis is that this indicator could reflect a low level of performance. This is so because there are no elements of technical supervision, on this activity. Theoretically speaking, every members of the faculty has a supervisor. In practice, however, each one simply comes to their classroom and gives their lessons, attending other duties both academic and administrative but they are not at all evaluated in their classroom activity, one of the reasons being the fact that they enjoy libertad de catedra a very awkward interpretation of both autonomy and academic freedom147 . Taking them back from retirement is a guarantee of still a lower level of performance. It is known the e ffect of poor professor on their students. If the objectives are not quality of teaching but simply the ways to organized students activism then it does matter quality as such, neither of the students nor of their professors. On this question, it is safe to say that neither academic innovation nor any probable knowledge is at play in this university148 . The probable is uncertain, which is the logical approach to knowledge, since no knowledge is certain but probable, a approximation. The dynamics of knowledge is such that any sentence on scientific terms always begins by saying it is probably that. But the doctrinarian approach is certain, does not have any doubts. The sentence is this area of concern will begin by saying I am sure and without any doubt that. To doubt is to be able to learn, the opposite is proper of fanatics, religious, political or ideological. In any case, the new university deserves to be at the center of the analysis, because it is the answer of the revolution to the established system of higher education. It is the university of the revolution, the alternative institution. This university is the symbol of academic populism. They are implementing policies hat have failed anywhere. The emblematic goals is to provide all higher education services fir free and in fact to compensate without any kind of selective criteria all students, regardless of an kind of quality or performance level. It could be argued that the policies through which the revolutionary government is assigning a salary to be paid to the first one hundred thousand students of the new university are wring and against improvement in higher education. They do of course please those receiving a monthly stipend without any responsibility whatsoever. Elizabeth
147

This is not the place to further discuss this issue on the performance of members of the faculty in Venezuelan universities. It could be said, however, that according to Zoghi professor in American public universities perform badly in comparison with professors in private institutions. In spite of the very many excellent professor that are members of the faculty in Venezuela there are reasons to believe that their quality is low, in general. Much more so when they follow a careers cycle that deteriorate when they approach the retirement age. See the paper by Cindy Zogby Why have public university professors done so badly? Economics of Education Review 22 (2003) 45-57. 148 This concept of probable knowledge used here in the same sense used by the Brazilian Marco Grocco on his paper Innovation and social probable knowledge. Cambridge Journal of Economics. 2003. 27, 177-190. It could be added that this university does not provide any level of academic innovation. In fact it replicate the expansion of the university in Venezuela, around 1960.

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M Caucutt and Krishna B Kumar have developed a dynamic general equilibrium framework is developed to address the effects of increasing higher education subsidies. In the US case increases in subsidies increases negatively social inequality, welfare, and efficiency. They analyses three policies: first is a tax and subsidy scheme that ensures that the parental decision to send a child to college is independent of income. Such a policy decreases the efficiency of the utilization of education resources, while the welfare gain is minimal. The second policy maximizes the fraction of college-educated labor. This results in a large drop in the above-mentioned efficiency with little or no welfare gain. The third is the provision of merit-based aid to the poor as opposed to purely need-based aid. This policy can increase education efficiency with little decrease in welfare. Based on these experiments, it is concluded that the case for further increases in higher education subsidies might have been overstated. The revolution believes that improvement will come after simply distributing cash and services to the poor students. This will have no effect whatsoever in Venezuela, simply because it eliminate effort without creating personal responsibility149 .

The epistemology of academic populism

On this question the epistemological foundations of the academic populism there are several concepts to be discussed: the concept of alternative, the classroom, the training society, the political mobilization of the actors of the school system, community work and the doctrinarian approach: la revolucin. It would be outside the purposes of this case study to do a complete analysis of each one of these concepts. The main concept that is at the center of the policies for higher education in Venezuela, at present, is the concept of alternative. Mind to say hat these policies up front care for higher education (schooling), not to higher learning (knowledge). It could be said that they privilege studies at the university upon any other type of higher education institution. What means alternative in epistemological terms in Venezuela? Technically speaking alternative is (Of two thing) mutually exclusive. That is to say, it is one or the other. It also means permission to choose between two things or one or more than two possibilities. But in these Venezuelan days alternative is a moral judgment. In higher education it means the traditional and the revolutionary, being the second the good as against the other, which is the bad, which is evil. The rationale being for the Venezuelan rulers that hey have to create their own set of institutions, be higher education or be the mass media. In the latest case the government has taken over for their own use the so-called public broadcasting system, one TV station and one radio station. Since they do no control those mass-media units which are in the hands of the private sector and who has sustained a brutal attacks on the government, practically all along the five years of their governmental period, they h ave
149

See by Elizabeth M Caucutt and Krishna B Kumar Higher education subsidies and heterogeneity: A dynamic analysis Journal of Economic Dynamics & Control Amsterdam Jun 2003, 459-502. Of course, the rationale of this university is in favor of the principle of solidarity and against the notion of being competitive. They end up by being very ineffective, of course. However, the objective is to fill political goals not academic ends.

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decide to create a parallel set of newspapers, magazines, radio and TV in order to disseminate the principles of the revolution. In this case alternative means newspapers, magazines, TV and radio at the service of the revolution, including the fact hat he government employ almost daily the mechanism of the cadena, meaning connecting simultaneously all TV and radio stations across the country. There are doubts that the revolution can get to control all mass media but the tendency and the wishes of the revolution is to have control upon all Venezuelan mass media, as it is trying to control the communications areas, including schooling and culture, in general.

The notion of alternative is very complex, since it could means that besides the established knowledge one alternative knowledge could be created. Could we have an alternative chemistry, or biology or anthropology or for that mater sociology, which is my own discipline? The answer is no in each instance. Each scientific discipline has many possibilities, both in their theoretical and methodological foundations, different interpretations that allow for innovations, like in the famous case of the paradigm shifts. But knowledge is one. From the logical and epistemological point of view knowledge has the same foundations, there is not the possibility of speaking about knowledge that does not have the same foundations. Of course, the less rigorous the scientific and technological basis of a professional careers and the more ideologically and doctrinarian oriented they are the easiest to speak about alternatives. In this case this university is simply a training ground for the cadres of the revolution. It is a kind of People Friendship University (Patrice Lumumba University) That University opened its doors in 1960, at the height of the Cold War, providing a training ground for young communists from developing countries. The well-known Venezuelan terrorist Carlos the Jackal studied at this university, along with guerrillas and revolutionaries from Latin America, Africa and Asia. It was called Patrice Lumumba University, in honor of a first prime minister of the former Zaire, who was killed in a coup blamed on the United States. It was a doctrinarian institutions were knowledge was second to training for guerrilla and ideological warfare.

This is what the government is doing in higher education, opening institutions that under the faade of higher education are training ground for the cadres of the revolution. Since they do not control the higher educational system they decided two steps: one to intervene the universidades experimentales, which are under the control of the government, institutions that were created, by the way, by a previous government as a way to by-pass the dynamics of the autonomous universities. Second, to open a university under the model of academic populism. In the latest case this what it is called alternative, for the students to be able to choose between the traditional universities, enemies of the government, and the new model, an alternative, with alternative careers and an alternative chronogram. This requires a brief discussion. The alternative careers are all in the area of the services, journalism, community work, law and political studies, international relations, environmental engineering, public policies, education and economy On the other hand, students are going to work under the following scheme: they will come to their classroom in two groups. One group will attend their academic duties three days a week, Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, with the second group doing the same on
Cmo aumentar la calidad acadmica Orlando Albornoz

Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. The day off will be mandatory for the students to do community work on the projects of the revolution. The government will pay them. Of course, they are going to be at the service of the doctrinarian approach of the revolution. It is appropriated to say that many members of the academia in Venezuela feel that it is good for the students to combine school with work as if the school does not involve work activities, and second the populist principle hat the university has the duty to solve social problems, the first one to come back to the barrios: Regresar a los barrios es prioridad ucista (Return to the barrios is our priority), declared the Rector of a autonomous university: Yo mismo que particip en la fundacin de 50 barrios, no volv mas (I participated in the creation of some 50 barrios and I never came back to them). This social activity should be taken back and for this the university should go back to the barrios, to do social work150 . The President himself, who in the opening ceremony said that, what defined the spirit of this university, was that the institution was born to give the great battle for the revolution. One student declared the same day that the university is a space for the combat. We are not going to be technocrats, we are going to be in the barrios, with the people. In terms of the bare concept of the university and higher education the formula of the present Venezuelan rulers is simply: the students do not have to come to the institution, the university will come to them, having each primary school lend their classroom after day time hours for the university students to come in the evening hours. For the government this institution is under the complete control of the doctrinarian approach and the sole interest of the government is the political mobilization of the actors of the school system. The academic populism is in the opposite side of the contemporary needs of societies. The explosion of knowledge is such that students all over the world have to dedicate more and more hours to train themselves in their line of academic interest. But in Venezuela the university is taking the easy way, choosing doctrine as against knowledge, so-called higher education alternative that are alibi to the real fact of the matter, which is the rigorous dedication to study and hard academic work. It is a total lie, a placebo, to make people believe that access to higher education can be universal, that all students have the right to come into higher education. Interesting to add that the new university will have a very curious staff, members of the faculty already retired from conventional universities and that once the university begins to graduate students these will become the members of the staff. The consequences of academic populism are easy to spot. The main one, being the fact that the qualitative aspects of higher education are forgotten, that Venezuelan society is back to the stage of the training society by-passing the needs to come into terms with the knowledge society, it indicate that universities, after all, do not need trained professors to teach, that research is not done at all and finally that university autonomy is just a luxury
150

Regresar a los barrios es prioridad ucista. Ricardo Maldonado, Rector Universidad de Carabobo, Valencia, Venezuela, in Ventana Educativa, Ao 1, septiembre 2003.

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which can be dispensed off and that academic freedom is simply the acceptance of the doctrinarian principles of the revolution. Interesting to point out the standard populism of the revolution, when issuing policies. This revolutionary government does not seem to care about cost or financial resources. In this sense, the epistemology of academic populism could be a very costly enterprise. The policy makers in Venezuela believe that knowledge is a good that can be transported all over the country. The leader of the revolution expressed this basic principle of the concept of the university: Vamos a municipalizar las universidades del pais. This implies transferring higher education to some 333 municipalities all over the country. This distribution principle is in fact being applied to the medical services and in general the idea of the government is that the people should receive the State services without leaving their homes. If this is possible in relation to medical services and to the distribution of other goods and services this is impossible to do in higher education, except that that academic populist model is just a classroom and this is existent everywhere in the country, since there are some 24.000 basic schools. Unhappily for this way of thinking universities are complex institutions that needs many resources to operate efficiently and for this simply reason all over the world the number of universities is limited to the places were resources can be gathered and the students and the faculty i a mobile element that come s to the institutions and not vice versa. This without taking in consideration that the IT allows universities and other institutions to come into the rooms of the students but this is another story.

The reactions of the Venezuelan academic community on the pressures to restrain both university autonomy and academic freedom
Interesting enough the Venezuelan academic community has been very modest in protesting on both instances, the intervention of universities as well as for the attacks on autonomy and academic freedom. Why? This deserve a detailed a careful answer. Because they do not care, people just want their jobs, students their degrees and so on. What Trow called the vocational culture has descended upon the professional Venezuelan environment151
151

The autonomous universities have been quite active, in fact, in defense of the quality of the institutions. They have protested issues like the lack of funds to cover needs of the institutions. However, the society in general has been aside these issues. They have protested the attacks to the mass media, quite strongly in fact, but university autonomy and academic freedom are not essential to the preservation of democracy, in Venezuela. The experimental universities as well as the colleges and university institutes are all under the control of the government. The protest comes only from the autonomous universities. The private sector is rather busy preserving their interest and look ready for accommodation with the revolution, as long as there interest are not intervened by the regime. This is a personal impression. They seem to have taken the attitude of businesses as usual. When there was a massive protest against the regime, in December-January 2002-2003 the private sector and most of the universities sided with the protest. The regime successfully managed to survive and since then, the political radicalization is a fact. Some retaliation have been taken by the

Cmo aumentar la calidad acadmica

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If we define Venezuelan academic life as a bureaucratic space, the answer is not. However, if in spite of the backwardness the academic life is essential then the answer is yes, because these principles are managed according to an international community. However, the international academic community can only lend moral support to the preservation of academic freedom and autonomy. Would be violations to both instances in Venezuela there is little that can be done from outside the country. In fact, as said by Fabio RoversiMonaco, the community of universities does not have the power to implement sanctions, just as the Magna Charta Observatory has no such no power, but in academic matters as in religious ones moral support is a sanction in itself152 . The smaller a country the maximum efforts to be at par with the 21st Century Technologies, science and knowledge in general. The future is very complex, full of promises and a peril of a dynamic future, which is not actually made in Venezuela but it is a consequence of complex trends including globalization, which we cannot affect decisively. Roversi-Monaco has added that The University operates for society and in society, and therefore the autonomy of the institutions and that of the faculty members and students must be conciliated with the freedoms of others and with the autonomy of other institutions153 . This is not under question, of course. In this sense, all institutions in Venezuelan society are under the umbrella of the regime, via the creation of a new society and a new state. So far, the autonomous have kept their independence but they will eventually fall into the populism of the government, because the model for policies in higher education does not allow for pluralism. Can a country undergoing a revolution allow some institutions, in this case the universities, to remain independent and autonomous? Can an ideology of populism allow the opposite, academic capitalism? The answer is no in both cases. It must be clarify that academic capitalism is not analogous with privatization of higher education and the universities. Quite the contrary, public state universities are essential to national development and the experience has proved again and again that the private sector provide a service to society that have not the capacity or the willingness to compete with the State. Only public institutions, in societies like Venezuelan, can sustain and support autonomy and academic freedom, though they can do otherwise, indeed. One after t e other private institutions in Venezuela do look upon their h own interest and that does not necessarily coincide with the goals of national development. It is true that some private universities in Venezuela have a sense of mission and objectives, which are close to the academic values and principles. Some other times they are just business and as such trying to obtain a return from their capital investment.
government, buy in general they have kept financing higher education though in the meantime creating their own institutions, as we have seen in this case study. See Throws concept of the vocational student culture (With B. R. Clark, et al). Students and Colleges: Interaction and Change. Berkeley, California: University of California, Center for Research and Development in Higher Education, 1972 152 See by Fabio Roversi-Monaco his Reflections on the Mecklenburg-Vorpommerns case in the light of the Magna Charta Universitatum, Case Studies, Academic freedom and university institutional responsibility in Mecklenburg-Vorpommerns. Observatory of the Magna Charta, Bononia University Press, 2003. 153 Idem

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In academic terms, capitalism has a different meaning from the term used of capitalism as a social and economic system. Academic capitalism recuperate the principles of competition, of competitiveness, of success, excellence, achievement, individualism which is not equal to egotism, creativity and in general the ways through which a person and the groups that these organize can be better than the others, with the same opportunities. The populist a approach will insist that all people are equal, academic capitalism will affirm that only those with the capacities to do so will excel and contribute to development. The role of the university is to be able to recruit those with talent and the motivation enough to take advantages of the opportunities, which are scarce by definition. Academic capitalism does not accept the idea patronize for many people that higher education institutions should be run like firms. Of course, the university has evolved from the ivory tower to the notion of the institution as a public service. Universities have lost their monopoly over the legitimating knowledge in society because of the growth of alternative sources of knowledge, such as the Internet and multimedia technologies. Changing ways of teaching and learning, such as virtual learning and distance education, the rise of private research institutes and consultancies has allegedly weakened the universities hold over the nature and volume of new knowledge. In consequence, the university has to compete in the open market of knowledge production. Even few years ago higher education credential spoke for them, now it is for the individual to show abilities that would allow him to come into the labor market. In fact, getting in into institutions of higher education is without any importance, the question is to train people at the level of higher learning and to train them in s a way that they have a high level of ability to find a place uch in the labor market. Academic populism simply ignores these facts. This model of higher education takes the easy path of complacency and open access to everyone. For whatever reasons people are ready to accept this at face value. They are easily deceived, in fact. Of course, if they are paid a salary and their duties are almost non existent they will willingly fall into the trap. However, taking the argument to the absurd they are intellectually insulted. The doctrinarian approach to mature students in higher education is indeed an insult, because it assumes that they cannot have a critical view of whatever they are learning. Actually, when students flocks to enroll at a university that offer only soft learning they are abound to find out eventually that these activities have no market value whatsoever. In relation to this we could refer here, the quotation from Claire Fox (Mosely, 2000: 252) made by Garth Allen and David Acress, which applies to the universities created under the model of academic populism: The dumb part of the new universities is that they are no longer places of intellectual stimulation and excitement for anyone concerned... The dead weight of utilitarian vocationalism and a subservience to relevance now dominate discussions about curriculum content. But then, we are told for graduates to be socially included when they leave they must have employability skills. And so it goes on. What a shoddy deal we offer access to. What happened to
Cmo aumentar la calidad acadmica Orlando Albornoz

inspiring a search for truth, a desire to experiment, a sense of wonder and curiosity, an unapologetic interest in the irrelevant and the arcane. All this has been lost in the pretence of being student centred! Imagine what it must be like to be an undergraduate today: to get to university simply because a government wants you to be socially included, and then to be taught by people who tell you that you know best. This is patronising, insulting to the intelligence and ultimately a mind-numbing experience. For the rest of us, to celebrate the uninitiated as wise, to give out degrees as badges of social inclusion rather than academic excellence, and then to claim this is all in the interests of students- now that is dumb!154

However, the attraction of academic populism is boundless. The wrong believe that these students will be equipped to change the world is undoubtedly impossible to discuss with logical and epistemological arguments. To tell them that the whole idea implies manipulation and a cruel purpose to deceive them does not come across their minds. Above all, if they fill that they are going to be the leaders of that transformation they will happily join the doctrine that, after all, is giving them a second chance, as a very mature student said on Venezuelan TV. Any professional educator will say that a person that left secondary school at twenty and wants to return to the university at forty will have to make an extraordinary effort to succeed. Does this mean that he and many others like him are fatally destined to fail? Of course not. However, to tell him that that a second chance is a guarantee of success is to deceive him. In the rat race, second chance is second place155 . Academic populism has an ugly face; one that promises inclusion and it will eventually generate exclusion. This is a paradox, the existence of a mechanism, which is supposed to be part of a transformation to achieve goals of personal and social development, and quite the contrary to that objective produces the perverse effect of excluding in the name of inclusion. Academic populism as a proposition has a virtue, it destroy the academy as it known, it finish with democratic pluralism at the university, it liquidate autonomy of al institution, including the university, and academic freedom, simply by ignoring those values and principles, supported in a doctrinarian approach and a very strong moral stand, truth is with us. Academic populism, on the other hand, simplifies matters in such a way that t e country h will escape the dilemmas of the future, by going backward. The academic model implies a very difficult decision making process, as it needs libraries, labs, be aware of the frontier of
154

See Education as industry, universities as firms: academic capitalism in the global age, Garth Allen and David Acress Centre for Social and Educational Research Working Paper.College of St. Mark and St.John, Derriford Rd., Plymouth, PL6 8BH, England. 155 No need to tell personal stories in this case study, but I cannot resist telling that at a recent doctorate seminar I was conducting in my university I found among the group a students of 67 years old. The average age of this group was 46 years old. He could not read any other language but Spanish; his experience did not qualify him at all to follow PhDs studies. However, there he was, to my dismay. A case of second chance? Being very pragmatic and without offense to the rights of every person to enter the schooling system, why to train people whose opportunities in life are already behind them? Why do not allocate these funds to train those with the proper capacities to be trained at the highest level?

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knowledge in many disciplines, it means internationalization, it means negotiation with different institutions, allowing both state and private sector to operate, it deals with autonomous bodies able to have their own voice. In the case of Venezuela, academic populism means not going further than Cuba to find a model for development. It means endogenous and self-sufficient model of development. It means be primus inter pares, with alliances with another backward country, Cuba, long ago in the hands of one of the longest living despots of contemporary history, praised by the blind adoration that ignore his sins and validate only his achievements, if there is any glory in having country be ruled by one person and one single vision of the world. If this is what the Venezuelan rulers are willing to do they will achieve the same pattern of academic behavior, a single doctrinarian weltanschauung, where the management of autonomy and academic freedom is not an exercise, but simply one act of autocratic rule. In Venezuela, a revolution is taking place. Per se the concept of revolution looks to be good and necessary, but some times in the name of revolution the most incredible negative effect takes place. Not all of those who wants to change do so in the positive direction and on the contrary there are changes that instead of making a society go forward do the opposite, in spite of the alacrity of any revolutionary when they voice their doctrinarian approaches to change, transforming the possibilities of social change in a futile moral change. The strategy of this revolution is to divide society or better in sociological terms to take advantage of the social divisions of the society in order to achieve total power. This struggle for power translates into every day life. It can be said, that Venezuela is divided, along the lines of the thoughts of Isserman y Kazin156 . In one side, the government, bearing the flags of freedom and at the same time suppressing them by a personal and state control. By creating a new state, and a new society. By leaving aside the plurality of civil institutions and the cohesion of a society. In fact, what the revolution has achieved is to destroy, to divide and in this case to rule. On the other side, the political opposition, both the remnants of the political parties of the past and the new factors that oppose the one-man autocratic government. In the middle of it, can we find is the struggle for power. This struggle is also taking place at the Venezuelan academic. In one, side the vision of the government, on the other the vision of the opposition. Academic populism vis vis academic capitalism. In the short run, the fight is going toward those in power. But, if the university is to prevails in Venezuela, and the spirit of autonomy and academic freedom is to survive there, is no doubt that there is a need to fight for the values and principles that make university life. For that matter higher education worth, because of the benefits of the free search for truth, knowledge and the right to live within the international space of ideas, old and new. All contemporary governments declare their commitments to development and growth, with s social component. Venezuela is not an exception. In fact, many times their rulers say that the country will be in some years at the top level of world development. That w ould be the final goal of the revolution, to drive Venezuela in the top leading countries of the world. Wishful thinking, according to the indicators of the economy. The country does not seem to
156

See the book by Maurice Isserman and Michael Kazin American divided, the civil war of the 1960s. oxford university press. 2000.

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have right now what Gordon and Rosenthal call the growth imperative157 . The initial phase of the revolution is to get total and full political and ideological power and all their efforts are in that direction. In fact, they are spending freely to get political support and indeed burning the ships, Cortez style. Public expenditure has grown dramatically with the main purpose to obtain the good will of the masses that support the revolution. In any case, growth is seen as part of the hated neoliberals ideology and the objective of capitalism.

Venezuela: back to the past

Higher education in modern societies has to be prepared to fulfill two reconcilable roles, one to satisfy the training and research at a decent level. Second to be able to look upon the frontier of knowledge in science and technology. Otherwise, they would not be able to differentiate between truth and lies. Venezuela under the revolution, crating university deprived of the capacity for innovation will train people blind, blind to the future, blind to the extraordinary dynamics of the exponential growth of knowledge all over the world. Venezuela is undergoing a political and ideological change, a revolution. Not all revolution goes forward, to the future. In this case it might be a step to forgone times. Small countries like Venezuela are in urgent need to be able to use higher education in order to learn: a. How to manage technology: Countries like Venezuela are recipient of technological transfer. For this simply reason is absolutely essential that this country has the professional training to recognize the validity and utility of the different technologies; otherwise they will take whatever new fashion come across and be inefficient in the adaptation of technology, of all kinds. On this it could be appropriated to quote the five major issues of management of technology as stated by the first International Conference on management of technology (1988): 1. Methods and tools for managing technical resources. 2. Managing the interface between the organization and the external environment. 3. Management of technical organizations and technological change in time of high competitive pressure. 4. Management of R & D and engineering projects. 5. Management of human resources under conditions of rapid technological and social change. These issues oblige modern countries to train people at the highest possible level, including expert know how in languages and the new IT. Perhaps Venezuela decided another way around, to manage the transfers of ideology, having found in Cuba the model to be imitated and the thoughts of the national hero as the basis for the doctrinarian approach. Transfers of ideology and doctrinarian approaches are based upon submissive behavior, charged with highly emotional components, the faith in the dramatic changes that are supposedly associated with the revolution, the enthusiasm for the creation of the new society, the new man, the virtues stage were poverty and the ills common to society disappear. The obsession for power eliminates the
157

See the article by Myron J. Gordon and Jeffrey Rosenthal, Capitalisms growth imperative Cambridge Journal of Economics 2003, 26, 25-48

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necessary obsession for the management of technology. Failures to train the amount of people trained to identify the values and needs of new technologies will cost countries like Venezuela on the billions of American dollars. Ignorance does not pay well. In the absence of the necessary expertise in this area, Venezuela will end up buying useless technology158 .

b. How to manage knowledge (knowledge production): This is not an easy task for any country, meaning to organize ways not only to transfer knowledge but to create knowledge, in order to, first, understand the own environment, natural and social, and second to contributed to the international academic product, which is the duty of any system of higher education. There is a very complex geography of invention and innovation, in the contemporary world159 . The main theories of generation of knowledge emphasize the existence of external and positive spillovers linked to the spatial concentration of R&D activities. It also emphasizes the role of individual characteristics like talent, motivation, ambition and rigorous academic efforts in order to be able to be creative and to invent and innovate in spite of the numerous impediments, which are common. The first task of knowledge management is to recognize that knowledge can be managed. That knowledge is a social element, which does not grow freely, that has to be buildup, constructed, and transform into products and services that are thought to be useful to humanity. Above all knowledge management implies accepting the idea that to generate knowledge is a highly specialized social organization that has to be protected, that means risktaking and that is full of serendipity in which case results cannot be guarantee at all. Uncertainty is the road to discovery and progress. Knowledge production is an affair restricted to the public universities. The private sector does not have the inclinations nor are they obliged to devote time and energy to research and in many cases, they do not have the learning facilities, which are necessary to a quality teaching. This is one of the big failures of the country, to be able to develop a research culture in all across the higher education system and in that case to be able to transform the working operation of the system from education to learning. Certainly, as from 1992 an effort in that direction was stimulated by the State but it did not actually generated an impact of the higher education institutions, including the private sector, which operate at the margin of these goals.

c. How to manage autonomy and academic freedom: Ordinarily the rhetorical thought in relation to these two concepts affirm the believe that they are principles, when they are mobile efforts from academia to protect themselves form external
158

On this question, see the article by Toru Yoshikawa Technology development and acquisition strategy, in International Journal of Technology Management, vol. 25 N 6/7, 2003. It is axiomatic that people may be able to have enough financial resources to come into the market, any market, but if they ignore the mechanics of acquisition, they might fail at a great cost. I have seen the pathetic example of people coming into the international book market without knowledge of English. They ended up buying only title in Spanish, some of them obsolete. 159 Quote October 2002

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interference and in consequence is a concept to be managed in a very dynamic way. For instance, during decades in Venezuela autonomy dominant thought was to include the notion of the campus free from police interference. These days with the new electronic devices, the concept of campus has changed. These two concepts are associated with the generation of knowledge. Knowledge is created through the organizations of teams that carry on scientific and technological projects as well as by organizing knowledge communities that by solving a given problem create knowledge. Any external authority, alien to the scientific and technological community, cannot control this activity, which is responsible for their activities. Can be appraised and be accountable but it can not obey a pattern of control; quite the contrary, their content and intentions has to flow freely, not only out of curiosity but also trying to tie research to the needs of society which are mutually defined, both by those who support teaching and research but also for the actors involved. Nobody thinks about autonomy or academic freedom without the necessary limits and constraints of a civilized society. These two values and principles have to obey the criteria of accountability, because they are working concepts because of the financial and moral support of the society to which the actors of academic are responsibly.

By taking a doctrinarian approach without academic autonomy and academic freedom, Venezuela might be coming back to the beginning of the training society and escaping the entering the knowledge society. Doctrinarian approaches suffer from fear of freedom. To do this Venezuela is applying new model of management of higher education, new careers, and new ways to train people, faithful to the revolution in all instances. They might do so but precisely they are escaping the monumental knowledge revolution, which is taking place right in front of our eyes. The duty and primary responsibility of the State in contemporary times is to free her to take risk, to join internationalization, to allow talent to be creative and join the world academic community. Nor to do that would imply isolating the country, which is following the dangerous path toward internationalism, in this case under the alliance with Cuba, a model to me be imitated perhaps except that in these respects Cuba is a model of failure. Revolutions are sometimes the road to failure. The Venezuelan government is trying to control the ways every Venezuelan institution is working, centralized policies are apply, a populist model is applied to learning at the high level, medicine is taking a dangerous populist ways and so on the populist model is limiting freedom and opportunities. The vision of the revolution might be wrong. It divide society into patriots y esculidos160 , it divide society into poor and rich, and without mentioning between white and black and so on, along the ethnical lines, social lines even sexual lines. It creates a new state, which is stimulating the new and living aside, the old. Small countries like Venezuela end up by paying a high price if the policies they take are wrong. It took decades to put the country close to the beginning of the knowledge society. As from 1992, a small scientific and
160

Esculido means very weak, languid, filthy, nauseous and it is the way the revolution define their opponents. It is analogous to the Cuban expression gusano, worm, applied to any enemy of the Cuban Revolution. Patriots are on the other hand, anyone supporting the revolution.

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technological elite begins to be organized, under the principles of meritocracy via external evaluation. At the same time, the oil industry saw the need to create their own knowledge unit and created a splendid corporate university. These were steps in the right direction. In conclusion, Venezuela is taking the often-dangerous road to a radical revolutionary change. This might be good, in spite of the hazards. It might be a way to be fair to those who have less, but many times trying to do the best without a clear appraisal of the consequences lead countries to fail the real hopes of the people. Every revolution tries to justify themselves in moral grounds. This approach cannot be wrong because there are always injustices to be repair, things to be right. Nevertheless, perhaps by trying to do good this revolution is perhaps sending the country and its society to a backward stage of development. Autonomy and academic freedom might be seen in this predicament, no only as a institutional need but as a national urgent way to get forward. This is the challenge being faced by Venezuela, deeply engaged in the struggle for political power without realising that power to dominate curtails any chances of freedom. However, once again, it is easier to control than to be free, easier to manage people than to manage knowledge. If we believe the analysis of quality in international terms we may conclude that Venezuela was at the stage of transferring from the training society to the knowledge society. In this state policies are formulated that promote a shift from basic or curiosity-driven research to targeted or commercial or strategic research. In the contemporary world policies for higher education are put forward being competitive in a global economy in a global market, creating national wealth, increasing the connection between institutions and the labor market and in the end building prosperity and well being of the society. Again, if we believe in international trends we may conclude hat Venezuela is taking the opposite road, back to the past. This might be a very costly and unnecessary way to manage the future. To manage the future would means to manage the revolution. To go back to doctrinarian views is not a revolution but a step back to the back. The worst effect that policies of academic populism can have in a country like Venezuela is the increase in technological and scientific dependence. By getting an endogenous model of development, the country will become isolated and that could be suicidal in the era of the global connections. Countries have to have access and participation in the international market of knowledge and if they do not, so they become more and more dependant of foreign providers. Isolation on these maters means stagnation in intellectual terms. Though this might not be the best interpretation of the theory of dependence, it has been argued that the worst scenery of this syndrome is intellectual and emotional dependence, the dependence of the mind.

Interesting enough there is a very essential difference here, from the theoretical point of view: education as the organization of the schooling process can be controlled, learning is by nature free and no body can control it. This is why governments loose their best efforts trying useless to control education when they can only control schooling, because learning is beyond the control of any power, simply because the mind is freer that any one that tries to stop this beautiful machinery of the generations of ideas and thoughts. In the most simply terms: rulers can make use of their bare power to control people, which in this case
Cmo aumentar la calidad acadmica Orlando Albornoz

means schooling, but they cannot control ideas and thoughts. But one has to understand that rulers that have come from the cadres of the Army can manage to access to power and to control people, but they are not man of ideas, in the words of Coser161 , and they do not know the realms of ideas a separate space. This is, after all, what is happening in Venezuela in relation to university autonomy and academic freedom, the imposition of academic populism, with all the negative consequences attached to such a vision

It is not the purpose of this case study to judge or to evaluate but to discriminate the advantages of policies taken in the field of higher education and for that matter in higher learning. It is not a does not try to be a manifesto. Nevertheless, in the language of social sciences every argument is a kind of evaluation or/and appraisal. This is inevitable. In this instance, the members of the international academic community may see the policies being taken by a country like Venezuela with preoccupation and perhaps with anxiety. The efforts of many decades are at risk, because of a one-sided single line of though that is trying to adopt the proven wrong steps to control education and learning. Not to deny that many mistakes were taken in Venezuela during the past but the worst way to try to correct them is to have the State as the single arbiter of what should be learn and what to be taught, which happen to be the best and most efficient way not to educate and not to learn. The many examples in the Region of intervention of higher education by governments trying to control have proved wrong. On the contrary, the best examples of success in academic terms have taken place in countries that have allowed higher education to be free from State control, that have invested heavily and have taken all the risk which are implied in this complex endeavours. It is true that in Venezuela a new methodology is being used, in order to obtain the same objectives, to control higher education and to mobilize the student and professors population to be at the service of the revolution. Once again, no institutions have been closed down, professors or students are not being persecuted or taken to prison, books have not been banned or burned, for that matter. But a subtle way s being employed to i obstacle the normal development of the Venezuelan academic space, which is to create a parallel set of institutions, dividing the academic arena in the new institutions and the old ones, into those in favour and those against the revolution. One of the slogans of this Venezuelan revolution is that it is a beautiful revolution. This might be so. But, in terms of higher education it could be said that the face of that beautiful revolution could be their ugly side. Perhaps the government does not understand the delicacies of higher learning and in this case they can be excused because of ignorance. Or, perhaps they are perfectly aware of what they are doing and in this case it is not ignorance or a mistake but a tragic event, which will dispose of autonomy and academic freedom, simply by creating a unbearable level of pressure. This pressure allowed the government to close down the only corporate university in the country and to intervene non-autonomous universities, which are legally under the control of the government. To use the fact that the government control all funds that pay for higher education to use the old tricks of the carrot and the stick to threaten stability and morale. To open institutions of higher education
161

See the classical book by Lewis Coser Man of Ideas, The Free Press, 1970. See also his chapter Intellectuals and men of power two case histories, in George B. de Huszar (editor) The Intellectuals- The Free Press, 1960.

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which are openly attached to educational practices that are superseded by new ways to teach and do research. This is why this case study is simply an analysis of the epistemology of academic populism, which is emerging in Venezuela. A way to handle policies that are counterproductive in the end, but government are many times aware of the short and immediate concern and in this sense the only objective of Venezuelans is to struggle for ideological and political power. So, let it be, could be the answer of the international and national academic community to this predicament. But, on the other hand, there might be the need to try to clarify to the Venezuelan governments the need to sustain university autonomy, to treasure academic freedom and to realize the formidable contribution that a free and responsible academic space can bring to the good will of the country. The State has the right and in fact the obligation to supervise the good use of the funds that are attributed to education, at any level. It has the right to ask for transparency in every step taken by higher education institutions and their actors. It should apply all the resources of academic and financial accountability. However, no government has the right to imperil the future of a society and a nation. Les than that in the name of a doctrinarian approach which is by historical nature circumstantial. The university, on the other hand, is here to stay. The damage that is being done to Venezuelan universities if the academic populism prevails is greater than imagined, because the fine tissue of academic life is very vulnerable, but they will survive the revolution, some how. Because the national academic community, with the help and assistance of the international academic community, are very strong in the defence of the values and principles of the university and the institutions of higher education and the values and principles that guide higher learning, which is the fact of the matter. In the era of the technological revolution that allows us the electronic instrument to be at hand, with the communication flying over national frontiers is futile to try to control ideas and thoughts. Autocrats and totalitarian regimes can still make life miserable to a number of people, but the era of the indoctrination is o ver. Doctrines look powerful when they have the avail of the instruments of power weapons and money162 , but otherwise they are transient in spite of the fanaticism they usually have as a pattern, like in the case of the religious and ideological fanaticism which are know through history. But there is an obligation in academia which is to fight these waves of fanaticism inclined to obey the doctrinarian principles put forward by any leader who at a given time believe himself to be driven by God and destiny to rule and to govern in the name of his or her own delirious thoughts of self aggrandisement163 .
162

Venezuela, in spite of how poorly the management of the oil industry generates a constant influx of cash, which even badly used is being put to the public expenses of the government to obtain good will. Venezuelans live in a rich State and a very unequal society. The present rulers are cleverly using the influx of cash and the division of society to impose their rule all over the country. In this case study we are not entering nto the i complex explanation of the Venezuelan economics but it suffice to say that whoever control the government control a huge amount of income, derived from the oil industry. Income from oil paid for the luxury of democracy and can easily pay for the luxury of the one-man rule. 163 It is the opportunity to say that the present rulers of Venezuela, elected in popular election, have all the legitimacy of a democratic government. Their policies can be questioned, not their legal and constitutional existence. No doubt whatsoever that the government managed to transform a legal mandate into a revolutionary one, but their origin is strictly legal. The outcome might not be according to the framework of the constitution. This is the cause of current dispute between the government and the opposition. The latest trying to recall the leader of the government and the government trying to do the same with the members of the opposition who are in power at the level of regional and local government.

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In defence of autonomy and academic freedom

This document is both a case study and document written as a line of defence of autonomy and academic freedom, in Venezuela. It appeals to the rationale of the search for knowledge. In doctrinarian times, it is difficult but essential to stress the value of ideas and thoughts, based upon the democratic ideals of freedom and diversity in pluralism. To believe otherwise is the road to perdition, in these terms. It is true that the values of justice and fairness should be maintained but to at the expenses of the need to be competitive, to prize talent and effort above bureaucracy and political opportunism. The distribution of justice does not deny that perhaps all man are born equal, but they developed differently in view of the many variables that affect growth and individual development, and rulers should pay attention to all and should not by any means ignore the needs of society in the name of a false notion of being fair. By using universal access to higher education as a policy, for instance, the principle of justice is deny, because all receive a share of the opportunities to access to higher education which should be reserve for those able and willing to come to this level of the schooling process. May be there is some truth in the axiom that giving to all is giving to none. Given a limited amount of financial funds available for higher education the question in policy terms is simply: should governments provide for those who can or give to all, even if they cannot or do not want to? The Venezuelan rulers have an answer: we will provide for all no matter the cost, no matter the returns of the expenses incurred in that activity. Justice, it is said, should prevail upon cost and rationale decision-making process. They will undoubtedly achieve ruining the existing higher educational system and been unable to create a counterpart of some effectiveness and efficiency. Quite the contrary, the academic populism that is the essence of policy making these days in Venezuela accomplished the possibility to control higher education, as they are willing to control society, with the less apparent damage to society. Academic populism is a costly instrument, which will cost dearly to Venezuelan higher learning. Once this revolucin bolivariana is gone all revolutions end, it will take time and effort to re-establish the tradition of the university in such a society. But as it has been establish on this documents the university will prevail, the university as an instrument of producing knowledge, with acceptable levels of productivity, knowledge to be disseminated and to have a proper impact in society, all of which makes higher education and higher learning attractive as an instrument of development. In the meantime a small country in South America chooses to be driven into the direction of endogenous and self-sufficient development, which means isolation. The basis for these decisions is twofold: first the present Venezuelan government has anti globalisation as a key element of his policies. Second, these policies are put forward as part of a very strict doctrinarian approach to rule a society. In relation to the first, this looks to many as lacking a sense of international reality. Globalisation is external to the decision making process of small nations, that inevitable have to adapt to these circumstances or choose to remain at the margin of international development. Instead of following the path of internationalisation, meaning and opening to all kind of international opportunities,
Cmo aumentar la calidad acadmica Orlando Albornoz

Venezuela is taking the limited path of internationalism, making strategic alliances with s single country, in this case Cuba, which is seen as the model to be imitated. In relation to the doctrinarian approaches to development they do not function at all in higher education. There is no doubt, whatsoever, that universities and in fact all educational institutions are ideological in their conceptual support164 . However, they do not need to be doctrinarian. On the contrary, a doctrinarian approach is self-defeating, by definition, because it lead to the privilege of some ideas above others, eliminating all critical analysis of any given situation. Such has been the ideological pluralism in Venezuela that they are several approaches to the role and function of higher education in this country, from the State oriented vision to the supermarket kind of interpretation. Public and private interest has developed along their own lines of ideological approaches, with the State as the arbiter of the responsible control and supervision of the whole system. The present Venezuelan rulers, however, are imposing a doctrinarian approach, according to which only the new institutions created under the flags of the revolution are capable of being part of the proyecto, the project of the revolution. The project and the process are the two leading concepts that serve as guidance to the revolution. They are close, precisely in ideological terms, to the painstaking negotiations that are common when in a plural society institutions have a leverage that allow them to be independent and autonomous from unduly external interferences, coming form the State or form the market. Interesting to say that due to the vision of the parallel society that is being created in Venezuela, until the new will make the old disappear, there have been no direct actions neither against the autonomous universities nor against the private sector, though both spheres of activity have been threatened in such a way as to try to weaken them, by using legal and psychological constraints to control them without direct and violent action. The rulers of Venezuela have repeatedly assured that their revolution is peaceful, legitimate, constitutional and moral. Higher education and particularly the university seem to be the perfect ground to test these principles. Judging in technical terms the policies taken by the government there are reasons to say that they have simply taken an option, among several which are available. Each one of them is as valid as the other, but the consequences will be different according to the particularly one chosen by a given government. By choosing the idea of the parallel state in higher education, imposing a doctrinarian vision of higher education, opening universal access above the usual mechanism of selection, having the country found solace in an epistemology contrary even to common sense, establishing the control of the State and by eliminating any notion of a competitive market in this sphere of concern, privileging isolation and internationalism and escaping from internationalisation and globalisation, this South American country is becoming an example of how a country going into the road of interesting levels of
164

See the book by Ronald Barnett, Beyond all reason, living with ideology in the university, Open University Press, London, 2003. Barnett makes the point that universities are becoming increasingly ideological, but perhaps it is also true that most of them are becoming fewer doctrinarians in their approach to knowledge. Dogmatic views are alien to the university. Interesting to say that in the short history of Venezuelan university the university opened by the revolution is the first doctrinarian institutions ever to operated n the country. Even the Catholic Venezuelan universities are plural institutions, while this revolutionary university will be just an instrument of the over-all ideological and doctrinarian stands of the government.

Cmo aumentar la calidad acadmica

Orlando Albornoz

academic development has fallen back into an academic populism that will only lead the country back to the past. It is perhaps appropriated to quote, at the very end of this case study, the famous phrase attributed to Sir Isaac Newton: If I have seen farther, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants. This phrase, taken by the late Robert K. Merton to write his fabulous book on intellectual development, is being read in Venezuela in a contrary and different way, by refusing to believe that this awkward world of us is a beautiful combination of giants and midgets. This means that countries like Venezuela have to make tremendous efforts to keep abreast of scientific and technological development, with an open worldview in mind. For this reason these countries have to abandon monolingual and to generate multilingual societies, have to adapt quickly to the information society, have to create the academic observatories that would provide the country with immediate information on changes in these activities; their institutions of higher learning have to be open round the clock, they have to open them to internal and external competitively, have to demand transparency and accountability of these institutions and have to guarantee the continuous financial and intellectual support in order to succeeds. Efforts in this direction require to have clear objectives of academic standard, of excellence and the critical as crucial admission that higher learning is, by definition and practice, an elite endeavour. It is possible to suspect that the Venezuelan rulers are aware of the concept of elite in educational terms. Even if they called for universal access to higher education, without taking in consideration the resources to do that, having in fact increasing the enrolment in proportions unable to be satisfied, hey have kept this enrolment at the same level in the Army schools. The same way, it is interesting to mention that Venezuelan representations abroad are full with advisers of all types except academic advisers, which shows the little interest of the country in these matters. It should be mentioned that during the year of 2004 Venezuelan academics have not been able to obtain foreign currency to travel abroad, because of the tight currency control and in fact that library and lab resources have been limited in such a way as to observe that by the end of 2004 some university libraries are behind in their needs to supply research materials, above all journals, that have to be paid in foreign currency. This is obviously the worst scenery possible for higher education, not to be able to keep international books and journals available in national university libraries. It could be easy to say that the present rulers of Venezuela are typical anti intellectual Army man unable to understand the attractiveness of knowledge per se. But that would be too much of an easy explanation. Venezuelan society is anti-intellectual and has never paid too much attention to intellectual and to academic ife. This is a fact. What could be true is that l a populist and clientelist government is still less inclined to intellectuals matters, busy as they are changing the world to their image. Mind to say that this transition from say capitalism to State socialism, from political pluralism to rule by a very small group of revolutionary leaders, from a diversify higher education system to a centralized state of affairs in which rules and norms are dictated from above, is not an easy process. There is a democratic tradition in Venezuela well internalised in Venezuela, though at the same time populism has been a dominant practice of the different governments since 1958. The situation in Venezuela could be compare to the privatisation of Russia economy, though in Venezuela the economy and financial resources
Cmo aumentar la calidad acadmica Orlando Albornoz

are in the hands of the State, any way. The common ingredients are those typical of societies ruled by strong man, trying to change the State and the society and in the process incurring in many vicious practices, like widespread corruption, abuses of all kind and eventually disequilibria in the daily routine of life. In Venezuela in fact the rulers is the ruler, a person that govern without any control whatsoever, who spend freely the income of the country and that has no limits at all in the ways he conduct public affairs. Still, populism creates a clientele, inevitable, and the Venezuelan government has the support of those who are expecting the benefits long denied to them and promised by the revolutionary government. The political correlation in Venezuela is simply: the poor people supports the government (30 per cent), the rest of the society opposes this government. But this information would simplify this analysis and better left out at this instance, but it is proper to say that no institution in any society operates in a vacuum and many times the explanations of the academic space is understood only through the variables that characterise the behaviour of the ideological and political system165 . Choices are not difficult to make and nevertheless and hardly to believe, Venezuela is loosing the opportunity to stand in the shoulders of giants and instead is choosing their peers, which is the best way to keep things as they are and worse falling into the predicament of a wise proverb: camarn que se duerme se lo lleva la corriente (time and tide wait for no man). Is that the Venezuelan case, trying to operate their universities without autonomy and without academic freedom and taking the road of the less effort and the consolation of finding external causes for their internal deprivation? Whatever the reasons every public policy has a cost, is or it is not pertinent and finally has a set of consequences. If Venezuela were to be successful that would be a very interesting example to be fully analysed in the future. On the contrary, if Venezuela were to fail because the policies is trying to apply are supported only in terms of political and

165

See the book by Marina Ottaway , democracy challenged the rise of semi-authoritarianism 2003 Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Washington D.C. Ottaway examines five countries: Egypt, Azerbaijan, Venezuela, Croatia, and Senegal that in her opinion display the distinctive features of semi-authoritarianism and the special challenge each poses to policy makers. The Dean of the School of Law of the main university in the country, the autonomous Universidad Central de Venezuela agrees with Ottway: En Venezuela estamos en una situacin pretotalitaria El Nacional October 4 2003. It could be interesting to compare the Venezuelan situation with the events in Zimbabwe under Robert Mugabe, an extreme example of African populism. On Mugabe See the book by Martin Meredith, Our Votes, Our Guns: Robert Mugabe and the Tragedy of Zimbabwe University of Michigan Press. 2003) In 1980, Zimbabwe was the great hope of Africa, a place where blacks were supposed to realize their postcolonial destinies under the enlightened leadership of Robert Mugabe. But now the country formerly known as Rhodesia is an international basket case with a wrecked economy and a dim future. In this disturbing book by Martin Meredith, a British journalist with extensive experience in southern Africa, Mugabe transforms into a villain. "Year by year, he acquired ever greater power, ruling the country through a vast system of patronage, favoring loyal aides and cronies with government positions and contracts and ignoring the spreading blight of corruption," writes Meredith. "Power for Mugabe was not a means to an end, but the end itself." He has been in power for almost three decades. The Venezuelan leader, who came into power in 1999 expects to rules his country until 2021.

Cmo aumentar la calidad acadmica

Orlando Albornoz

doctrinarian concerns the cost will be great for the countrys academic and intellectual life and will impair future development since it will raise the cost of going back were development was left and begin again the painful road to development. In this road to development what countries need in contemporary times is to improve their academic environment, opening spaces for the research university, free from State and market conditioning. The research university is difficult to achieve and it needs the cooperation between both the State and the private sector, like it happened in the best example of this type of university, USA166 . But the ideological concern in Venezuela is taking steps to deprive the country of this type of development and instead is relying upon the doctrinarian model, which has been superseded by historical experiences, like in the case of China but is still prevalent in countries like Cuba167 . In any case, university autonomy and academic freedom are concepts not fully understood as principles to be managed according to the specific circumstances of each society. With due respect to the principles in themselves but also with respect to the management situation. For this reason it is believed that the Venezuelan current approach to both autonomy and academic freedom should be discussed in the context of the Observatory of the Magna Charta, principles signed by the Universidad Central de Venezuela, the main university in the country and one among few Venezuelan universities wit the capacity and will to be a research university with teaching of the level of excellence. In this opportunity is appropriated to quote the following statement by Ken Edward: The Observatory of the Magna Charta Universitatum has the opportunity not only to monitor possible abuse of the right of universities but also, through debate with interested parties both within universities and in the wider world, to find forms of expression of those rights and responsibilities appropriate to an era of mass higher education in the Information Age168 . If this can be achieved in Venezuela, an open discussion on the issues, which have been, tackled in this case study that can only contribute to improve the appreciation for what higher education and the university can do in countries like Venezuela. This is not the time to judge or to denounce but the times to discuss and to rethink steps, which should be to transform into a rationale for prosperity and progress of the nation. As any other institution higher education and the university can be instrument of betterment of society or can be used to restrain public liberties. The spirit of higher learning will prevail, however, and discussing these issues of university autonomy and academic freedom can only help countries like Venezuela to take the road to success for the nation and their people.

166

See by Hugh Davis Graham and Nancy Diamond their book The rise of American research universities, elites and challengers in the postwar era. The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore. 1997. 167 See my book Cuba y China 2000. Op cit. 168 See Ken Edwards, As a conclusion Autonomy and responsibility, The universitys obligations for the XXI Century, Proceedings of the Launch event for the Magna Charta Observatory, 21-22 September 2001, p. 91. Bononia University Press, 2002.

Cmo aumentar la calidad acadmica

Orlando Albornoz

Walter Regg has quoted the analysis of Karl W. Deutsch, who said speaking about Switzerland that the Swiss people learned that social change and political decision-making not only needs a motor but also a system of brakes. Populist regimes seem only to know how to operate without brakes. It is perhaps time to install some brakes in the Venezuelan situation, in such a way that the treasure of higher education and its universities can count on autonomy and academic freedom, in institutional integrity, in order to be able to pursue their universal goals without the interference of the government, the State or the market, except as part of the necessary motor needed to search for knowledge. It is technically speaking fascinating to compare countries like Switzerland and Venezuela, two countries that are in different paths of development. One aspect is interesting to quote here: in the Venezuelan constitution explicit social rights were introduce, making them a formidable obstacle for development, because social rights are impossible to satisfy. In the European country Swiss voters were against the introduction of these right into the constitution: The voters still stick to the conviction that citizens not only have rights but also public responsibilities which cannot be reduced to paying taxes. In Venezuela it happen the opposite. According to the expectations of Venezuelans it is the responsibility of the State to provide for them. Being an economy dependant of oil this expectations and dependence open the way for a very peculiar set of responsibilities, which are always of somebody else, not a personal one. This is the simplest explanation of why the populism discourse has been so well accepted in Venezuela, under the revolution that is being carry on. They are not evil, per se. They are simply responding to traditions that good or bad are imbedded in the national conscience, as it is he search for the external factor that would help the whole situation, be it the American model or, for better or for worse, the Cuban example. In the end whatever the source of external influence, what defines Venezuelan is the endless search for power. This is the variable that by reducing the arguments to the absurd explains this madness that is the Venezuelan daily struggle for power, which obscure any other element. Venezuelan academic is an example of this struggle for power and in this arena the concepts of autonomy and academic freedom are very important in the rhetoric but not as questions to be managed. It is proper to finish this case study by stating what is known through modern an contemporary history: no modern society has developed a system of higher education without the protection of the State, but no modern society has developed on those lines with the State as the sole controller of higher learning, creating the artifacts of a single line of thoughts. On the contrary, even in countries were the State is the main supporters of higher education, like in Europe, pluralism and diversification is the order of the day, because t at h is the only way for innovation and change. Mechanisms that is not intended as obstacles for the road to institutional integration, but for higher learning keeping their autonomy and academic freedom. For this reason it is to be believed that it would be pitiful if Venezuela were to join one of these examples in which the State rules higher education with the vigor of a zealot and deprived intellectual and academic life of its main components. In this sense the model of academic populism will end by being counterproductive. This is, of course, the main argument of this document. What we have argued then is that precisely because countries like Venezuela are small and poor it is their duty and responsibility to open in academic terms to more autonomy, more academic freedom and more attachment of the modern
Cmo aumentar la calidad acadmica Orlando Albornoz

model of the research university, in spite of the urgency to guarantee democratic access regardless of any variable that would promote exclusion. But keeping in mind hat higher education and higher learning are institutions to be treasured, not to be damage, because if this happen the damage is not done to these institutions but to society at large.

Since the driving force of economic growth is technological development, this should be one of the aims of economic policy and contrary to that what is being applied in Venezuela is an ideological and doctrinarian ways to handle higher education. The revolution is not interested to understand the mechanisms behind technological development. Theoretical models have emerged that explain this mechanism itself that demands productivity to be continuously improved, because of the development of new knowledge. These are developed in a separate knowledge industry, and this industry, the incubation of ideas, the risk-taking enterprise that generate new ideas, is the university, being the responsibility of the State and the private sector, at the same time to open the diversity of institutions to take care of the different stages of human resource strained for development. This production of knowledge takes place under monopolistic competition and technically speaking these, areas of the production of knowledge are strictly esoteric and cannot be made available but only to those initiated in their training. In these terms, endopogenous development is a failure by definition, because no economy can grow in isolation, because international trade is mandatory169 . What can be achieved, though, through endogenous development is the increase in corruption. Those who control a centralized economy ends to be bureaucrats which are employed by government to collect funds for the central power and finalize taking a portion of it for their own pockets. Corruption is reflected in bribery, even at the micro level, like members of the police that ends up by working as entrepreneurs. The incentive for an individual bureaucrat to accept a bribe depends on the number of other bureaucrats who are expected to accept bribes170 . It could be added that centralization drives affairs to corruption as a natural consequence. Interesting to say that the Venezuelan revolution emerged as a moral force to fight corruption and has ended to be a regime much more corrupt than an one in the past, simply because no government in the past could concentrate such an amount of power. There is increasing skepticism between Venezuelan sociologist and economists about the merits of forced draft mobilization and the efficacy of central planning. The Venezuelan revolution is doing this in order to concentrate more power in the hands of the leaders of the revolution, but apparently the more they do so the more the forces of the contrary effect are taking place.
169

See the document by Bert Minne, Herman Noordman and Arie de Graaf Knowledge, endogenous economic growth and international trade; exercices with a Grossman-Helpman model for the OECD, The School of Economic Studies, The Univeristy of Manchester in its series Centre for Growth and Business Cycle Research Discussion Paper Series, 2002. 170 On this topic, see the article by Isaac Ehrlich and Francis T. Lui, 1999. "Bureaucratic Corruption and Endogenous Economic Growth," Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 107. The corruption of Venezuelan society is not new. It is part of the culture. Venezuelan social e thics accepts this kind of behavior as natural. In fact, according to international statistical information, Venezuela is one of the most corrupt societies in the world and very few Venezuelan would argue the validity of such assertion. I could say that this social behavior is very attractive to analyze. It is a generalized way of life and not only those with access to the State provision would be corrupted but even small functionaries are most than willing to imagine the most incredible forms of corruption, in such a way that every functionary in a capacity to do so become an entrepreneurs, for their own good.

Cmo aumentar la calidad acadmica

Orlando Albornoz

Were the same concepts to be applied to higher education, and particularly to the universities; meaning State control of all institutions of this level, treating them the same way they have organized basic schools, escuelas bolivarianas, now willing to open the universidades bolivarianas, the consequence would not only be a disaster from the academic point of view but also a set back in two levels, lowering and diminishing the possibilities of development and creating conditions for more corruption in these institutions. The fighting of capitalism, neoliberalism and all the forces of evil that are behind the threats of the imperialistic power, blind the leaders of the revolution about the profitable ways to be taken and blind as they are might takes the less traveled road that might lead nowhere. Above all, the futile and useless objective to create an alternative endogenous and selfsufficient economic and social model, in the era of internationalization and globalization. If this were to be possible then what is happening in Venezuela is not a revolution but a miracle. The main industry of the country is oil, how can an oil industry be alternative? How can the armed forces of this dependant society become alternative and endogenous without the supply of weapons and the whole army materials without entering the international market? How could Venezuelans, in one word, have alternative universities isolated from the rest of the world be instrumental and contributing to development? Isolation in academic terms, at least, would be suicidal and if any country stops the necessary participation in the international market of knowledge would be left out rather soon. We academics look forward that this not happen in Venezuela and perhaps this case study is a call to the international community for help and assistance to avoid this trauma and drama 171 .

171

International opinion about Chavez is becoming increasingly radical. See by Gabriel Loperena Chavez's charade: Democracy in Venezuela Harvard International Review Cambridge Summer 2003 Three years later, the country finds itself mired in a deep recession, plagued by political instability and social divisiveness. Support for Chavez has dwindled from a high of 80 percent to a mere 30 percent. The government faces widespread strikes, and a coup in April 2002 deposed Chavez for 48 hours. Yet the president still clings to power, aided by the illusion of democratic procedure and international support. Governing in the style of Juan Peron in Argentina, he has attempted to legitimize his reign by citing his own "democratic" election, holding frequent elections, and passing referenda such as the formation of a new constitution and a representative body, the Asamblea Nacional. However, democracy in Venezuela is more theater than substance. However, it would be wrong to write that Venezuela is a country living the reign of terror as written by Mary Anastasia O'Grady Americas: Venezuela's Reign of Terror Wall Street Journal Oct 17, 2003.

Cmo aumentar la calidad acadmica

Orlando Albornoz

Some final comments

This is a case study to analyzes academic populism in Venezuela, a South American country undergoing what their leaders call a revolution destined to last forever and to change State, society and the individuals in this otherwise small society. The revolutionary government has exacerbated the application of this model, which is not a diabolic creation of the revolution but a political and ideological tendency at the root of Venezuelan democracy. Concerning higher education the reforms made in 1958 installed the error de origen, meaning many mistakes at the origin of the changes that took place after the overthrown of a military dictatorship that has restricted higher education. It was a natural and proper answer to those social needs. Since then the different governments answered the social demands with more mistakes, which can be called error de proceso. The current Venezuelan government is not doing anything different but to answer social demands for places in higher education than to expand the academic populism that has been prevalent through the years. However, there is a difference, which is crucial. This means that while under the plural democracy this academic populism allowed for political negotiations and the presence of many actors and interest the current government is playing the old game of the single discourse, the single line of though and the single doctrinarian approach to higher education. In consequence, there is a new vision, which will affect university autonomy and academic freedom. These two principles are in need of national and international support. Higher education and in particular the university are international institutions and, once again, whatever happens to both autonomy and academic freedom in Venezuela happens everywhere. Perhaps the national academic community, because of their immediate concerns, is not well aware of the Venezuela road to tragedy, if an autocratic government cancels both these principles. But the international community, because, their objective and detached view of Venezuelan affairs per se, is more prepared to answer to whatever violations of these principles with enough and strong support to the Venezuelan institutions of higher education and higher learning, as to help these principles to be kept alive both for the benefits of the national and the international academic community. Venezuelans could find under this current crisis a new opportunity to organize the environment for higher education autonomy and the full expression of academic freedom. Perhaps the academic populism could be a motor to install in this developing society an organizational climate in order to have the modern academic capitalism to emerge and fulfill precisely the expectations of development by elaborating the conditions for knowledge to be an active part of the intellectual life of such a society. In this sense, a note of optimism is mandatory. The problem is not a government not even a regime, in both cases in political and ideological terms. The issue is how to create the conditions for a modern and contemporary academic environment to be established in a country like Venezuela.

Cmo aumentar la calidad acadmica

Orlando Albornoz

Whatever the outcome, Venezuelan should learn to appreciate these academic values and principles. Their strong and perhaps silent Venezuelan academic community could find on this situation a challenge for improvement. Within the context of this case study that will means a academic system free from the strings which attach their operation to the will of a doctrinarian State or just obeying the whims of the labor market, having the institutions just a machinery to produce what are called human resources. In simply terms, a modern higher education system, efficient in their operation, open to the international academic arena, accountable and t ansparent in the use of their funds, responsible in relation to both internal r and international demands and modest in their size and importance in the nation. After all, happily enough, a society is more than higher education. The whole point is that it c no an be less than whatever a society conceives as higher education, higher learning and economic and social development. It might not be exaggeration to say that while societies struggle for power they have to accept also the struggle for knowledge, in as much as the one does not exclude the other. Political and ideological power is a necessity in every society. Therefore, it is academic power. However, when one tries to eliminate the other certain equilibrium is broken. Perhaps in Venezuela there is a urgent need to reestablish this equilibrium between political and ideological power and academic power an in this case it means to preserve and respect autonomy and academic freedom in higher education and higher learning. Gornitzka has formulated a research question, which has an answer in the Venezuelan case. She asked once the following research question: How do higher education organizations change in response to or in interaction with government policies and programs?172 This is to be seen but the tendency already observed is for the Venezuelan revolution to create a parallel and alternative higher education, to the one already well establish in the country. Instead of strengthening the emerging higher learning system, they have chosen to do so with the o ldest and backward model of higher education, the doctrinaire approach. In terms of Van Vught, Venezuela is going from a self-regulatory and supervisory model to a State control way to manage the whole higher education system. In this case, Venezuela is adopting a new model: this model supported by a doctrinarian approach. Instead of a market-oriented model or a academic-oriented one they have chosen the doctrine, the single line of thought, that of the university as an instrument of the government. By doing so they are depriving higher education and higher learning of any charm and good academic taste, because they are converting the creative and innovative institutions into a closed mind, in which academic work become meaningless. This system so conceived will be restricted to train the cadres of the revolution, to follow the orientations given by the leaders of the revolution and eventually to divide the world into us and they, with their own doctrinarian agenda, fix, immovable, uncritical and in one word the negations of whatever is called free thinking. Within this context the destiny will be isolation and with it the self-perpetuating believe in the ideals of the revolution173 .

172

See the article by Ase Gornitzka Governmental policies and organizational changes in higher education Higher Education 38: 5-31, 1999. 173 On the orientation of academia see the paper by Oili-Helena Ylijoki Entrangled in academic capitalism? A case study on changing ideals and practices of university research. Higher Education 45: 307-335, 2003.

Cmo aumentar la calidad acadmica

Orlando Albornoz

The dramatic paradox is that this development takes places at the dawn of a new century, when we all were expecting advances in these complex areas of science and technology, on innovations and revolutionary changes such as are being produced in the incubators of ideas and solutions for the great problems of humanity. In Venezuela there is a saying, la esperanza es lo ltimo que se pierde, hope is the last thing to be lost. Let us hope that somehow, the world of higher education and higher learning is kept alive in Venezuela and that institutional autonomy and academic freedom might be the strong force of intellectual life that any modern nation has the obligation to pursue, with dedication and honesty. It is an obligation and a responsibility from any national academic community, to the international community to which it belongs, as a primary duty174 . If this were to be the case, once again, let it be. I most end this case study by stating that I have searched without prejudice for the most precise conceptual analogy to what is going on in Venezuela and how this will affect higher education, institutional autonomy and academic freedom. There are many possibilities. One, which I like, is to contrast non other than the architect of the welfare state, Gunner Myrdals thoughts in his book Beyond the welfare state (1960)175 . He thought t at the welfare state was ending and that a more open h entrepreneurial society would substitute what he thought had ended as an option for development. However, this interesting economic vision is alive and well, appearing with gusto in the instance of the Venezuelan revolution (1999-2004). This revolution is back to the welfare state. Blaming neo liberalism, technology, technocrats and all sort of ghost of the past, the revolution is simply utilizing the national wealth and trying to redistribute it according to the needs of the people though in the meantime these needs are just an alibi to gather power and wealth for the group in power. It is a revolution with a profound moral underpinning and against all the symbols of modernization, globalization and in general
174 Interesting to quote what the Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa wrote some years ago about the universities in Latin America, which provoked at the time the repulse of many people in this region, though many would silently now be in agreement with this politician and man of letters of eminent standard: I don't think I exaggerate if I say that the majority of public and state universities in Latin America no longer merit the title of university because they no longer provide the kind of moral, political and scientific responsibility that one has the right to expect of an institution of higher education. If among the intellectual beliefs of Latin America the idea of democracy itself is so denigrated, it is because, in great part, of our public universities. It is in these universities that young people have been educated to think that freedom of the press, freedom of thought, separation of powers, elections are formal institutions that disguise exploitation, imperialism and so on. Of course, all generalizations are wrong. This has not happened in many cases. But there are many cases where it has, and is still happening in Latin America Instead of promoting the idea of consensus, of pluralistic societies in which all ideas are welcomed, and in which dialogue and communication are respected, our public universities have become promoters of dogmatism and intolerance.. See the article by Mario Vargas Llosa The Americas: Latin America's Polluted Fountain of Knowledge Wall Street Journal New York, N.Y. April 10, 1987 175 See the book by Myrdal, Gunner. Beyond the Welfare State 1960. Gerald Duckworth & Co. Of interest for Latin Americans to recall, that Myrdall was a member of the Board of the Latin American Institute in Stockholm. He had all his life a interest in science developing in the region. When speaking about poverty in India and Pakistan he recalled that poverty in countries like Brazil and Haiti were even worse than in India, because of the lack of full social solidarity, contrary as to what happens in the Asian countries. See his classical boon The Asian Drama, an inquiry into the poverty of nations, 3 volumes, New York, Pantheon, 1968. Part three of this book would be quite important to be read, vis a vis the Venezuelan situation. This part address what Mydarl calls Economic realities which apparently are been omitted in the case of this peculiar revolution.

Cmo aumentar la calidad acadmica

Orlando Albornoz

anything that comes from the hated developed world, which is seen as the imperialistic monster that have devoured Third World people. It is a revolution to denounce white supremacy, as well as the Spanish colonization, the multinational firms that supposedly came to Venezuela and took away the national wealth. It is another example of the endless search for the external variable that would explain the external as well as the internal causes of whatever the state of affairs of a society. According to the principles of the revolution, the thoughts of the Liberator of the country, Simon Bolivar, will guide Venezuela to a prosperous future. Strategic alliances with the Cuban Revolution will also help and in fact, to many Venezuelans this relationship is almost a kind of bi-national government, because of the size and commitment between the two nations. This macro-State will provide well being, to all Venezuelans, as long as they accept uncritically the one-man rule and keep quiet about the many mistakes of the revolution, including widespread administrative corruption, abuses of power and the repugnant cult of personality that is everywhere in Venezuela, these days176 . This is when higher education may enter central stage. This is so because to many the intelligentsia is the last resource of the conscience of society. If the revolution violates not only academic principles but also public liberties, the universities might find themselves fighting against oppression. The situation has not reached such a level of conflict but the table seems served for it, if the most superficial observations are correct177 . Civilized people in and outside Venezuela hopes for this conflict to come to a consensus, between the political and ideological forces in conflict, that will stop this society for taking the tragic steps that have been common in the Region, as elsewhere. One of the first victims of such a situation will be higher education and higher learning and that would be sorrowful. In addition, this is such because when a society sacrifices the institutions were man can think and reflect, create and innovate, train the next generation and search for answers to the pressing problems of man and society, nations becomes empty spaces were only the brutal and primitive force reigns.

176

One of the main policies of the revolution is to fill the enormous gap between the have and the have not in Venezuelan society. Poverty, however, is not a natural phenomenon, it is a social artifact created by social relationships. If the right policies to diminish poverty are implemented, taking the wrong policies will be increased this complex social problem. The revolution, in short, instead of helping the poor with their policies of redistribution of wealth to poor segments of the population is in fact increasing poverty. See n this by Teresa Hayter The creation of world poverty. Pluto Press, London, 1981, an outdated pamphlet that shows in details the chances for success or failure when fighting poverty. 177 The violence of the revolution could be seen in the following sentence, which was expressed by the President of he country, when speaking to soldiers in the opportunity of a national holiday: 'Ustedes, soldados, tendran que escoger -con los fusiles en la mano- que hacer, hacia dnde apuntar los fusiles: si al pecho de la oligarqua traidora o al pecho del pueblo noble de Venezuela' (You will have to choose, with your weapons, where to shoot, to the oligarchs that are traitors or to the noble people of Venezuela), an obvious intimidation and illegal uses of the national armed forces, now under the whims of a single person, the leader of the revolution.

Cmo aumentar la calidad acadmica

Orlando Albornoz

Lessons from the Venezuelan experience under the revolution

When lecturing in both Europe and the United States of America I am often asked the following questions: How many universities have been closed down by the revolutionary government? How many students have been persecuted and expelled from the universities? How many members of the faculty have been expelled from the universities and have to exile them or been obliged to do so by the government? The answer to each question is in the negative. Under this prism the Venezuelan situation is not worse than many other examples of attacks to academic life in the Region. In fact, higher education and particularly the universities, in Latin America and the Caribbean, have been traditionally under attacks. Institutions, students, members of the faculty, have been harassed, violently treated by authoritarian governments and in all of these cases governments have tried to control this source of intellectual and political criticism coming out of the universities. Two examples, which are emblematic in the region, are the Chilean higher education under Pinochet and Cuba under Castro, the two examples of two ideological and political which are opposite to each other and however they used similar methods to control higher education. All along the almost twenty years of Pinochets dictatorship and through the almost fifty years of the Castros regime, higher education was tightly controlled. In these two cases dissidents were punished, students and professors were persecuted, and institutions were closed down or at best allowed to remain open under permanent scrutiny in relation to their political and ideological standing. In Venezuela, there are new ways to handle the objectives of political and ideological control. In one hand, by creating a parallel system of higher education and then, by organizing ways to indirectly, narrowing the spheres of influence of the standards universities. Since the beginning of 2003 there is a extremely tight currency control, at 1.600 local currency units per American dollar. This currency has fluctuated between 2.500 to 3.000 units per American dollar. This have been a brutal blow to the academic needs of the country, where universities have been immobilized, unable to but books and journals for their libraries, to support students in foreign universities and to allow members of the faculty to travel abroad. On the other hand, the official university of the revolution has been highly promoted, and given all the resources to function as the institution that will train the cradles of the revolution. Simultaneously, as from mid 2003 there have been a shortage of passports and this have made still more difficult to travel abroad.

Cmo aumentar la calidad acadmica

Orlando Albornoz

The end of ideology and the beginning of fundamentalism: in defence of democratic procedures
Is the university an institution that can survive only under democratic procedures? This is a question asked these days by all Venezuelans interested on academic life and on the role of higher education and higher learning in economic and social development. There are at least two valid and well-sustained arguments in relation o the role of the university in a modern society: 1. Those who argue that the university and in fact all institutions should work for the common good and the general interest, in such a case the universities main role is the social role, a institution committed to the social causes, full of the vigour of the goals of the needs of the people. 2. On the contrary, those who see the university as a place were research and teaching at the highest level is in a way a kind of ivory tower, where isolated from the obstacles and inconvenient of every day life the products of the academia are at the service of mankind, oblivious of the immediate needs of the people were they are working. These are stereotypes, of course. More and more institution all over are involved in a way or the other with daily problems and reflects the ideological, political and social changes in social and national lives. However, intellectual creativity, the development of talent to the highest level of invention and innovations requires a certain unequivocal distance from daily affairs, because otherwise these advances are over-run by the immediacy of the problems. The concept of democracy The new Venezuelan Constitution of 1999, used by the leaders of the revolution as words written in stone, which can not be questioned, include a notion of democracy which is supposed to be an advancement from prior conceptions of democracy. This is a point that should be discussed, because these concepts are different in their theoretical and practical approximations.

The level of analysis of this working paper

The level of analysis done on this working paper is, of course, sociological analysis of educational policies, in the case of the five years of the revolution that, since 1999 is taking place in Venezuela. Without disregarding other approaches to the study and analysis of higher education, the sociological vie allows the reader to understands the relationship between the schooling and educational system with the others set of institutions that primarily affect this learning process, mainly the intense relationship between the
Cmo aumentar la calidad acadmica Orlando Albornoz

organization of power and income, two essential components of the behaviour of a society. In both of this instances their distribution in societies like Venezuela is unequal. Power usually is in the hands of very few people that control everything, in a direct or in an indirect way. Income is distributed in such a way as to provoke unfair ways that causes to some having too much and many having too little. These circumstances end in situations that arise the desire in many to come to terms with this, by taking power and trying to diminish these horrid differences. As it happens his is usually easier to say than to actually put in practice. But leaders that come to power with these fix ideas to transform the organization of society fail to realise the complexities of such a task and in many occasions their actions have reverse effects. Any way, the ideal is the dream, to solve all these problems at once and forever. Reality is stubborn, however, and has their own ways to twits the best intentions. Leaders and regimes like those of Stalin and Mao, for instance, have tried and failed to change societies by force. More successfully have been societies that have negotiated their issuing educational policies, in order to operate the maximum possible consensus, which is the only way of these policies to stand any chance at all. By the authoritarian approaches of political populism and ideological fundamentalism lead moderns countries nowhere and instead of improving the lot of people they create conditions in which these improvements are more difficult to achieve. Some of these question can be observed in Venezuela and among other reasons this call for the theories and concepts of sociology, in order to clarify the behaviour of the educational system and the policies formulated to change the direction of this system, in all levels or in one in particular. In the Venezuelan case a revolution is trying to go back from the beginning of time ad to redirect the trends of this society in order to accept the model for a more fair and happier society. In trying to do the leaders of this peculiar revolution has taken guidance in a moral and ethical stand. In the instance of higher education and in spite of many deficiencies in doing so, this society had developed an impressive system of higher education, based upon accepted ways to do that, internationally speaking. The revolution thinks otherwise and insists in creating their own set of institutions and to re-establish the role of higher education in society. As for the bright side of the analysis the Venezuelan case s a fascinating experience. Were i the education policies issued on higher education be successful it will mark a triumph for those who believe in the academic populism they are trying to impose upon the education system of higher education. The leaders of the revolution are applying the version of authoritarian populism, in as much as the policies being applied in Venezuela are to many observers arbitrary and against the logic of the function and operation of educational system in this highest level. Some times are issued even against common sense, in which case costly mistakes are bound to be committed, with a heavy and painful cost to be reversed. O the other hand, there is a darker side to this, which is that the policies could be entirely wrong, because they have not been submitted to any technical standards and as a result they will means a set back in the process of modernization that have been taken in Venezuela since 1958, when the military dictatorship of the time was overthrown. If educational policies do not obey technical standards, if the people issuing them do not have the slightest idea of the macro level of feasibility and viability of policies, which many time are issued only to please circumstantial situations. The worse scenery is when those in
Cmo aumentar la calidad acadmica Orlando Albornoz

power to issue policies are not competent to understand the complexities of such a process and not care to estimate the causes and effects, the cost and benefits, the possible errors to be committed, and the emergence of new problems as a result of the applications of such policies. This might be happening in Venezuela, these days. Policies are issued to solve short-term problems, creating long term consequences. Some times they are policies supported often only by emotional stands and worse than that because of ideological and political concerns which are against the trends of the contemporary world, which is the only standard of comparisons. However, in spite of the proclaimed absence of neutrality, sociological analysis is not bound in the first place to make judgments. Neither it is a format to present facts and issues, but to gather a level of analytical comprehension of social phenomena, in this case the educational policies issued in relation to higher education in a country in South America, under the predicament of a political and ideological revolution. Five long years into this revolution is a span of time consistent enough to observe the trends of this revolution. But though these trends seem to be taken form in the recent one or two years, some question are still undecided; in this case no final conclusion could be made in this working paper as the possible outcome of this still unstable conditions of the current state of affairs in Venezuela. Only time will provide a final answer. In the meantime the analytical framework present in this piece of work can help to understand the dynamics of whatever is going on and their future consequences, in Venezuelan higher education.

Cmo aumentar la calidad acadmica

Orlando Albornoz

Parte III
Dossier of Venezuelan higher education: some quantitative and additional information. Twenty points to be considered for a proper comprehension of the internal working operation of this educational system

Cmo aumentar la calidad acadmica

Orlando Albornoz

The Venezuelan system of higher education corresponds to the tendency observed in many countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. There is nothing unusual or extraordinary in the ways this country has organized higher education. It tried to conform to the modernization process of his capitalist development that has been the dominant model since the country has been part of the Western model of development, closely associated with the American economy, which is the main market for Venezuelan products, meaning oil. It is a well-extended system, covering most of the country and most of the population willing to enter higher education. Socially speaking it is a rather democratic system, having opened opportunities in both the public and private sectors since 1958. It is a new system, with most institutions having been opened in the last thirty years. There is not one single institution in the country of what could be called world class, but at least the few institutions oriented toward the research model are competitive in the Region. A recent tendency toward isolation might be damaging to the over all quality of the whole educational system. This tendency comes out of a new concept development of the country, which is trying now to reverse course, from a capitalist type of development to the development inspired in state socialism. Nothing new, of course; these paths for national development have all been tried before. Success or failures are matter easily observed thorough the historical events of Twentieth Century, all over the world. As the Greeks found out, man does not learn from experience but from their own mistakes. Let Venezuela commit those mistakes, in order to learn the better road for development. This Dossier of Venezuelan higher education: some quantitative and additional information. Twenty points to be considered for a proper comprehension of the internal working operation of this educational system allows the reader of this working paper to understand the issues that define and characterize higher education in Venezuela. Those readers unfamiliar with higher education in the Region and especially in Venezuela may read this working paper beginning with this Appendix. All statistical information is taken from Boletn Estadstico de Educacin Superior N 20, 2000 (OPSU, June 2003)

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The country: With a population of some 25 million people a a total area of 912,050 sq. nd km Venezuela is a developing country with a large GDP, some $82 billion. The economy of the country depends upon the oil industry, so much that it allow experts to classify her as a petrostate, meaning the fact that the survival of the state and society depends upon the income generated by the oil exports. The country is divided in 24 estados, each one with a capital and 333 municipalities, each one with a major and a legislative council. The capital of the country is Caracas (Population close to 4.000.000). Speaking about higher education it should be understood that in Venezuela there are several types of institutions: autonomous which are those entitled by law to manage their own affairs (As far as it can be seen in the publications of The Consejo Nacional de Universidades, since 2000, they does not use the concept of autonomy; they have created a new and clever way to call these autonomous universities, universidades no-experimentales). They organize their own government through open elections. They control their finances. Universities experimentales are a different concept. These are universities created by the state but which are not given autonoma. The government appoints the authorities in these universities and there are no open elections. The government controls their finances. They have careers that are four to six years long, from licenciados to doctores. Most of them have graduate studies, up to the level of Master degrees, but few have doctoral degrees. Colegios universitarios and institutos tecnologicos are three-year long studies and they give TSU degrees (tcnico superior universitario). The government controls all of these institutions. Private institutions can be either one of the above-mentioned types but they are run by private capital. None of the private universities are autonomous, since they are legally controlled by the state. However, all higher education institutions are state institutions, either public or private and all of them are ruled by the same legal regulations. There are institutions of higher education in each one of the 24 states of the country. The Venezuelan system of higher education is present all over the country, in 59 campuses and 82 extensions. Higher education is one of the Venezuelan institutions with more credibility and prestige, in society and public opinion. Institutions: Venezuela has a very well organize and expanded higher educational system. It is to the credit of both the public and the private sector this expansion of the Venezuelan higher education system. In all cases under the generous patronage of the state, who has also created and supported the science and technology research institutions, in this case without the participation of the private sector. According to the statistics information of 2000 there are in the country 146 higher education institutions. Those familiar with The Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education178 will find that in Venezuela there is not found the type of the Doctoral/Research UniversitiesExtensive but two of the Venezuelan universities are in the category of Doctoral/Research UniversitiesIntensive, since they give at least ten doctoral degrees per year across three or more disciplines, or at least 20 doctoral degrees per year overall. Most universities are the type Master's Colleges and Universities II: These institutions typically offer a wide range of baccalaureate programs, and they are committed to graduate education through the master's degree. During the period studied, they awarded 20 or more master's degrees per year. Three or two
178

See

this

classification

in:

The

Carnegie

Foundation

for

the

Advancement

of

Teaching

http://www.carnegiefoundation.org/

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years institutions in Venezuela correspond to Associate's Colleges. These institutions offer associate's degree and certificate programs but, with few exceptions, award no baccalaureate degrees. This group includes institutions where, during the period studied, bachelor's degrees represented less than 10 percent of all undergraduate awards. This group includes community, junior, and technical colleges. Community colleges have been an important influence in the region179 . 42 institutions are universities: 6 autonomous, 15 experimentales and 21 in the private sector. Interesting to point out that the Consejo Nacional de Universidades, the official body that manage the Venezuelan universities, call the autonomous institutions no-experimentales, which is a tacit way to ignore the autonomous institutions. No one seems to complain. There are also 22 institutes of technology in the public sector and 27 in the private sector. 5 institutos universitarios in the public sector and 19 in the private sector; these are the two or three years educational institutions mentioned before. Finally there are 7 university colleges, also three years institutions, in the public sector and 6 in the privates sector. There are also a number of other institutions,, like the Army schools (9), religious seminaries (2), as well as institutions working only in the area of graduate studies, like the prestigious IVIC, IESA or CENDES. The expansion has been steady since 1958, both in public and private sectors of higher education. The system is new, in fact, aside from very few called historical institutions, created during the Spanish colonial times. It is a national system, since few students or Faculty members are from abroad; this is to say, almost all of them are residents. The institutions are vocational in their objectives and train people who once get their degrees have them for life, without further quality control. In fact, institutions hand over their degrees and they decide without any interference whatsoever the academic qualities of those degrees. It is to insist that quality of higher education is very erratic in Venezuela, with some department of high standard and others, which only with a piteous spirit can be called higher education, if at all. The whole sector is under the legal and technical responsibility of a Ministry of Higher Education, created in 2002. Two agencies of long data, the Consejo Nacional de Universidades (CNU) and the Oficina de Planificacin del Sector Universitario (OPSU) were incorporated into this Ministry. In the Consejo Nacional de Universidades is presided b the Minster of Higher Education, all the rectors of the universities (autonomous, experimentales and private), representative of the National Assembly, the faculty members of the three types of institutions, of the students body and the Ministry of Finances. 3. Students: Of a total of some 803.755 students in higher education in 2000, 510.967 were enrolled in Venezuelan universities. 79% of them were in public institutions. In the private universities there are some 116.352, which represents the 21% of the students, with 394.615 students in the public sector. In the graduate level there are 32.550 students, mostly in public institutions. In these public institutions students are well protected, from the social point of view. They pay no fees at all and receive free transportation, meals and medical care. In private institutions they are supposed to pay for all the services they receive, and scholarships programs are limited and consist only in not imposing their fees. The amount of the fees varies according to the target of the institution. In relative terms fees are in some
179

See Claudio de Moura Castro et al. Community colleges: is there a lesson in them for Latin America?. Washington : Inter-American Development Bank, 2001. In Venezuela they have been quite useful and have provided trained labor people easily absorbed by both industry and public administration.

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cases rather modest and are affordable for middle and upper social classes, not so much for the poor who remain outside higher education, in spite of the efforts to enroll all of them on this level of the school system. Students come from middle and middle lower social classes. Minority students, from native and Afro Venezuelan origins are under represented in the higher education student body. From the gender point of view they are equally represented. Some 40 per cent of the students come from the middle lower class, a relevant segment of the university population, with some 4 per cent coming either from the upper class or the so-called marginal class, students coming from very poor families. The rest of the total being distributed as middle class low or high. Since there are not residential institutions in Venezuela students commute very day from home to the university and many do work, on the side. Interesting to say that they enroll as full time, students and almost a third are evening students. Ordinarily these students have jobs during the day, a situation resulting in a fatigue that leads to lower performance of both Faculty members and students. University education is rather school like, focusing on contact hours in lecture halls. Not much else is offered and sports or cultural activities remain marginal. To succeed, once enrolled, students attend classes, are examinised on parts of a given curriculum and obtain a degree. There is no full commitment to the institution that usually does not leave a deep mark on the graduates behaviour. The system looks efficient in relation to the output in numbers of students taking degrees, 56.369 new students getting degrees, an amount close to half of the number of new students coming in into the system, 114.454. However, there is no quality control on these people obtaining degrees, nor is the system friendly to any form of quality control. 4. Members of the faculty: there are 68.873 faculty members in Venezuelan higher education, 49.275 in universities (8.520 in private universities, though this is a misleading information, since many of them are also counted as faculty members in public universities; 40.755 are faculty members in public institutions). Members of the faculty are essentially teachers who take care of the students through lectures given in the classroom with few other duties once they have discharged their courses. Their training is often not very advanced, as less than 20% of academic staff is holding doctoral qualifications. Faculty members have important social privileges; once appointed, they receive life tenure. Once they get in they are employed for life. In many ways, even after life, since their privileges are inherited by their survivors. Their universities only, under the conditions of dedicacin exclusiva, employ faculty members: this means full-time work at the university although moonlighting on other jobs is not rare, particularly in private universities. In fact, they are the most powerful power brokers in autonomous universities. A good 30 per cent are under the condition of tiempo convencional, meaning people that come and go to the institution, without any further commitment. The rest of the faculty is hired as full time or half time. Private universities have more than 90 per cent of their faculty on this situation. In terms of their quality some 15 per cent hold degrees at the level of doctor. Some 30 per cent of the Faculty members of public institutions are retired but they are still in the regular pay roll of the universities, creating a cul de sac of very negative financial consequences. Retired members of the faculty still have the right to vote in the university elections and they have a powerful saying in those political events. Needles to say, to obtain a job at a public university is very attractive, in view of the light demands o the work place. It is not a job, f actually, but a security nest, for life.
Cmo aumentar la calidad acadmica Orlando Albornoz

5. The financial situation: higher education in Venezuela has been financed generously. If the State does not fund private education, it supports it indirectly as so many staff m embers from public universities moonlight in private institutions. If public sector establishments were to control their personnel strictly or ask the private sector to pay the real cost of teaching, most private institutions would probably collapse. Considering that public institutions depend on a single funder, their development is linked to the State capacity to provide; this often means fluctuations in the revenue that are not compensated by access to other financial sources. The public universities only extra income comes from capital investment. As the current government will not allow charging fees to the students and as the teachers unions refuse the control of remuneration, growing gaps are now developing between income and expenditures. This could lead to the collapse of the whole system, especially if the State were to reduce its support. This should entice universities to access other sources of income, all the more so as the government is largely in debt to higher education a growing point of friction between the authorities and the public universities. 6. Academic production/productivity: the system is first and foremost a teaching machine. Less than 5 % of the members of the faculty are engaged in scientific or technological research, as measured by those academics that are members of the National Foundation for the Promotion of Researchers, which is a foundation opened by the state to stimulate scientific and technological research. The country is well behind the innovation leaders of the Region, Brazil in Mexico. Central America and the Caribbean, including Cuba, are still further away from the leaders than Venezuela. In terms of academic production, the private sector is underrepresented. Indeed, even when strong and important in their teaching provisions, private institutions are particularly weak in research, a very marginal aspect of their activities. The system measures gross production of academic materials, no the productivity of whatever is produced; in such a case it is not easy to evaluate performance, in individual or institutional basis. 7. Diversification: the system is well diversified and in fact decentralized. The public sector has been well financed and in some cases they have some splendid buildings and campuses. In other instances they are poorly maintained and signs of decay are visible. The private sector has managed to build a very impressive sub-system of higher education. Two or three of them are as formidable in facilities as the best of the public sector. Some of the people that have entered the private sector do so because of the large profits to be made in this activity in Venezuela, but still they do play a positive role in as much as they capture students that otherwise would have no place in higher education. S ome of these institutions attract students who have failed entering the subsidized public institutions. The private institutions do not provide free schooling except in a very short number. As well this happens with the public sector, the private one provide the service of higher education according to the social class division of Venezuelan society, some to the children of the wealthy, some to those from the working classes. The public sector also provides the service along these lines of social divisions. In both public and private short-term three years institutions fill the demands of people willing to come sooner to the labor market. 8. Learning resources: in terms of libraries and technological instrument learning resources are inefficient. Learning as such is a process done directly between the teacher and the classroom. There is not the intermediation between knowledge and the person
Cmo aumentar la calidad acadmica Orlando Albornoz

searching for it. Both the credentialism and the immediacy of the learning process make the classroom the center of the whole educational and schooling perspective. The reduction in learning resources is the most dramatic set back of the higher educational system in Venezuela. Learning resources are suffering a set back, in the country. In the year 2003 the university libraries could not renew their journals subscription, with some exception. The Universidad de Los Andes (Mrida) cut down sixty per cent of the journal titles, in a year. The IVIC Library could only kept 16 per cent of their journals titles, in 2003180 . This set backs are difficult to repair, because journals charge more for the back issues and they only public according to pay demand. The tight currency control and the inadequate care of this issue will aggravate the quality of higher learning in Venezuela. The amount in American dollars needed by the institutions go from three million dollars in UCV and IVIC to some one hundred thousand dollars in other institutions. The technological platform is weak and in some cases they are not available. The cost of this platform may be a very important impediment for academic progress, in the years to come. Might be added here that learning per se is not the objective of those actors of Venezuelan higher education. To simplify the arguments: for students the goals is the degree, for the members of the faculty their remunerations. 9. Access: as it happens elsewhere it has been a problem in Venezuela, since demand is larger that the supply of places in higher education. Students are selected according to some criteria through national examinations, the Prueba de Aptitud Acadmica, taken by those finishing secondary education, every year. This test is obligatory for both the students and institutions, though some institutions do applied their own test to select their students. The private universities uses the results of the test but some of them do not take this as a prerequisite. The test was applied in an experimental stage in 1878, and begun as mandatory in 1984. 374.536 took the test in 2003 and not all of them would secure places in higher education institutions, nonetheless in their preferred area of studies. The current government is trying to guarantee a place in higher education to any student that has gone through secondary education, through some remedial actions. Of course, access is only a part of the whole process. Employability is the other. The problems these days is not out to get people inside the institutions, is how to get them out and not dying in the intent. The output is rather low and more than the problem of access the key question seems to be how to retain the students and have them finish their studies in an efficient length of time. Apparently about 25 per cent abandon their studies, another 30 per cent extend their stay at the institutions longer than expected. 10. Use of time : the system might be very inefficient in the use of the use of time. In many aspects Venezuelan society is in the pre-modern stages, especially in the use of time.
180

The IVIC library has been hurt badly. In 2002 his library could subscribe to 2.510 titles of periodic publications. In 2003 they could manage to do that with only 411 titles, 16 per cent of the previous year. For 2004 the budget has been increased in they could buy all the titles, but the funds have not arrived yet, making difficult to order them. See Gioconda San-Blas, Verdades de la biblioteca Marcel Roche, El Nacional, February 8, 2004, p. A-9. The government is trying to increase their participation in the governing body of IVIC and many feel that this should be done, to increase transparency of the internal affairs of this finest institution. Of interest to point out that society at large does not sit down in the governing bodies of academic institutions. In the case of IVIC many have thoughts that this institution equal the unsympathetic ivory tower types of institution.

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Maana is still a way of life in this country. Long period of holidays, many days off because of national holidays and so on allows for a system, which ends up to be overfunded or under utilizes. The output of the system might be actually much below the expected return of the huge investment of the state in Venezuelan higher education. No modern reforms have been made in this area that remains quite backward in as much as it does contemplate performance as a factor of academic life. The level of performance might certainly be low, because the amount of time and the scarce academic demands. Indeed the use of time in Venezuela is a happy affair, quite within the stereotype popular in the Hollywood version of the region. According to some estimates the academic activities in Venezuela, in higher education, occupy no more than a third of the available time. This makes the whole internal operation of the system highly inefficient. 11. Accountability and transparency: there is little in the way of accountability in Venezuelan higher education and in relation to transparency there are many examples of academic corruption. This is topic not talked about in the academic circles. However, being the country well establish as a society with a high degree of administrative corruption the academic space would not be foreign to those practices. Most of the misuses of funds happen to take place in the ways the authorities of the institutions manage the resources given to the institutions. Lack of supervision might explain the uncontrolled behavior of the Faculty members. In the name of libertad de ctedra, members of the Faculty in public institutions would never allow for supervision of their work to take place. In public institutions faculty members are hired for life and their performance is not linked to their stability, which is guarantee by the agreements that regulate their functions. In the private institutions they do have a kind of quality control, mainly restricted to the checking list of the person giving a lessons, because in many of the institutions members of the Faculty are paid by the hour. In fact, in private institution there is not a faculty as such, since those who teach are commuting, they get in, give their class and get out. Venezuela is a society with high levels of corruption and academia could not be out of that. For this reason both accountability and transparence are low in this society. The Transparency International Annual Corruption Perception Index has Latin American and the Caribbean in a high level of both items and Venezuela high inside the region. 12. Academic quality and demands: in general terms the load is light, for the members of the faculty and in many instances the students can navigate through their studies with relatively little effort. Quality corresponds to the comprehensive American university, at best. At worse there are institutions were it is rather easy to obtain a degree. The best recipe for success is for both members of the faculty as well as for students to come to classes. If they do they will just carry on. The policy of universal access to higher education might lead to a diminishing of academic standards. Academic quality is evaluated via internal procedures. Only in 1992 the country created a mechanism to external evaluation of quality, a successful program to motivate researchers, which has had a profound positive effect in having successfully created the initial stage of a strong academic community in the country. 13. Graduate studies: they are now being consolidated after having been around for quite some time. There are some excellent programmes at this level, even if some research indicates that graduate studies often obey the slogan more of the same especially at MA
Cmo aumentar la calidad acadmica Orlando Albornoz

level. Indeed, programmes are rarely in the research category and focus on classroom work as the centre piece of the whole learning process. Many of those programmes are offered part-time and do not require more than a academic year to complete research for a thesis. Doctoral dissertations in Venezuela are in local many cases simple monographs. This does not stimulate fieldwork research or the development of the academic apparatus that would be the key to the generation of research on the local environment, be it natural or social. Graduate students represent some 10% per cent of the total number of students, some 510.967 in 2000. In that year, the system accounted for some 1.124 graduate programmes, with only 84 at doctoral level. The graduate studies at the doctoral level are practically speaking a monopoly of the public institutions; the private institutions have developed this option only in the area of the master degrees programmes. Venezuela is a latecomer to doctoral studies and have not developed a strong infra structure able to promote this academic level, which implies the road to have research universities in the country. Given the current circumstances, look improbable that the country would ever achieve this step, well needed in academic and economic development. 14. Internationalization/Internationalism: at the risk of committing academic suicide, the country is presently moving into isolation by focusing its international academic connections on Cuba mainly a country less well endowed in university resources. Cuba, moreover, is a closed academic system, which follows a doctrinaire approach to education and, particularly, to higher education. Thus, the new course could be counterproductive. The number of students in American universities has been cut down by 90 per cent in the last five years, according to information of the Institute of International Education. The tight currency control does not allow for funding students abroad. The relationship with Cuba is wide on the recruiting Venezuelan students to follow their careers in that Caribbean country. Even the new UBV is a kind of Bi-national University, with their medicine students doing two years in Cuba and then coming back home to complete their studies. There is no precise information about the numbers of Venezuelan students in Cuba, since this is information not readily available. 15. Government in higher education: in Venezuela, with the exception of autonomous universities, State authorities appoint the functionaries that govern all public institutions of higher education. They are and have been political appointees, a tradition e asily taken over by the present government. As for the autonomous universities, the rector and central authorities are chosen through elections organized in a rather complicated way. In each institution planchas (nomination slates) are being prepared, each position needing to be filled independently. This means that the four authorities of a given institution can come from four different planchas, each developing its own power basis to compete with the others. This results in a rather reactive style of management - intent on solving crises as they come, day after day. Only Faculty members can reach leading positions - often with no prior administrative experience. A search of talent at national level is indeed foreign to the local academic culture; the risk, when focusing on candidates from the inside, is possible clientelism. Elections at autonomous universities are often outbursts of political drama, very much like in national votes. Once elected, the leaders of autonomous universities have considerable power and they account for their decisions to the University Council only a body composed of the four authorities (rector, two vice-rectors and one secretary) the deans, faculty, as well as of students. All of them chosen in open elections, in the
Cmo aumentar la calidad acadmica Orlando Albornoz

autonomous universities, or by the government in the rest of the public system. There are also representatives of government and the alumni, but none of the community at large. As for the administration in autonomous universities, it presents a 1:1 ratio between teaching staff and non-academic employees, a rather high level considering the low priority given to research and laboratory work. In the private universities the owners of the institutions or their representatives appoint all the authorities. They have a very small number of people running the institutions, not exactly out of efficiency but to cut down operative cost. 16. Investing in higher education: the question is not so much increasing funding as using the available funds efficiently. The natural course would be the selection of clear policy priorities and their effective support thus refusing universal subsidizing, often an unproductive measure. Then, available resources could converge toward sectors that bring about new developments thanks to knowledge creation or technology adaptation to social needs. This is not, however, the present approach in a Venezuelan society keen to invest first in the needs of a generalized training society. The current government, as oppose to the higher education system, is not met the large investment needed by the higher learning sector. In fact, the governments in Venezuela have not figure out the conceptual differences between schooling and education, as well as between higher education and higher learning. The country has to look ahead in these matters. Otherwise the competitive character of Venezuelan higher education would be lost rather soon. In fact, many Venezuelan experts have pointed out how the governments have covered current expenditures through the years but have decrease investment and if this pace is kept the system will collapse in few years. The short term vision that permeates the horizontal continuous expansion of the system, without doing vertical efforts for invention and innovations linked to the industrial apparatus, will be a severe obstacles for development of higher education and in this case of the country, in the future. Recent changes in the academic map of the country that is related to research are not encouraging. The dismantling of the research unit of the oil industry, INTEVEP, as well of its corporate university, CIED, are not very promising. The relatively indifference of the revolutionary government to scientific and technological enterprises means to pay a heavy toll some time in the future, concerning these activities. Blind to the contribution of them to economic and social development; shows the dramatic whereabouts to the Venezuelan situation concerning higher learning. The regime will keep the higher education apparatus because of the bureaucratic pressures, but seems unable to grasp the importance of these activities in countries, which demands a full commitment to improvement in their knowledge management. 17. Legal and organizational aspects: higher education is regulated in Venezuela by two documents, the Constitution of 1999 and the Law of Universities, of 1971. There are several projects to issue a new law but in site of the advances in this direction the law of 1971 remains applicable. The responsibility for higher education is in the newly created Ministry of Higher Education, which began to function in January 2002. The Ministry is one of the most important and visible members of the revolutionary government. On the other hand, the Head of OPSU is perhaps the most powerful person in the revolutionary control of higher education, being at the same time a functionary within the management of the Ministry and is a representative of the faculty at the university council of the main university in the country, chosen by the university community. No institution can operate in the country without the approval of the legal bodies of the nation. Institutions of higher
Cmo aumentar la calidad acadmica Orlando Albornoz

education are issued by the Presidential decrees, but their academic programs have to be approved by the National Council of Universities, presided by the Ministry. The President issued the most recent opened university, the UBV, and later its programs were approved. Ordinarily this is done with the approval of the academic programs before being issued the creation decree, but this not alters the legality of the UBV. Any Venezuelan government has created no autonomous university. The UBV is an experimental university, as the others public universities created by the different government after 1970. A rector governs every university and two vice rectors and a secretary. Generally they are divided into faculties, each one with a dean and repeat the same hierarchical organization. 18. The future: if the whole system of higher education, including the autonomous universities, were to come under State control, Venezuelans would certainly not panic as long as degrees are provided to those who finish vocational or professional courses regardless of the absence of a labour market ready to absorb such graduates. In Venezuela, a non-intellectual society, higher learning is not a priority. Practically, in the general public, universities remain factories of degrees, such documents being considered not as a proof of intellectual achievement but as a door to employment Thus, the Venezuelan higher education system could find it difficult to resist an eventual take-over by a State taking this professional argument to the extreme like in the Bolivarian University. In this matter, the private universities capacity for institutional autonomy could become most interesting as these institutions could represent the last place for criticism and academic dissent even if they have been created to serve economic shareholders or business and industry. Not really areas dedicated to academic freedom and institutional integrity. The private universities have not been subjected to any position from the revolution that apparently has decided to let them aside, for the moment. Public good is defined right now in Venezuela by the all-inclusive policy making apparatus of the revolution. 19. Research on higher education: most of the arguments on higher education in Venezuela have little empirical value, as statistical data and research information prove rather erratic in the country. Few strategies are based upon empirical analyses. There is not a single think tank dedicated in Venezuela to prepare background notes for political parties or the government. Decisions of the government are taken exclusively on doctrinarian approaches and political parties and other agencies express opinions based upon heir believes without any empirical evidences at all. Some of the autonomous universities have research institutes in the area of education, but they are of little help on this matter of empirical research. There are the national statistics as well as those published by OPSU, but of course data and information is not analogous to empirical research. So, most proposals made about academic transformation and there are many are rhetorical mainly. If opinions abound, rigorous analysis is scarce, a situation that is amplified by the high politicization of Venezuelan public administration. Such a climate is also supportive of present policies, whose ideological fervor tends to ostracize possible opponents. In many ways, however, the current revolutionary administration picks up old routines that it can exploit to its own purposes with no need to justify or motivate scientifically the choices being made. 20. Conclusion: It can be said here that analysis can be objective and rigorous even in spite of lacking empirical data. A scientific approach to social reality can come out with the
Cmo aumentar la calidad acadmica Orlando Albornoz

analysis of current events and real structures, which are basic data, of course. This working paper has been built after referencing an enormous amount of material and experiences. The internal working operations of social systems are the consequence of variables that are not generally visible; they are not only legal or financial information. This is what happens in Venezuelan higher education, where the apprehension of the cultural dynamics of the system cannot be grasped but after meticulous observations, which are not easily available. On this question mention should be made of, for instance, administrative and academic corruption taking place in Venezuela. There is no way whatsoever to prove beyond any doubt the observances of many events in which funds are misused, academic materials are stolen or damaged, faculty members do not fulfill their obligations, students pay faculty members to do their academic obligations and so on and so forth. It is to believe that the academic analysis organized in this working paper is not far from reality. It is an interpretation, though, but supported with valid information, data and arguments. At all events the purpose of this document is to provide materials for a proper understanding of higher education in a country under going a revolution. Many find this revolution crumbling, in 2004; others see a long and prosperous future for this political movement. The revolution is in a defying mood, in February 2004, attacking what they believe are its enemies, like President Bush & USA and the internal opposition, to whom the leader of the revolution has asked to take to the mountains and open guerilla warfare. Whatever the outcome, higher education is in the middle of affairs and whatever happens outside the system is affecting and will be affecting the ways higher education answer to the needs of society, in Venezuela and the role they play as an institution critical for the development of societies. For this reason the question is not to ask in isolated fashion what happens to academic values such as academic freedom and institutional integrity (autonomy), in a given country, in this case Venezuela, but to try to see the over all picture of what is going all in the society at large. This is a very respectable way to look at institutional behavior, in fact a long-standing tradition in social sciences, which is wonderful to oblige.

Cmo aumentar la calidad acadmica

Orlando Albornoz

3
La Reforma de la Educacin Superior

Cmo mejorar la calidad acadmica en instituciones de educacin superior: individuos, grupos e instituciones

Dr. ORLANDO ALBORNOZ Profesor Titular

Patrocinado por Centro de Altos Estudios Gerenciales Instituto Superior de Investigacin y Desarrollo Coordinacin: Dr. Genaro Mosquera C.

Cmo aumentar la calidad acadmica en instituciones de educacin superior: individuos, grupos e instituciones
Lectura 3
Objetivo: la reforma de la educacin superior es un tema perenne, en una actividad que parece siempre lejana de satisfacer las expectativas por equidad, calidad, pertinencia, democracia, innovacin y as sucesivamente. El objetivo en el caso de esta lectura es decidir entre la nocin de ajuste estructural (neoliberalismo) y la conveniencia, en cuanto la aplicacin del modelo revolucionario demanda y exige el patrn de conveniencia, de hecho una vuelta al populismo, un neopopulismo.

LA REFORMA DE LA EDUCACIN SUPERIOR:

los dilemas entre la necesidad de un ajuste estructural y la conveniencia de un reajuste ideolgico Orlando Albornoz oalborno@reacciun.ve

Trabajo presentado en la Reunin sobre Evaluacin y reforma de la educacin superior, 15 y 16 de marzo de 2001, Universidad Central de Venezuela.

Dedico este trabajo a Walter Regg, quien s es suizo, y a Manuelito Pealver, quien descubri que no lo ramos. 1

Entendemos la reforma como un proceso de depuracin de la Universidad, lograda por el continuo mejoramiento del elemento humano que la integra, de sus mtodos y elementos de trabajo, y de su espritu y voluntad de progreso. Hombre, espritu y medios los tres elementos de la dinmica universitariaconjugados armnicamente para cumplir los fines que la Universidad persigue Focin Febres Cordero, Reforma universitaria, 1959

Cmo elevar la calidad

Orlando Albornoz

Introduccin
La vasta regin que conocemos como Amrica Latina y el Caribe no es competidora ni competitiva en el mbito mundial, en el rea de la produccin de conocimientos. El epicentro de esta compleja actividad se halla en los centros acadmicos y de innovacin ubicados en los pases industrializados. Aquellos que Ben David llamaba, precisamente, los centers of learning, Reino Unido, Francia, Alemania y los Estados Unidos de Amrica.2 En efecto, los artefactos que manejamos los residentes de esta regin, las medicinas que consumimos, los productos que cubren nuestras necesidades, en general, son diseados, construidos y distribuidos a travs de invenciones e innovaciones elaboradas en esos centers of learning. La desigualdad en esta rea de la produccin de conocimientos es enorme y tiende a hacerse mayor, cada vez ms. Una sola institucin dedicada a la produccin de saber, en uno de esos centros, produce mayor volumen que la generada en todas las universidades de las regiones que, como Africa y la misma regin a la cual pertenecemos, han ingresado en un rea de progresiva marginalizacin cientfica y tecnolgica. En otras palabras, no hemos sido capaces, en nuestra Regin, de crear los grandes cognitives complex que caracterizan a los pases ms industrializados.3 La idea expresada por Parsons y Platt, nos refiere, referencia que hago al inicio de este documento, es que: Lo que concierne al conocimiento y sus avances es analticamente independiente de su utilizacin practica. Del mismo modo, ni la preocupacin primordial del arte es la de favorecer los intereses de la sociedad, ni la de la religin es la de ser un instrumento para mejorar la productividad econmica" 4 Ese es un dato esencial de examinar en nuestra educacin superior, puesto que no solo no hemos organizado un sistema integrado de este nivel escolar postsecundaria, sino que no se percibe en el pas la necesidad de crear un cognitive complex. De hecho sera posible argir que tampoco nos movemos dentro de la nocin manejada por Altbach del knowledge context, un tema de inters para quienes nos movemos en ese espacio etreo denominado "tercer mundo, un conjunto de pases que en muchos casos se hallan al margen de la produccin y consumo de los productos del conocimiento 5 .

Es mas, quiz sea posible afirmar que, tcnicamente hablando, la educacin superior venezolana no persigue la bsqueda del saber excepto en forma utilitaria, esto es, entrenando recursos humanos, sin adelantar un paso ms adelante a ese tipo de actividad, cual es la investigacin cientfica y su componente de entrenamiento, los estudios de cuarto nivel, que en Venezuela como en muchos pases de la regin son simplemente mas de lo mismo, porque en general descansan sobre el modelo docente y no sobre el modelo de investigacin. Es decir, en los mismo trminos de la teora parsoniana. Segn esta versin analtica mal podremos los venezolanos avanzar en construir un cognitive complex si no hacemos lo propio con el cultural pattern que es indispensable. Un cultural pattern que al parecer se halla orientado hacia el espacio poder, esto es, en los mismos trminos de Parsons, somos una sociedad de power seekers . Nuestra obsesin no es, entonces, por la racionalidad del saber, sino por aquella del poder. Ahora bien, esos patrones culturales

3 seran los que pudieran adecuar la actividad individual a la existencia de una comunidad acadmica, que, igualmente, es dbil o incipiente en el pas. En mis propios trminos, lo que acontece es que hemos podido crear en la educacin superior fuentes de empleo, que no de trabajo y por ello algunas unidades de la educacin superior nacional no estn en condiciones de aportar valor agregado a la inversin que hacen va las asignaciones estatales, porque sus impedimentos son de origen estructural, el modelo docente sealado, que se organiza alrededor de la vieja nocin de institucin de educacin superior, como graduar estudiantes, organizar la actividad de aula, pagar profesores, empleados y obreros y manejarse, de hecho, como una unidad administrativa burocrtica del gobierno nacional. Este orden de ideas tiene altos niveles de correspondencia con el mismo modelo econmico del pas, dependiente prcticamente de un solo producto, la actividad petrolera, cuyos ingresos permiten que la organizacin econmica genere capacidad de empleo, pero que no obliga a desarrollar actividades de trabajo. Es decir, nuestra educacin superior es a menudo un apparatus cuyas obligaciones institucinales son de ndole burocrtica, sin mucha conexin con la cuestin del saber/conocimiento. Porque, el saber/conocimiento como tal se genera en la interpretacin profesor-alumno, cuando debiera de organizarse alrededor de la dicotoma saber/conocimiento y profesores y estudiantes. De hecho los venezolanos todava miramos el proceso de enseanza-aprendizaje sin la debida neutralidad que se produce cuando se genera saber, sino en el terreno de lo expresivo, sentimental afectivo, practicas educativas asociadas al nivel bsico pero no en el nivel superior. Por ello es posible mantener que adjudicar mas fondos al conglomerado de instituciones de la educacin superior no resuelven problema alguno, excepto satisfacer las demandas laborales, de empleo. Estos fondos deberan de proveerse solamente en la medida en que el sistema cambie de modelo docente a modelo de investigacin y que pase del smbolo de la credencial al que define por naturaleza a la universidad contempornea la bsqueda del saber/conocimiento 6 En este rengln de la bsqueda del saber/conocimiento debemos los acadmicos ser obsesivos. Si el pas no procura cerrar un espacio frtil para la creacin y adaptacin de la ciencia y tecnologa actuales no podremos interpretarnos frente a las mismas y actuamos guiados por el patrn afectivo-sentimental y no por la racionalidad de la ciencia y de la tecnologa, como tenemos que hacer. Esa es la obsesin que destaca, entre otros, Burton R. Clark 7 como la bsqueda del saber como la funcin esencial de la educacin superior, pero no la bsqueda del saber/conocimiento en forma utilitaria, sino en funcin de proveer posibilidades de discusin cara a cara las necesidades de la sociedad. Es de recordar la poca en la cual una institucin de educacin superior proclamaba su eficiencia institucinal en proporcin directa al nmero de egresados de la misma y en el mejor de los casos en los niveles de empleabilidad. Ese no es ya el caso. Hoy en da una institucin de educacin superior se mide por el cuanto genera en el rea del saber/conocimiento, codificado en sus diversas formas, incluyendo el saber/conocimiento curricular que permite entrenar estudiantes al nivel optimo, pero sobre todo en cuanta invencin e innovacin genera, a que costo y sobre todo cuanto impacto genera en la sociedad. Esta discusin nos lleva, inevitablemente, al tema de la viabilidad de la institucin de educacin superior en el pas, en donde este nivel escolar no guarda correspondencia en su performance con las necesidades del aparato productivo, que suele manejar ciencia y tecnologa importada, porque de hecho es una empresa internacional, como es PDVSA. Ms bien el patrn econmico del pas explica porqu la universidad, hablando de este tipo de institucin,

4 puede acomodarse a un patrn de subsidio, de empleos, sin traducirse en trabajo, en produccin de saber/conocimiento. Tan primaria es a veces la educacin superior venezolana que de hecho el cronograma de actividades de la misma esta regulada segn los criterios de la escuela bsica, esto, con vacaciones colectivas, momentos en los cuales se interrumpe la actividad de empleo que no ha llegado a trabajo, justamente. Naturalmente, en una sociedad definida por el componente trabajo la educacin superior venezolana laborase segn el mismo patrn laboral de PDVSA, internacional y con pretensiones de hecho mundiales, porque participa en un mercado este tipo, mientras que el mercado acadmico criollo es eso, provinciano, lento, sin rigor alguno, complaciente, en una palabra. Dicho en paradoja, la productividad de la academia nacional es baja porque es alta el nivel de productividad de la industria que suple la mayor parte de los ingresos nacionales, que al ser distribuidos a la poblacin van en una proporcin relativamente alta a actividades subsidiadas, de las cuales no es espera que sean productivas desde el punto de vista de generar saber/conocimiento, sino adecuadas a un patrn ya antiguo, entrenar recursos humanos, sin control de calidad y mediante un procedimiento mediante el cual se otorgan diplomas de por vida de dudosa calidad, en muchos casos. En trminos tcnicos lo que los venezolanos conocemos como educacin superior es una institucin normal, cuyas expectativas giran alrededor de lo conocido, como es el hecho de que los espacios y actores estn bien definidos y dirigidos hacia el predicamento del egreso de los estudiantes como profesionales, aptos para conseguir los empleos que aseguren al bienestar de quienes han hecho estos estudios. Por ello tal como lo ve Clark debemos aspirar a lo anormal, esto es, fundamental, el ver a la esencia de la educacin superior como la bsqueda por el saber/conocimiento y all comienzan las dificultades, porque evidentemente no sabemos como hacer knowledge management, sino gerencia del clientelismo, en mi criterio. Obsrvese como define Clark la funcin esencial de la institucin de educacin superior: El descubrimiento del conocimiento es una tarea sin fin. Es una misin en bsqueda de lo desconocido, de lo incierto, y como tal, es sumamente difcil de sistematizar a travs de estructuras organizativas normales que son aparentemente establecidas como medios racionales para alcanzar metas definidas y ya conocidas 8

Mi explicacin, por cierto, es que entrenar y egresar estudiantes es relativamente fcil, porque es normal, pero tratar de producir ciencia y tecnologa es anormal, porque no sabemos como, porque hacer saber/conocimiento es mas complicado que el entrenamiento de recursos humanos. Para hacer esto ultimo se maneja saber sabido, para lo segundo se necesita crear nuevo saber y esta requiere componentes anormales, de riesgo, de talento y otras cualidades personales, pero, del mismo modo, un mercado que demande este nuevo saber/conocimiento para poder seguir constante su patrn de productividad. De hecho, hacer y buscar nuevo saber/conocimiento en nuestra sociedad es de hecho una patologa, es un sntoma febril, porque la temperatura normal gira alrededor del modelo tradicional, el modelo docente, con todas sus conocidas implicaciones 9 Una breve lectura de las invenciones e innovaciones que se hallan en proceso pone evidencia esa dinmica de la marginalizacin acadmica, cientfica y tecnolgica Amrica Latina y el Caribe. Naturalmente, nuestra regin tiene sus propios espacios donde es competidora y competitiva, como en la literatura y en el deporte, pero no as en de en en

5 esa actividad de la produccin de ciencia y tecnologa. La misma no es casual. Es la consecuencia de un largo proceso histrico, de una vinculacin entre dos factores que se complementan, una cultura apropiada al efecto y un aparato productivo capa de constituir una demanda de aquello que se genera como nuevo y, obviamente, un mercado capaz de consumir, de adquirir dichos productos, no tanto en volumen como en capacidad de compra de los mismos. Los impresionantes avances en las tecnologas de las comunicaciones, de la medicina y de las industrias bsicas son generados, de hecho, en pocos centros, del mundo industrializado. El volumen de capital que mueve la industria de la invencin y de la innovacin es igualmente impresionante, ya que las inversiones para mantener la maquinaria en movimiento son igualmente enormes, tanto as que esos mismos volmenes de inversin son simplemente prohibitivos para los pases perifricos, si las otras variables pudiesen ser controladas. Incluso, las mismas instituciones educativas/escolares que sirven de apoyo al funcionamiento de esta impresionante maquinaria de invencin e innovacin pasan a ser parte de la misma, creando as un mercado adicional, de billones de dlares, que entra en los mecanismos del intercambio internacional, generando as mayores niveles de marginalizacin de las instituciones educativas/escolares de los pases que, como los de Amrica Latina y el Caribe, han de proponerse enormes esfuerzos por mantenerse de alguna manera cercana a esa carrera por el conocimiento, excepto que como consecuencia del mencionado proceso de marginalizacin escapen en el terreno del olvido, de lugar sin regreso 10 . Es en esta situacin que la reforma de la educacin superior, una actividad que debe ser permanente, cobra nueva urgencia, porque los pases que se hallan al margen de estos centers of learning deben tomar polticas publica de urgencia, con el fin de definir si se incorporan a los avances internacionales o se aslan en los recodos de la marginalidad acadmica e intelectual, hacindose as ms dependientes. Cabe apuntar con nfasis que la reforma educativa es parte esencial del ideario liberal. Esto es, el liberalismo, como el socialismo y en general las aproximaciones doctrinarias a la sociedad, cree que mejorando la educacin se produce un efecto semejante en la sociedad, aplicados e en estos casos un supuesto mecanicista, segn el cual la sociedad opera en forma tal que un factor acta sobre otro, sin solucin de discontinuidad. No es as, infortunadamente. Pero los gobernantes persisten en aplicar esta creencia. El Presidente George W. Bush anunci, el primer da de su mandato gubernamental, por ejemplo, que su inicio como Presidente sera proponer un paquete de medidas a presentar al Congreso de su pas, un plan para mejorar la educacin, habida cuenta que el sistema escolar de ese pas, el mejor del mundo, en calidad, exhibe, igualmente, caractersticas "tercermundista que se juzga menester mejorar, igualar desde el punto de vista de calidad. Pero ocurre, tcnicamente hablando, que el mejoramiento de la escolaridad tiene un techo, esto es, que no es posible que un sistema escolar opere en forma homognea y que todos los actores envueltos en el mismo acten del mismo modo, que tengan un nivel de performance y rendimiento homogneo, porque heterogneos son los actores en su comportamiento. Es decir, la proceso de enseanza-aprendizaje es un complejo multivariable cuya naturaleza intrnseca es un misterio, en muchos casos. Se han podido identificar las variables que actan pero no el peso de cada una de los en tanto los resultados que se observan. En este sentido dicho proceso se comporta como un sentimiento, que sabemos de su existencia pero no podemos conocer como se genera o como se extingue. Existe la impresin, entonces, que las polticas pblicas dirigidas a este proceso de enseanza-aprendizaje deben ser sumamente flexibles, abiertas, que dejen

6 mucho margen al riesgo y a la aventura intelectual. Que pena, ciertamente, que el proceso de enseanza-aprendizaje no sea programable ni pueda ser clonado, como se experimenta hoy en da en la gentica, sino que es un complejo proceso aleatorio en donde el azar a menudo triunfa sobre la necesidad. Ciertamente, que aburrida granja de los animales fuese la humanidad si a travs del proceso de enseanza-aprendizaje pudisemos hacer de nuestros hijos todo aquello cuanto quisiramos. En el caso venezolano, ironas apartes, todos los padres querran que sus hijas llegasen a reinas de belleza y por esa va a la Presidencia de la Repblica o que los nios fuesen militares porque as podran alcanzar el grado de general, para referirnos a dos ocupaciones anheladas, al parecer, por los padres venezolanos, al menos en este momento (Vanse ms detalles acerca de esta argumentacin acerca de la multiplicidad de espacios y actores en el proceso de enseanza-aprendizaje en la Tabla No 1, p. 31). En el caso venezolano, del gobierno responsable actualmente de la administracin del Estado, pareciera que escapa de las posibilidades del consenso y ms bien se abre a as l instancias del conflicto. Cualquiera que sea el resultado tiende al fracaso, por las razones argumentadas. No se trata, entonces, de creer que el actual Presidente es ignorante en materia educativa, en el supuesto negado de que es un oficial Teniente C oronel y que los militares no entienden de educacin, o que su equipo es mediocre, tcnicamente hablando, porque su Ministro es un doctor en Ingeniera Elctrica y que en todos los casos lo que desean es ejecutar un plan poltico autoritario para controlar al sistema escolar/cultural/deportivo/cientfico tecnolgico. Todo lo contrario, pudiera el Presidente de la Repblica ser hombre del oficio educativo, como, por ejemplo, lo fue el Presidente Rafael Caldera, l mismo un eminente hombre de la vida intelectual y acadmica, o que su equipo en el rea era de optima calidad que no lo era, pero su Ministro de Educacin era sin duda un hombre del oficio educativo, de larga experiencia, y aun as fracasa, al menos parcialmente, en cuanto a que los logros en esta materia son siempre parciales y limitados, sobre todo si se interrumpe la continuidad en la aplicacin de las polticas pblicas en el rea. En efecto, tal como ha sealado Frederick Herzberg, el hombre es el animal ms insatisfecho de la creacin y el rea educativa aquella en donde el hombre expresa mayor insatisfaccin, nexo toa ove, dira, de mi parte. La formulacin de polticas pblicas en educacin sigue un camino tortuoso y difcil. Puede tener toda la fundamentacin emprica y cientfica posible, pero luego acontece la decisin poltica, del poder establecido, para luego pasar a la fase de ejecucin y as sucesivamente y en cada nueva etapa se complica ms el proceso, que en todas esas instancias es frgil y vulnerable. Por ello las nicas polticas victoriosas en esta materia son aquellas que se prolongan en el tiempo hasta el punto de crear rutinas que entran a formar parte de la tradicin, apoyadas en el sano principio de la continuidad y a la aceptacin colectiva de las mismas. Del mismo modo, el discurso poltico ms fcil de elaborar, en cualquier sociedad, es aludir a los defectos y deficiencias de los servicios, porque en ninguna sociedad la prestacin de los servicios puede ser ptima.

Es decir, no podemos pensar que unidades heterogneas se comporten en forma homognea, simplemente porque se suponga que as debe ser. El Presidente Chvez, para dar otro ejemplo, parece creer, como veremos ms adelante en este documento, que previo a su ascenso al gobierno la educacin era perversa y que bajo su rgimen esta funcionara

7 con xito absoluto, porque ahora el gobierno es revolucionario. 11 Ojal la situacin fuese tan simple, como seria la de creer que una supuesta integracin del sistema escolar bajo un solo criterio puede mejorar el funcionamiento de sus unidades heterogneas y dispersas a travs de cualquier continuo, real y abstracto. Mas aun, en trminos estrictamente sociolgicos, la presin para que homogeneizar el comportamiento suele generar conductas atpicas que rompen la posibilidad de operar el conjunto como una sola unidad. Por ello, adelanto mi criterio: parece ser que el nico camino viable para manejar victorioso el sistema escolar por ende el cultural y el cientfico, es a travs de los penosos caminos del consenso, del pluralismo y, vale as decirlo, la participacin de los diversos actores en el proceso de formulacin de polticas pblicas.

La reforma educativa, sin embargo, una materia de urgencia, que no debe confundirse con un acto de soberana, porque en el mundo acadmico e intelectual no se discuten nociones de soberana, de falsa soberana, sino de factibilidad, viabilidad y utilidad comn. Nadie rechazara un medicamento porque haya sido producido fuera del territorio de una nacin, ni puede evadir el impacto de u nueva tecnologa comunicacional. De hacerlo los efectos na seran contraproducentes. El dilema, entonces, es sencillo: o nos incorporamos a la punta del conocimiento o nos marginalizamos. Es oportuno, en este caso, tomar una frase escrita por Karl Marx en Das Kapital, segn quien The most developed country shows to the less developed the image of the future. Pero sobre ello retornaremos mas adelante. Pero he de adelantar cual es mi posicin al respecto, que no es otra que incorporarnos lo mas eficientemente posible a la dinmica de es apunta del saber y evitar de ese modo la negativa marginalizacin acadmica e intelectual que sufriramos si nos alejamos y aislamos de la misma. Por ello pensar y repensar en la necesaria reforma de la educacin superior es plantearnos, con honestidad y sinceridad, si vamos a continuar manteniendo un sistema de educacin superior mediocre e improductivo, de alto costo y bajo rendimiento o si vamos a aplicar correctivos necesarios a fin de disear un sistema ms eficiente, quiz de menor tamao del actual, con medidas que si bien afecten intereses creados redunden en un uso ms adecuado de los recursos escasos disponible al efecto.

La universidad contempornea: el tema de la reforma de la educacin superior

El autor est consciente de que, actualmente, no existe ningn poder, autoridad o gobierno que pueda llevar la tolerancia liberal a la prctica. Sin embatgo, cree que es la tarea y el deber del intelectual de recordad y de preservar las posibilidades histricas que parecen ser posibilidades utpicas. Su tarea es la de romper la rigidez de la opresin con la finalidad de crear un espacio mental en el que la sociedad pueda ser reconocida por lo que es y por lo que hace 12

Herbert Marcuse A critique of pure tolerance Beacon Press 1965

Contrario a lo que afirmaba Ernesto Mayz Vallenilla en 1984, cuando este hablaba del ocaso de las universidades 13 , estas son hoy en da un portento y un tesoro de la humanidad. En vez de estar en el ocaso las universidades contemporneas se hallan en un espacio luminoso, en un medioda brillante. Las grandes universidades del mundo, libres y autnomas, pero que siguen de cerca las demandas tanto por parte del estado como del mercado, avanzan en la persecucin de su objetivo bsico, en el mundo contemporneo, cual es la bsqueda, acumulacin, distribucin y procesamiento del bien que conocemos con el nombre genrico de saber/conocimiento. Ante al retroceso de la religin como fuente de los valores contemporneos es la universidad en donde estos valores son discutidos y promovidos, puesto que si bien los descubrimientos e innovaciones e invenciones aterran al hombre, por sus inesperadas consecuencias, tambin crean los mecanismos para el bienestar, en el campo de la medicina, de la electrnica, de la fsica, del mundo gentico y de los efectos que tiene en la naturaleza esa ola de cambios generados en el mundo acadmico. Naturalmente, me refiero a la decadencia de la religin como principio de masa en cuanto pueda generar valores, que no a la idea de Dios o del infinito, que de una u otra manera permanece activa en las consideraciones filosficas del hombre. Ciertamente, algunas sociedades aun reclaman a la

9 religin como base de sus fundamentos. De ello y el fanatismo concurrente, no solo de las posturas religiosas como de los fundamentalismos polticos e ideolgicos, se derivan un sinnmero de tragedias y desdichas pues los hombre suelen matarse entre si en nombre de principios oblicuos y desesperanzados. Ciertamente, al lado de las universidades estn los poderosos medios de comunicacin, los espacios del deporte y de la poltica, como fuentes de los valores contemporneos, pero es la universidad la institucin que genera los valores de la nueva tica y por ello y para ello es que la universidad tiene que estar subordinada a ninguna otra institucin, libre hasta donde sea posible de la intervencin del mercado o de los gobiernos. Cuando la institucin compromete esos objetivos se debilita su vigencia y de hecho su existencia. La universidad contempornea es, por definicin, ecumnica en sus fines y objetivos y universal en sus formas de organizacin. Gracias a las nuevas y avanzadas tecnologas de la informacin la universidad como institucin adquiere ese ecumenismo y esa universalidad que anhel a lo largo de su historia. Pero, en un mundo desigual las universidades no son homogneas en calidad. Mas bien hablamos esta nocin de calidad, al nivel de excelencia, en un nmero reducido de universidades, ubicadas generalmente, en los pases mas desarrollados, mientras que en el resto de los pases, de nivel medio y atrasado, la universidad reproduce el potencial institucional de la sociedad, en cuanto una institucin no puede desempear un papel distinto del definido por la nocin de estructura, de una sociedad. En una sociedad intermedia, con profundas desigualdades sociales e institucionales, con mecanismos de incorporacin al mundo en forma fragmentada e irregular, es improbable que existan universidades de excelencia. Esta estratificacin institucional opera al interno de las sociedades, en donde comnmente se habla de un pequeo grupo de universidades de excelencia en un pilago de mediocridad. Ello acontece en el sistema de educacin superior norteamericano, por ejemplo, en donde de las cuatro mil y tantas instituciones de educacin superior el nmero de aquellas de excelencia no llegan a la centena. Ocurre dentro de Venezuela, por supuesto, en donde al lado de algn ejemplo de calidad excepcional, financiada por el sector pblico, existen instituciones que arrastran la denominacin de universidad o ms pomposos aun el de universidad tecnolgica o el de complejo educativo, que no representen sino instituciones que tienen como funcin legitimar aspiraciones y expectativas de quienes acuden a las mismas en busca de un diploma o una credencial, para intentar ingresar a un mercado laboral que no se gua por indicadores meritocrticos, sino porque aquellos propios de los contactos y redes personales. Por ello suele acontecer que en el pas, como en otros pases de la regin, existan universidades dedicadas a atender exclusivamente la demanda de los sectores de altos ingresos, escuelas de seoritos, en el sentido hispnico del trmino, sin que en las mismas haya debate, controversia y l s disputaciones propias de la universidad cuando esta a respeta los valores acadmicos sin los cuales la universidad deja de ser tal.

Ahora bien, para las universidades ubicadas en pases como Venezuela, de desarrollo intermedio, at best, es fundamental mantener mecanismos de reforma de su educacin superior, que debe de tener dos objetivos complementarios: uno, el de acercarse en forma rpida y eficaz a la punta del saber, esto es, al saber/conocimiento generado y producido en las grandes universidades y centros de investigacin en el mundo, pero, dos, intentar homogeneizar la calidad del sistema de educacin superior, de modo tal que las diversas

10 instituciones, pblicas y privadas, respondan a las mismas exigencias. En ambos casos el esfuerzo es enorme. En el primero es necesario disponer de observatorios acadmicos que capten lo que se hace en el mbito mundial y puedan transferir esas ideas adaptndolas y adoptndolas en forma de costo eficiente. En el segundo es necesario reacomodar el mapa de la educacin superior, abriendo y cerrando instituciones y programas, dictando las leyes y reglamentos que sean necesarios, para que el sistema opere y funcione en forma integrada. En la actualidad, es penoso as decirlo, hay instituciones y programas de una banalidad e instrascendencia que conmueven y despiertan rabia acadmica. Por ello es necesario aplicar correctivos, va evaluacin externa y supervisin interna, para que las instituciones, programas y el sistema mismo respondan a las necesidades del pas, y no a las conveniencias de sus actores 14 Cabe sealar antes de proseguir nuestro documento que la educacin superior venezolana ha hecho avances interesantes. Despus del periodo de contraccin institucional que ocurri durante la dictadura militar de 1948-1958 el pas instituyo una fase de modernizacin importante. La matricula, el nmero y tipo de instituciones, los resultados acadmicos, los programas que permitieron crear la carrera acadmica, los beneficios a los estudiantes, la gerencia acadmica elaborada sobre la nocin de participacin poltica plural, todo ello condujo a un sistema de este nivel escolar que razonablemente cubri las necesidades del pas. Pero dicho sistema se agoto. De la autonoma se pas a la autarqua, de la idea de sistema a la de institucin parte de un feudalismo acadmico, en donde en cada institucin "reinan" unos "seores acadmicos", que al controlar el poder poltico en la institucin menoscaban lo acadmico en funcin de los intereses que genera el clientelismo. Las instituciones han devenido parcelas politices y cada gobierno, en manos de uno u otro partido, ha actuado en funcin de los intereses del partido o grupo de presin. Eso es, aparentemente, lo que intenta hacer el actual gobierno, que procura simplemente eliminar los restos de la IV Repblica y coloca a los de la V Repblica, en este caso a la Repblica Bolivariana Revolucionaria de Venezuela, no obstante que gracias a la transmutacin poltica correspondiente nunca se sabe donde termina una y donde comienza otra, pues los nombre y denominaciones cambian, pero a menudo las personas son las mismas u otras que ven ahora una oportunidad negada en el pasado, para formar parte de ese grupo de "seores/barones /mandarines acadmicos" que a menudo gobierna las instituciones de la educacin superior venezolana.

La reforma de la educacin superior y la eleccin de opciones acadmicas

Responder parcialmente estas cuestiones es el sentido del presente documento. En efecto, es probable que Venezuela 2001 sea un interesante ejemplo de lo que pasa en educacin superior cuando la reforma no toma las opciones mas apropiadas. En este documento me propongo examinar dos cosas: por una parte el tema de las opciones acadmicas de una sociedad como la nuestra, chica y sin importancia en los niveles de produccin y productividad acadmicas, en el mbito mundial. Dos, un examen ya no de las opciones acadmica entre diversos modelos sino el mismo emana del dilema entre la presin internacional y satisfacer la necesidad imperativa y la situacin nacional que a su vez ejerce una presin para imponer un reajuste ideolgico. Las realidades del acontecer en

11 ciencia y tecnologa no permiten lo segundo, sino que obligan a lo primero. Una breve lectura del anlisis biomtrico de la produccin de conocimientos en la ltima dcada nos indica la cruda y dura realidad de la concentracin en la actividad de produccin de conocimientos y son esos indicadores los que tienen que guiar nuestras polticas en educacin superior y en educacin en general. Vase la siguiente tabla:

Tabla 1

Anlisis bibliomtrico 1989-1998

Pas Estados Unidos Amrica Reino Unido Japn Alemania Francia Canad Italia de

Proporcin de los trabajos cientficos % 34.2 8.2 7.8 7.4 5.5 4.5 3.0 70.6

Proporcin de las citaciones En el mbito mundial % 47.9 9.2 5.8 6.2 4.7 4.6 2.3 80.7

Fuente: OECD, 2000

Frente a esta agobiante desigualdad en la produccin de ciencia y tecnologa no podemos hacer otra cosa, por razones de necesidad, que ncorporarnos a ese proceso, comenzando i por reconocer lo que hemos afirmado en las primeras lneas de este trabajo, que ni somos competitivos ni competidores, pero si podemos incorporarnos a una situacin de observadores privilegiados, para adaptar y adoptar aquello que nos convenga, a nuestras propias polticas de desarrollo nacional, o podemos asumir posturas emocionales y simplemente viscerales, para desconocer esos hechos y refugiarnos en la caverna platnica y ser sombras estriles ajenas a la realidad y flotando en la ignorancia. Los datos citados anteriormente no dejan lugar a dudas del lugar que ocupa Amrica Latina y el caribe en la distribucin mundial de la produccin de ciencia y tecnologa. Produccin esta que esta en concordancia con los gastos de esta actividad, en el mbito mundial. De hecho, del total de 470 billones de dlares empleados en el rea (1994) el 37.9 por ciento era invertido en los Estados Unidos de Amrica, 28.0 por los pases europeos, 18.6 por Japn y los llamados nuevos pases industrializados, China por si sola invierte el 4.9 del total sealado, India y los pases del Asia Central el 2.2 por ciento, los antiguos estados del Commonwealth el 2.5 por ciento y nuestra Regin la proporcin del 1.9 por ciento.15 Los datos sobre la

12 produccin son igualmente interesantes, con nuestra Regin produciendo el equivalente al 1.6 del total mundial, por encima solo de los pases rabes, los pases subsaharianos y los pases del sur de Asia. Son datos indiscutibles, no son conspiraciones internacionales, independientemente de la complejidad de las causas que reflejan estos indicadores. Ahora bien, para ya entonces expresarlo con propiedad: vivimos en la sociedad del conocimiento, un hecho conocido y relativamente antiguo, porque desde el advenimiento e la sociedad moderna somos una sociedad del conocimiento, pero a un nivel de aceleracin actual que era indito hasta apenas hace una dcada. Lo que es absolutamente novedoso es como las tecnologas de la informacin permiten ahora una vasta red de networking que de hecho cambian nuestras rutinas acerca del tiempo y del espacio. El acceso global nos permite una comprensin mucho ms dinmica de la nocin del mundo y este se achica hasta casi desaparecer como volumen e inscribirse en una nueva nocin espacial y temporal. Mantener, entonces, una nocin de tiempo en donde el da dura menos de 24 horas en vez de adoptar un da de mas de 24 horas es el dilema que tenemos que resolver los venezolanos, entre otros, de un mundo acadmico que todava se regula por las nociones antiguas e inoperantes de aula, hora de clase y periodos de actividad y de vacaciones, como si todava estuvisemos en la universidad de 1827, aquella idea de universidad codificada en una frase cada vez mas intil, segn la cual la universidad era la casa que venca las sombras, frase propia del iluminismo de la poca pero que hoy en da es simple retrica. Porque, con audacia y ciertamente con un sentido de pater les bourgeois podramos contratas esos dos polos, aquel de la frase citada, Bolvar, con el smbolo de nuestra cultura, Gates, caso en el cual coloco el dilema entre esos dos extremos histricos, Bolvar vs Gates. Un falso dilema, posiblemente. Complacernos, incluso, en forma cmoda y engaosa, en esta cuestin de que nuestra principal universidad venezolana es ahora Patrimonio Cultural de la Humanidad, como si esto tuviese algn significado e impacto en el patrimonio acadmico e intelectual en s mismo. Los loables principios estticos que condujeron a que medio siglo despus la UCV sea patrimonio cultural de la humanidad debe obligarnos, en todo caso, a entender que los principios que prevalecen hoy en da son aquellos no de una esttica sino de una tica, esta ultima la de ser instituciones productores de conocimiento, esto es, para reiterarlo, una tica que es una nueva esttica.

Cabe sealar, al inicio de este documento, que las polticas en el rea educacin son la combinacin de varias presiones, de varias posturas, en bsqueda del til consenso, no obstante que el m ismo no signifique satisfacer todas las expectativas dadas.16 Por una parte la propia opinin pblica, habida cuenta que en las sociedades modernas todos los miembros de la misma estn, de una u otra manera, vinculados con el proceso institucional de enseanza-aprendizaje, bien como usuarios o como observadores crticos de la operacin de dicho sistema institucional, visible sobre todo al nivel de la escolaridad, que es la fase operativa visible del proceso integral de la educacin. Por otra parte la presin de los gobiernos, que no solo toman para si la responsabilidad de facilitar la prestacin del servicio escolar/educativo, sino que habida cuenta que poseen el poder poltico para as hacerlo suelen no resistir la tentacin para influir en la direccin y marcha del proceso citado, estableciendo de ese modo una ruta ideolgica, esto es, una visin del deber ser en esta materia de inters comn. En tercer lugar la presin de los tcnicos, de aquellos que

13 por formacin profesional estn en condiciones de hacer anlisis y aportar elementos de juicio tcnico, estableciendo as opciones ya no del deber ser, sino del como hacer, refirindose a cuestiones de las condiciones objetivas dentro de las cuales operar el sistema educativo/escolar. Este documento se inscribe en este tercer rengln, esto es, es el anlisis de un experto, que, he all una de las paradojas constantes que hallamos en el anlisis educativo, es, al mismo tiempo, una persona vinculada a eso que en abstracto llamamos anteriormente la opinin publica, as como una persona, como toda otra, con una visin ideolgica acerca del destino del sistema en si como de los hombres y mujeres que lo forman.

Me propongo, en este documento, hacer un anlisis de las opciones acadmicas de Venezuela, en termino de dos conceptos bsicos, el de necesidad y el de conveniencia. El primero lo vamos a asociar a la factibilidad en el pas de un ajuste estructural y el segundo al de un reajuste ideolgico. La tesis de nuestro trabajo es que el pas, si toma la ruta de un ajuste estructural, tendr que responder las mismas protestas ocurridas en el pasado, cada vez que se han tratado de imponer este tipo de polticas publicas. Pero, en este caso, se trata de un gobierno que se denomina a s mismo revolucionario y con un gobierno que, segn todos los indicadores, posee suficiente control de toda la organizacin poltica del pas como para aventurarse, positivamente hablando, a formular polticas pblicas audaces y probablemente anti populares. Por otra parte, si elige un camino de reajuste ideolgico tendr abierta las posibilidades de una ruta autoritaria, porque en el pas hay un poderoso sector de educacin superior privada, que seguramente habr de protestar un reajuste de esta ndole. En ambos casos estas cuestiones tendrn que verse en el futuro, pero si es evidente de suyo que el pas tiene que formular polticas en educacin superior, para reorganizar un sector que, en las palabras del propio gobierno, "lo que hay en la actualidad no es un sistema, sino instituciones desarticuladas entre s.17 Pero, obviamente, tampoco se lograra organizar un sistema coordinado de educacin superior, si este debe existir, si se aplica lo que al parecer es el credo del actual gobierno en materia educativa, la formacin de una nueva cultura poltica que garantice la irreversabilidad del proceso revolucionario en la Repblica Bolivariana de Venezuela. En efecto, no solamente desarticuladas entre si, como desarticuladas y aisladas del contexto mundial. Hemos ido, la educacin superior venezolana, descendiendo en un tobogn de mediocridad que parece irreversible, excepto se hagan enormes esfuerzos por una reforma sustantiva, seria y valerosa, capaz de enfrentar rutinas acomodaticias, como negativas. Pero hemos de entender que es una lucha, un dilema, entre extremos. Por una parte la necesidad de un ajuste estructural, por la otra un reajuste ideolgico, pero no podemos tener ambas, es necesario excluir una alternativa. O la una o la otra pero no ambas. He all el dilema, otro. Lo primero significa entrar de lleno en la globalizacin, la eficiencia, la competitividad y as sucesivamente, como analizaremos posteriormente. Lo otro, que igualmente discutiremos ms adelante, es entrar en el terreno de lo provinciano, del defender intereses caducos, casi de casta mas que de clases, en algunos casos, es ver un supuesto inters nacional, un nationalgeist por encima de los intereses de la metropolitinizacin indispensable, el ecumenismo que es necesario. En otras palabras, o somos instituciones de educacin superior o somos escuelas artesanales, competentes como para egresar locutores, en vez de hacer ciencia y tecnologa.

14

La formulacin de polticas educativas en educacin superior

El primer principio, elemental, en el proceso de formulacin de polticas en educacin superior es elegir las medidas apropiadas a la sociedad para la cual se van a formular. No se trata, como en el caso de Proust de andar en busca del tiempo perdido, hurgando en la nostalgia el modelo que hemos de asumir para conducir la educacin superior del futuro. Efectivamente, la bsqueda del modelo esta en el comportamiento de las instituciones de educacin superior en los pases de punta y estas hace tiempo que decidieron que la necesidad de la evolucin de las mismas estaba en adoptar el modelo de produccin, esto es, el modelo que hace ciencia y tecnologa, humanidades y pensamiento filosfico y teolgico. Pero en Venezuela estamos aferrados al modelo docente, con toda la parafernalia del aula, de la hora de clase, del profesor como eje del proceso de enseanza-aprendizaje, del titulo y de la credencial como smbolos del mismo y sobre todo del grado, de la ceremonia intil y decadente que precisamente simbolizar la incorporacin del sujeto a la casta profesional. El modelo de produccin es consecuencia de la industrializacin de la sociedad. Producir conocimiento para mejorar la sociedad, para aumentar el bienestar. En este sentido la educacin superior venezolana acta y opera segn aquel principio de la poca del gobierno de Medina Angarita, que fundaba en las ciudades liceos, unidades docentes de nivel secundario. Eso es lo que hemos construido en el pas con experimentos tales como el de la Universidad Simn Rodrguez, por ejemplo, dispersa en ncleos y sedes en casi todo el pas, llevando el aula a la necesidad local, acercando en forma directa la satisfaccin del servicio a las necesidades del usuario, pero en el proceso dejando de ser universidad para convertirse en un gran liceo, burocratizado y por supuesto altamente inefectivo, como modelo. Esta es una aplicacin propia de una mentalidad adecuada a la educacin superior como un servicio, esto es, "llevar la educacin superior adonde esta la necesidad del estudiante y de la comunidad, sin abordar la misma como un principio abstracto, el saber/conocimiento, y que el estudiante debe viajar hacia las fuentes del mismo no lo contrario, problema, por cierto, ya resuelto por las nuevas y avanzadas tecnologas de la informacin.

El modelo de produccin responde a la expansin n del aula, sino de la biblioteca, de las o necesidades de la sociedad del conocimiento, del saber/conocimiento como el eje del proceso de enseanza-aprendizaje, con la desaparicin del aula, de la propia nocin de espacio fsico universitario, tal como lo hemos conocido hasta ahora. Cabe apuntar que en este caso modelo de produccin no es equivalente a modelo de servicio, que es lo que acontece, por ejemplo, cuando se crean unidades acadmicas para prestar un servicio especfico, como ocurre, por ejemplo, como el IESA o las pequeas instituciones de educacin superior del sector privado, creadas para satisfacer una demanda profesional, pero sin que entren nunca en las nociones de modelo de produccin. En ninguno de estos casos se hace investigacin, sino prestar un servicio y por ello es que no se plantean cuestiones bsicas de la educacin superior, como la libertad acadmica, por ejemplo, que no existe en las mismas, ni la demanda abstracta del saber/conocimiento, sino la demanda especifica, para entrenar personal para las necesidades empresariales o incluso simplemente sociales, como ocurre con instituciones como la Universidad Metropolitana, prototipo de

15 campus de seleccin de clase social o la propia Universidad Santa Mara, ambos tipos de institucin unidades de servicio que atienden una demanda de clase, alta en el caso de la Universidad Metropolitana, media/baja en el caso de la Universidad Santa Mara una de las instituciones mas democrticas del pas, en este sentido de la composicin de su estudiantado, pero en ambos casos instituciones dedicadas exclusivamente al modelo docente/servicio, alejadas completamente, como ocurre prcticamente en el resto del sector privado de la educacin superior, del modelo de produccin. Tanto as opera este modelo docente en algunos casos de la educacin superior privada que de hecho estas asumen el papel de in loco parentis, extendiendo al nivel postsecundaria las practicas de control personal propias de la edad del estudiante de secundaria. En el caso de las polticas pblicas en educacin superior caso debe privar lo que me permito llamar el principio de la contemporaneidad. En este caso, si vivimos una sociedad contempornea que demanda que las instituciones de educacin superior adopten rpidamente modelos de produccin y altos nivele de productividad, como justificar preservar instituciones que laboran exclusivamente bajo el modelo de institucin docente?. Esto es, si el mundo contemporneo demanda produccin de saber ms que produccin de profesionales porqu seguir atados a ritos y modos adecuados a produccin de profesionales, en vez de dedicarnos en forma obsesiva la produccin de bienes y servicios, esto es, de invenciones e innovaciones?. Incluso, si esta mas que demostrado que el patrn de subsidio es ineficaz e improductivo, porque continuar con formas de organizacin acadmica e intelectual que han probado su obsolescencia y que de hecho se convierten en obstculos esenciales para el desarrollo?. Este debe ser, por cierto, el papel del estado, cual es determinar los parmetros de funcionamiento y operacin del sistema y de las instituciones de la educacin superior. El Estado venezolano ha fallado al supervisar y orientar a la educacin superior. Pero, sobre todo, ha fallado al proveer al pas un modelo claro e inobjetable de hacia donde debe ir la educacin superior del pas y ha actuado con excesivo laissez faire en esta materia. Por ello ocurren a menudo simples barbaridades acadmicas, que siguen y prosiguen imperturbables, daando a la ecologa acadmica del pas, sin proteccin alguna por las necesidades reales y efectivas del pas. En estos casos pasa por superior lo que no es sino, con frecuencia, una adulteracin inferior de los que es cultivo del saber y del conocimiento. Situacin que se explica, ciertamente, porque han privado en el manejo de la educacin superior intereses creados que han perdido de vista la necesidad del pas y de su contemporaneidad. 18 . Por ello convendra elaborar un esquema para discutir bajo que condiciones se formulan polticas educativas/escolares en Venezuela. En el mbito de las polticas que son generadas en el Ministerio de Educacin estas suelen omitir el segundo principio bsico en la formulacin de polticas educativas, el de la continuidad. En efecto, cada nuevo gobierno cambia las polticas, a veces a travs de simpes cambios de nombres, otras desconociendo las anteriores. En educacin superior la cuestin es ms simple, puesto que cada institucin, pblica o privada, acta segn su leal saber y entender, sin supervisin ni control externo alguno. Pero en todo caso una poltica es un propsito, un objetivo a cumplir, una decisin, en una palabra. Las ms sanas polticas escolares/educativas son aquellas que organizan procesos de continuidad, que suman, en vez de restar. Gustavo Roosen, quien como Ministro de Educacin procedi a desmontar el papel del estado en educacin, ha expresado, precisamente, en abierta alusin a la mana de cambiar por cambiar, que muchas

16 veces los gobiernos "Ocupados en desmontar el pasado, no parecen disponer de tiempo y actitud para construir lo nuevo" 19

En este sentido podramos decir que esas escogencias se deciden bajo las siguientes condiciones, a lo largo de un continuo, que merece ser discutido, obviamente. Sin entrar en explicaciones detalladas en este momento, cabria decir que la mayora de las polticas se toman de la nocin de incertidumbre hacia la completa ignorancia. Es decir, la certeza es algo inusual en los parmetros de formulacin de polticas pblicas en sociedades de alta discontinuidad. En el caso de la educacin, en genrico, existe escasa investigacin cientfica y cuando esta existe simplemente no se toma en cuenta. Existe certeza cuando los organismos internacionales elaboran planes de ejecucin, pero una vez cambiados los gobiernos estos son discontinuos. Veamos entonces el siguiente continuo referido a los niveles que apoyan la toma de decisiones en esta materia:

Continuo de toma de decisiones Certezaalto riesgo/costo--incertidumbre---ignorancia parcial--completa ignorancia

La toma de decisiones en educacin es sumamente delicada, porque intervienen en este proceso muchas variables, correspondientes a los diversos actores, intereses, objetivos evidente y subyacentes y as sucesivamente. Ms aun, en sociedades como la nuestra, altamente emotiva, para decirlo de una manera, a menudo la toma de decisiones se decide en zonas de "completa ignorancia, esto es, sin respetar las consecuencias. El 4 de febrero de 2001, por ejemplo, el Jefe del estado sugiri que eliminara los subsidios al sector privado de la educacin, a travs del expediente de preguntar a una masa si estaba de acuerdo conque as lo hiciese. Obviamente, habida cuenta que era una masa convocada por el propio Gobierno la respuesta fue afirmativa. Extrao modo de tomar decisiones en cualquier materia, mucho ms en educacin. Finalmente el propio Jefe del estado asegur que no recortara estos subsidios, caso en el cual hace ver que ello depende de su voluntad personal.

Naturalmente, las polticas educativas ptimas, en cuanto a las expectativas de su funcionamiento, son aquellas que logran combinar las tres presiones antes mencionadas. Evitando los excesos de privilegiar una de ellas. En efecto, si se privilegia la opinin publica de los usuarios se termina conduciendo el proceso educativo/escolar en forma populista, lo cual significa poner el inters de supuestas mayora de la poblacin por encima de los intereses validos de las minoras, si se pone nfasis en el segundo factor, el de los gobiernos, entonces se corre el peligro de obedecer intereses manifiestos y ello conduce al autoritarismo y eventualmente al cese de las libertades pblicas, utilizando en este caso mecanismos de toma de decisin que omiten capacidades tcnicas de toda ndole y apoyados exclusivamente en las visiones ideolgicas que les sirven de fundamento y si se

17 manejan las polticas segn la visin de los expertos se cae en los vicios de los excesos de la tecnocracia, colocando el nfasis en las soluciones tcnicas y estableciendo as una minusvala de los intereses de los usuarios y del propio inters pblico. Quienes expresan criterios y opiniones acerca de la educacin inspirados solamente en sus propias experiencias, de usuarios del sistema, suelen proponer cuestiones de ordinario deseables y estimables pero a menudo alejadas de las posibilidades reales de una sociedad o cuestiones que, inclusive, van en contra de los sanos principios que deben gobernar la operacin de los sistemas educativos/escolares. Suelen acudir estas personas a soluciones simplistas, tales como aquellas que sealan que todos los egresados de la escuela secundaria deben tener acceso a la escuela superior, sin estimar ni las aptitudes y actitudes de estos ni los costos para las instituciones de la escuela superior. Esto para mencionar un ejemplo comn en la sociedad venezolana, en donde opera el principio de la democratizacin de las aspiraciones pero la restriccin de las posibilidades. Esto sin mencionar las afirmaciones superficiales y ligeras segn las cuales, de acuerdo a la conveniencia de quien las expresa, el pas es, alternativamente, el peor pas en educacin de Amrica Latina y el caribe o del mundo. Los gobiernos, por su parte, quieren controlar todo el sistema, desde el acceso hasta el egreso, el diseo curricular y hasta el horario en el cual deben impartirse las actividades de aula. La palabra control, en si, es odiosa al espritu de la formacin de la persona, que debe manejarse con libertad. Los gobiernos que quieren controlar la educacin, como as lo evidencia la historia, suelen terminar imponiendo ideas fascistas, como ha ocurrido en los distintos regmenes autoritarios que se han conocido. Control quiere decir, en estos casos, la eliminacin de las alternativas y de las opciones. La e xistencia de unas y otras no es sino el pluralismo que es necesario, porque las sociedades, por su propia naturaleza, son el conjunto de distintas visones acerca del deber ser, que deben ser respetadas, no obstante la obligacin del Estado por mantener y estimular el inters nacional. Pero, efectivamente, las funciones del Estado no deben ser cooptadas por los gobiernos, bajo pena de que acontezca lo ya sealado. La formulacin e las polticas educativas es un proceso complejo. Baroness Blackstone, por ejemplo, del Reino Unido, ha expresado sobre esta materia que: En las sociedades democrticas, los gobiernos no poseen el monopolio del conocimiento. Sin embargo, durante una gran parte del perodo de la posguerra, la creacin de polticas se basaba en la presuncin de que el hombre en el Whitehall lo saba todo. Esta situacin ha cambiado irrevocablemente. Aparte la transferencia radical y la descentralizacin de poder que hemos estado llevando a cabo desde mayo de 1997, la proliferacin de nuevas fuentes y formas de conocimiento en las sociedades es tal que los gobiernos no logran generar todas las nuevas ideas y programas de polticas. Los gobiernos debe constantemente dirigirse hacia la sociedad civil, hacia aquellos que desarrollan ideas en negocios, servicios pblicos y comunitarios en gran cantidad. Los centros de creacin ocupan un papel crtico. Estos centros operan en una gran cantidad de interfaces, siendo una de las ms importantes aquella que se encuentra entre el gobierno y la educacin superior. Los centros de creacin realizan pocas investigaciones primarias. En realidad, se ocupan de recopilar, interpretar y traducir en polticas las investigaciones que otros han realizado en universidades u otros centros. Los centros miran hacia el futuro y son de

18 naturaleza multidisciplinaria. Los centros de creacin, al dar lo mejor de s, proveen reflexiones interconectadas a aquellos en posicin de tomar decisiones. 20 .

En el caso venezolano estos think-tanks no existen. Eso hace ms complejo e improbable la formulacin de polticas educativas. En esta sociedad venezolana los elementos de expresin son, a saber: Encuadre 1 Actores bsicos de presin en el proceso de formulacin de polticas en educacin superior

Primero que nadie el Gobierno, la burocracia estatal, sumamente poderosa, por razones obvias, especialmente en un estado que controla los ingresos, en su mayor parte, habida cuenta de la organizacin econmica de la sociedad venezolana. Las instituciones mas cerca del poder en el pas, como son la Iglesia catlica y el Ejercito, hoy en da la Fuerza Armada, quienes obviamente intervienen directamente en la formulacin de polticas educativas/escolares Los gremios docentes, igualmente poderosos, capaces de intervenir directamente en el funcionamiento y operacin del sistema educativo, sobre todo en el mbito escolar. Las universidades y otros centros acadmicos, cuya influencia suele ser dbil en materia tcnica pero alta en materia poltica La opinin publica, relativamente importante, expresada a travs de quienes estn en capacidad de expresar sus ideas en los medios de comunicacin de masas, generalmente los polticos y los lideres de los grupos de presin de la sociedad. Los expertos, entendido por ello quienes hacen investigacin cientfica en el rea educacin/escolaridad y/o que se hallan entrenados en el nivel adecuado como para estar en condiciones de comprender en forma objetiva las tendencias de actividad del sistema educativo nacional, estando igualmente en condiciones de poder hacer comparaciones vlidas con las tendencias mundiales en la materia y poder evaluar cuales opciones son las mas eficientes como para construir polticas educativas/escolares sanas.

No parece quedar duda alguna de que en el pas cada gobierno suele encabezar la dinmica del sistema educativo, pero en el rea escolar los diferentes actores suelen proceder a ejecutar sus proyectos institucionales, sobre todo en esas dos reas bsicas del sistema

19 venezolano, el sector pblico y el privado. En ambos casos, por cierto, cabe orientaciones de elite y de masa. Muchas instituciones pblicas del pas, escolares, son de inspiracin elite como algunas universidades, las escuelas de formacin militar, as como la mayora son de corte masivo. El sector privado opera segn estos mismos criterios, y existen instituciones sumamente elitistas, pero otras que atienden demanda masiva. Por ello, obviamente, es improbable hacer generalizacin alguna en materia educativa/escolar, por la diversidad de intereses, actores, expectativas e instituciones.

La formulacin de polticas pblicas en educacin superior, la vertiente de la necesidad (El ajuste estructural).

The reform agenda of the 90s, and almost certainly extending well into the next century, is oriented to the market rather than to public ownership or to governmental planning and regulation. Underlying the market orientation of tertiary education is the ascendance, almost worldwide, of market capitalism and the principles of neo-liberal economics". D. Bruce Johnstone, State University of New York at Buffalo, with the collaboration of Alka Arora and William Experton, , The Financing and Management of Higher Education: A Status Report on Worldwide Reforms, World Bank 1998

Antes que nada es oportuno definir que entendemos por la vertiente de la necesidad, en el arrea acadmica. La nocin de necesidad la he tomado, entre otras fuentes, de un documento redactado por John Sizer, en el cual este seala con relacin a su pas, Escocia, lo siguiente:

Para Escocia, un pas al margen de Europa, pero que forma parte del Reino Unido (y que saca provecho del comercio electrnico que transpasa fronteras y distancias geogrficas), la explotacin de su ciencia y tecnologa de base no es una opcin, es una necesidad. Escocia necesita continuar a desarrollar y explotar sus capacidades de investigacin caractersticas a nivel mundial en ciencias biolgicas, ciencias de la informtica, ingenier'ia fsica, elctrica, electrnica y petrolera. Tambin debe mantener una base de investigacin a nivel mundial como parte de la base cientfica del Reino Unido para as poder colaborar con este pas, lo que permitir a sus cientficos e ingenieros de

20 beneficiar de desollaros globales en investigacin y tecnologa, como el proyecto del genoma humano. 21 .

Mas all de la nocin ontolgica y metafsica del concepto de necesidad podemos hallarlo tratado con profundidad por Talcott Parsons, en el terreno de la sociologa y por Jacques Monod en el plano de la biologa. En nuestro caso y antes de examinar la versin del socilogo norteamericano cabe sealar que la nocin de necesidad no es necesariamente fatal ni absolutamente obligante, pero es s una exigencia, una obligacin. En efecto, obviamente, como seala Sizer, no es una opcin, sino un camino sin retorno. En nuestro caso empleamos necesidad como parte de un anlisis racional y lgico de las posibilidades venezolanas en el mundo actual. La necesidad es la de vincularnos e incorporarnos a la punta del saber o desplazarnos en el rea de la marginalizacin y sus consecuencias negativas. Pero no vivimos en un mundo lgico y racional, sino en uno caracterizado por posiciones a menudo primitivas, emocionales, emotivas, hasta tercas, como si las solas proposiciones pudiesen alterar las realidades objetivas. En todo caso la necesidad es lo que es y no puede no ser. Pero no es una teleologa como una variable histrica la que me lleva a pensar en el concepto de necesidad. Naturalmente, el camino dicotmico entre necesidad y conveniencia se toma segn los propsitos y objetivos de quienes estn en condiciones de decidir la ruta crtica de la sociedad. En general y desde el punto de vista de la teora de la accin social "Toda meditacin pensante sobre los ltimos elementos de un actuar humano con sentido esta en primer lugar sujeto a las categoras fin y medio. En consecuencia, lo que debe responderse, antes que nada, es para que (fin) y como (medio), para alcanzar los objetivos previstos. Es el poder, poltico e ideolgico, quien decide, despus de todo el trazado de la ruta y los espacios/actores suelen tener que moverse dentro de los parmetros que aquel indique, esto es, el poder, como tal. Por ello la necesidad puede ser, racionalmente hablando, ms urgente que la conveniencia, pero el poder puede juzgar que al margen de la necesidad se halla la conveniencia, caso en cual la ecuacin se reduce a un axioma, la necesidad es el poder.

Precisamente Parsons expresa que: Como punto de referencia analtico formal, la primacia de orientacin para el alcance de una meta especfica se utiliza como la caracter'istica que define una organizacin y que la distingue de los otros sistemas sociales. Este criterio posee implicaciones tanto para la estructura interna, como externa del sistema al que nos referimos aqu como organizacin. 22 . En efecto, si una sociedad en este caos la venezolana, aborda el tema de la organizacin como dos planos coincidentes y no excluyentes hallaramos que como norma de organizacin tiene un nivel externo y uno interno y el equilibrio como sociedad depende del papel de ambas esferas en donde se puede actuar. Venezuela, como se sabe, depende casi totalmente, para su supervivencia como sociedad, de la estructura externa, en este caso internacional y su mundo acadmico es el resultado de acciones internas en concordancia con otras de ndole externa, que suman una organizacin social dual, hacia fuera y hacia dentro. Eso es lo que Margaret Archer explora al hablar de enfoques micro y macro en la

21 direccionalidad (accin) de los sistemas educativos 23 . De elegirse la versin micro se tiende a mirar hacia dentro de la organizacin social, reducindola de hecho al individualismo, que por fuerza de necesidad entonces, omite la nocin de lo colectivo como prioridad. Por lo contrario, cuando se escoge la versin macro, en la direccionalidad de las organizaciones (nacin) los vnculos y asociaciones se ampliar lo colectivo y pierde volumen e intensidad lo estrictamente individual y personal. Ahora bien, segn lo interpreto, los sistemas escolares/educativos tienen que elegir este camino de lo macro, por fuerza de necesidad, para poder mantenerse como sociedad, por encima de la conveniencia, que tienta al interno de la misma, generando acciones que por su propio carcter persona e individual lesionan la estructura social vista hacia fuera, hacia lo externo. De acuerdo con Archer la aproximacin macro puede evitar "unintended and undesired consequences indicndonos donde comenzar y escoger el mejor camino, opcin, para mejores resultados 24 . En el sentido del cambio en educacin se tendra que escoger este nivel macro, para poder estar en condiciones de ubicar los puntos de institutional instability, que son los ms proclives al cambio, pues de otro modo podran escogerse aquellos puntos estables en el sistema, mucho ms difciles de cambiar pues son de hecho factores visibles de resistencias al cambio. El mecanismo bsico de entender es que los componentes de los sistemas sociales contribuyen de manera diferencial en un momento dado y que, m importante, un paso falso, como elegir para cambiar asuntos rutinizados s en la sociedad, los cuales impiden ver las functional incompatibilities, en el sentido mertoniano de la palabra o structural contradictions, en el sentido marxista. El camino de polticas pblicas formuladas viendo solamente el interno de los sistemas sociales conduce a graves errores y alcanza costos elevados, como los tiene el escoger solamente el factor externo. El segundo nos dirige a la subordinacin, el primero a la negacin de la colectividad y los propios intereses comunes, que deben prevalecer en la toma de decisiones. Esto tiene que ver con la interpretacin sociolgica segn la cual El nmero de interdependencias que se entrecruzan entre las partes es tan elevado, que cualquier cambio inducido en un elemento tendr repercusiones en los otros 25 . Tcnicamente hablando el problema de la eficacia de las polticas pblicas es una cuestin de informacin. Si se formulan estas con una visin estrecha, por ejemplo, mirando solo al interno del sistema escolar y de ese modo a unidades cada vez ms pequeas, como la familia, pues el volumen de posibilidad de informacin se va reduciendo paulatinamente, es bastante probable que a menor nmero de variables menor posibilidad de manejar aquellas que sean inestables y se tienda mas bien a manejar las estables, produciendo una situacin en donde el espacio que e maneja en reducido y limitado, pero las variables crticas pueden estar fuera del mismo, caso en el cual lo que se decida no solo pueda ser una decisin equivocada sino que el impacto negativo puede ser aun ms negativo. En otras palabras, aumentan las functional incompatibilities o las structural contradictions y el sistema puede llegar a un estado anmico irreversible, desde el punto de vista de Durkheim, quien en sus anlisis del comportamiento del sistema educativo francs abogaba por un manejo macro del sistema escolar para evitar los errores en la formulacin de polticas escolares, sugiriendo que a mayor capacidad de informacin de las variables en juego mayor posibilidad de xito tendran las polticas que se tomasen. Esta afirmacin nos remite, por supuesto, al estricto concepto de disfuncin, en el lenguaje parsoniano, que veremos mas adelante 26 . Pero adelantemos de una vez que para evitar las disfunciones del

22 sistema escolar hay que asociarlo cada vez con mayor nfasis a las unidades de mayor volumen de variables, que en el plano interno es la nacin, como incluyendo el externo es el mundo. Parsons distingue tres planos en la nocin de necesidad, lo biolgico, lo psicolgico y lo social. En el primer caso podramos apelar al expediente de Monod, para entretenernos con la dicotoma entre azar y necesidad 27 El primero es un signo evolutivo frente al cual no cabe ni la conciencia ni la capacidad de decisin. En el caso de las opciones acadmicas del pas, en este caso entre necesidad y conveniencia, me permito citar a Monod: La extraordinaria estabilidad de algunas especies, los miles de millones de ao que cubre la evolucin, la invariancia del <plan> qumico fundamental de la clula no pueden evidentemente explicarse mas que por la extrema coherencia del sistema teleonmico que, en la evolucin, ha jugado pues el papel a la vez de gua y de freno, y no ha retenido, amplificado, integrado mas que una nfima fraccin de las probabilidades que le ofreca, en nmero astronmico, la ruleta de la naturaleza. El sistema replicativo, por su parte, lejos de poder eliminar las perturbaciones microscpicas de las que es inevitablemente el objeto, no sabe al contrario mas que registrarlas y ofrecerlas, casi siempre vanamente, al filtro teleonmico cuyas performances son juzgadas, en ultimo caso, por la seleccin 28 .

Este prrafo permite sugerir, por supuesto, que la universidad cubre, por una parte, un largo periodo histrico y a pesar de los cambios operados en su organizacin y funcionamiento, impelidos estos por los cambios tecnolgicos, la universidad sigue siendo la misma, al menos en el plano de sus objetivos, generar y transmitir saber superior. En ese largo lapso la educacin superior ha mostrado una < extrema coherencia>, pero en su dinmica cabe la capacidad de decisin, puesto que es refutable que sea la consecuencia de un proceso de seleccin natural, lgicamente hablando, en termino sociales. Esto es, la calidad de la educacin superior de un pas, para tomar este indicador, no responde a un proceso de seleccin, sino a un conjunto de decisiones de polticas pblicas en la materia, caso en el cual la reforma de la educacin superior pasa por el eje de estas, de las polticas, no de los modelos a adoptar y/o adaptar. Obviando la nocin de necesidad en el plano psicolgico, concentrmonos en la nocin de necesidad bajo la ptica social. En ese sentido Parsons plantea que la necesidad como concepto es equivalente a lo que Monod llamaba proyecto. En efecto, expresaba que:

Todo artefacto es un producto de la actividad de un ser vivo que expresa as, y de forma particularmente evidente, una de las propiedades fundamentales que caracterizan sin excepcin a todos los seres vivos: la de ser objetos dotados de un proyecto que a la vez representan en sus estructuras y cumplen con sus performances... 29 .

23 La educacin superior, entonces, es un proyecto creado como artefacto para producir y transmitir saber, en consecuencia es <irreversible> y si una de sus caractersticas es la libertad, en este caso acadmica, para poder cumplir sus performances libertad del mercado y de los agentes de presin poltica e ideolgica, pues la adulteracin de ese principio la har ineficaz porque la adultera como proyecto. En este sentido la educacin superior debe ser dedicada, libremente, a satisfacer una necesidad y no acepta la nocin de conveniencia reajuste ideolgico, porque en este caso se la adultera como artefacto y deja de satisfacer su performance "natural. En el caso venezolano, podramos hablar de una necesidad de respetar y mantener un sistema descentralizado y plural o acepta este lo que Archer designa una situacin en donde Dada una impenetrable estructura poltica, el punto crucial no es simplemente el hecho de que el cambio educativo sea dirigido polticamente (lo cual es una realidad habida cuenta de la manipulacin poltica de todos los sistenas centralizados), sino que sigue siendo una prerrogativa de un pequeo crculo de personas (cuyos intereses se circunscriben de igual modo), mientras que cualquier otra peticin es sistemticamente rechazada
30

Por ello es que el anlisis de la dicotoma necesidad/conveniencia es esencial. Si en el caso venezolano el gobierno arriba a la conclusin de centralizar el sistema de educacin superior y omitir el papel de lo plural, esto es, si impone un criterio de conveniencia, pues ser negado la necesidad como tal, para satisfacer ese "tight circle of people, que alimenta la incertidumbre porque sus decisiones sern tomadas segn conveniencia y no segn necesidad, no importa en si la calidad acadmica o tcnica de quienes formen ese pequeo ncleo, porque el mismo, la conveniencia, obedecer al poder, que no a la razn de la necesidad, en este caso acadmica.

Retornando a Parsons este no define necesidad en forma taxativa, en trminos sociales, sino que es un concepto que es necesario elaborar a lo largo de su teora. En 1937 hablaba de la necesidad como la satisfaccin de una norma 31 Una norma es una forma de orientacin el sistema de accin social. Interpreto que es una necesidad del sistema, en este caso, la educacin superior, el aceptar la norma segn la cual este nivel escolar, el nivel superior, pasa por dos necesidades simultaneas, paralelas y conjuntas: lo que el llama el universalistic pattern y el achievement pattern 32 Ambos son absolutamente esenciales como nocin de necesidad, que no pueden ser alteradas por conveniencia alguna. Naturalmente, ambos patrones son propios de una sociedad moderna, democrtica, plural. De hecho es una sociedad individual meritocrtica. Ahora bien, Parsons enfatiza que ambos patrones coinciden negativamente con lo que llama tendencias autoritarias, ya que estas:

24

... es una tendencia hacia el autoritarismo, en la que la concepcin de lo que es ideal para todos, hace que sea natural para aquellos que tiene el papel de imponer la responsabilidad colectiva de asegurarse que todos puedan vivir segn sus ideales, directamente, o realizando una contribucin adecuada al logro colectivo. 33

En mi criterio la cuestin del achievement es crtica en la sociedad venezolana, ya que esta es una tpica sociedad orientada hacia el patrn de poder, y por ello se impone la conveniencia y esto es una caracterstica de la estructura social no imputable a uno u otro gobierno, sino a la forma como conducimos las orientaciones de la organizacin social 34 . Estoy acaso sugiriendo que el actual gobierno del Presidente Chvez tiene tendencias autoritarias o que estas son propias de la sociedad?. Quisiera que se interpretara la segunda interpretacin, independientemente que bajo un gobierno dirigido por un militar estas sea acenten, pero se trata de una sociedad autoritaria dirigida hacia la conveniencia de quienes controlan el poder. Es mas, de hecho la organizacin econmica de la sociedad venezolana, que depende prcticamente de un solo producto de exportacin, el petrleo, esto es, una enorme concentracin de poder en manos del gobierno, permite, igualmente, que se ejerza el poder por parte de quienes a su vez controlen el gobierno y ello es ajeno a la intencin o deseos de uno u otro gobernante, porque es y evidentemente ser una mecnica disponible para quien gobierne el pas, bien sea Chvez u otro gobernante, posterior al gobierno del actual gobernante del pas. Esto nos remite a una asociacin entre los fundamentos de las polticas en materia de educacin superior, una especie de <welfare state acadmico> y el hecho de que Venezuela es una economa de altos ingresos que depende de un mercado cautivo, al menos al interno del pas, porque es propiedad estatal, pero que, al mismo tiempo, ha generado una distribucin desigual, puesto que quienes de una u otra manera han controlado los fondos estatales han estado en mejor ubicacin para cooptar los mecanismos de distribucin del ingreso, por va legal o irregular. Desde el punto de vista de la academia venezolana esta opera bajo ese criterio de <estado del bienestar acadmico>. Esto es, la escolaridad superior se considera un derecho y en virtud de lo cual los estudiantes no cancelan matricula, los profesores tienen relativamente hablando altos sueldos y salarios, as como proteccin social general y globalmente hablando la masa de personas envueltas en la escolaridad superior disfruta de privilegios sin paralelo, en nuestra sociedad, con excepcin hecha, probablemente, de los altos oficiales de la fuerza armada, si bien estos operan funcionalmente hablando dentro de patrones disciplinarios y de cohesin institucional que no existen en el mundo acadmico. Ahora bien, en tanto estamos de hecho confrontando una polaridad, entre la nocin de necesidad y la de conveniencia estamos colocando esta ultima como una derivacin del ejercicio del poder, polticamente entendido. Es decir, Venezuela puede escoger, en el momento de aplicar polticas publicas en educacin superior, entre la racionalidad de la necesidad y la oportunidad de la conveniencia. Simple argir como lo primero nos conduce a una visin ecumnica, como tiene que ser, lo segundo a una perspectiva ms recortada en

25 el espacio intelectual, mas dirigida hacia una visin en donde la perspectiva nacional cobra ms fuerza que la de nivel internacional. En el este caso debemos los venezolanos, acadmicamente hablando, incorporarnos a caractersticas de un hombre alejado de la casustica de lo nacional y adosarnos a la de ndole internacional, por ende ecumnico. La necesidad, entonces, es un ser que se identifica con caractersticas propias del ser acadmico, en cualquier sitio y lugar. En ese sentido Parsons elabora la nocin de necesidad a partir del concepto de entrepreneurship como la caracterstica esencial de la funcin integradora entre la economa y la sociedad y valida como esencia del ser acadmico. La nocin de la <funcin entrepreneurial> proviene en el terreno econmico de Schumpeter, para quien ...la funcin de empresario consiste en reformar o revolucionar el sistema de produccin, explotando un invento o, de una manera ms general, una posibilidad tcnica no experimentada para producir una mercanca nueva o una mercanca antigua por un mtodo nuevo, para abrir una nueva fuente de provisin de materias primas o una nueva salida para los productos, para reorganizar una industria... 35

Ahora bien, debe quedar claro en este documento que la funcin de necesidad supone que Venezuela forma parte de una sociedad, una cultura y un sistema capitalista. El <achievement motive> de McClelland supone una sociedad en donde el inters esta mediatizado por el logro 36 . Si en la sociedad venezolana este es sustituido por la nocin de subsidio ello implica una interferencia en la adopcin de una sociedad capitalista, pero, he all la contradiccin, tampoco permite que la sociedad se asuma como una sociedad socialista, sino que permanece, al parecer, en ese limbo del capitalismo de Estado, en donde no hay una vinculacin necesaria entre economa y sociedad, ya que no existe lo que Parsons llama el factor integracin, proceso que define como ...Se refiere al modo en el que los recursos disponibles se combinan en procesos productivos 37 . Llevando el argumento al absurdo pudiramos decir que con las condiciones de capitalismo de estado los recursos disponibles no estn asociados al proceso productivo, porque este se halla al margen de la nocin de trabajo y de esfuerzo, generado en una actividad cuasi misteriosa como es la industria petrolera, que para los venezolanos se resuelve en unos sitios alejados de las ciudades metropolitanas y decidido en lugares esotricos del exterior. En esas condiciones, qu papel desempea el <achievement motive> y cual le imperiosa demanda por una racionalidad segn la necesidad, cuando es mucho ms expedito usar y emplear el desnudo principio de la conveniencia, poltica e ideolgica?. En ese orden de ideas poco importa que se adopte una u otra poltica educativa, porque a la larga se impone la demanda real de una sociedad en donde la accin humana, desde el punto de vista de von Mises, se orienta hacia la ausencia de un mercado abierto, y opera mas bien en un mercado intervenido 38 La educacin superior venezolana es eso, un mercado intervenido, no por razones ideolgicas y polticas sino por la primaca de una organizacin econmica y sus relaciones con la sociedad como consecuencia de un capitalismo de estado, por una parte, la de ndole econmica y por la otra la organizacin social que permite una distribucin del ingreso que favorece privilegios de clase social, de intereses que cooptan esos ingresos,

26 caso en el cual estos se dirigen al consumo de bienes tales como la misma escolaridad superior, que produce credenciales pero no conocimiento, per se. Es una sociedad en donde importa la credencial, no el saber. Por ello, en el espacio conceptual de la necesidad no entra la nocin parsoniana de entrepreneurship. Este concepto lo define Clark del siguiente modo, al referirse a la universidad:

Entrepreneurial es una caracterstica de los sistemas sociales. esto es, de universidades. El concepto lleva en s la palabra "empresa", un esfuerzo deliberado en la creacin de instituciones que necesita de mucha energa y actividad. Correr riesgos al iniciarse en nuevas prcticas cuyo resultado ha est en duda es un factor de gran importancia. Una universidad entrepreneurial, en s misma, busca activamente la posibilidad de innovar en su manera de trabajar. Trata de obtener un cambio substancial en su carcter organizativo de modo de lograr a una situacin ms prometedora en el futuro. Las universidades entrepreneurial buscan convertirse en universidades independientes para poder ser actores importantes por sus propios medios. la entrepreneurship institucional puede verse, entonces, como un proceso y un resultado 39

Precisamente, nuestra educacin superior es manejada como una organizacin social de cero riesgo, en donde burocrticamente hablando se han organizado una mirada de empleos con bajas exigencias de trabajo, que, de hecho, exagerando el argumento, es casi trabajo voluntario, sobre todo por la aversin visceral que tiene nuestra academia por la palabra obligatorio. Por ello, efectivamente, la cuestin no es una "reforma universitaria", sino un esfuerzo sostenido para crear en el pas justamente lo que Clark denomina el inters por recreate an academic community 40 . En nuestro caso, sin embargo, la discusin se centra acerca de si estamos satisfaciendo la nocin de necesidad, acadmicamente hablando. La respuesta parece ser contraria a esa tendencia que es internacional. Es d ecir, al parecer y segn todos los indicadores el pas se dirige hacia la adopcin de conveniencias que acogern un reajuste ideolgico, contrariando la necesidad de un ajuste estructural. Un reajuste ideolgico mantendr el statu quo acadmico del pas, mantendr rgidos los privilegios y la inefectividad en la ecuacin empleo-trabajo, prevaleciendo la educacin superior como un mapa de empleos con escasa produccin de trabajo, entendiendo este como un producto, como un bien que se traduce en una cultura acadmica que ms bien descansa en un fondo de subsidio sin exigencias. En otras palabras, de hecho se esta planteando una reforma de la educacin superior que si escoge la variante reajuste reforzara sus aspectos ms negativos, entre ellos reforzara el modelo docente y la improductividad acadmica. Naturalmente, no se me escapa que la necesidad puede ser definida a partir de la conveniencia, pero si la definimos segn la necesidad institucional de la educacin superior ocurre que un pas pequeo y de escaso nivel de productividad acadmica esa

27 necesidad lo obliga, es mi tesis en este documento, asumir pertinente un ajuste estructural, que transforme el <welfare state acadmico> por unos principios ms acordes con las realidades econmicas actuales, de recuperacin de costos, ante la escasez del financiamiento sostenido que exige el modelo del <estado del bienestar acadmico>. Pero, puede un intento de reforma de la educacin superior transformar una cultura, en este caso acadmica, derivada de una organizacin social en donde el subsidio y los privilegios son <naturales>?. Ello supondra una enorme tensin y altos niveles de conflicto. La pregunta entonces, tiene el actual gobierno, bajo el supuesto que esa sea su objetivo, abrir el necesario conflicto para recreate an academic community o se ver obligado a reanudar la continuidad de las prcticas sociales ya aludidas y establecer el consenso que ha venido operando, segn el acuerdo de las elites dirigentes del pas?. Puede, al mismo tiempo, encarar resolver los problema disfuncionales y adoptar mecanismos que garanticen la incorporacin de mecanismos de ajuste estructural acordes con la dinmica internacional o al hacer lo contrario, un reajuste ideolgico, se alejar de esas tendencias y procurara crear una relacin en donde el mercado deja de ser intervenido y se abre a las llamadas fuerzas del mercado. En otras palabras, acepta el pas que por fuerza de necesidad se mueve en un mercado internacional y global o crea su propio reduccionismo mirando hacia dentro y reformando segn criterios de conveniencia, que surgen y se legitiman en la nocin del poder poltico?. En este sentido, sin profundizar mas en el tema, en esta oportunidad, cabria decir que si el pas opta por alejarse de las tendencias acadmicas internacionales acadmico en obediencia del principio del anomie.

Anomy (o anoma) es un estado de espritu o una condicin de una persona que ha sido separada de sus valores morales, que no se rige por ningn estndar, sino por impulsos desordenados, que no posee ningn sentido de la continuidad, de lo tradicional, de la obligacin. El hombre anmico se ha convertido en un ser espiritualmente estril, sensible slo a s mismo, que no es responsable por los otros. Es un hombre que ridiculiza los v alores de los otros hombres. Su nica f es la denegacin filosfica. Es un hombre que vive en el filo de la sensacin entre el no futuro y el no pasado. 41

Lo anmico, ya en el terreno sociolgico, alude a una disfuncin y segn este criterio si el pas se aleja de la vida acadmica internacional, si reorganiza su futuro acadmico segn patrones de reajuste ideolgico pues entrara en estado de anomie y en disfuncin, cuestiones ambas que sin valorarlas en si mismas pudieran significar un retroceso para el pas, excepto que el mismo halle la alternativa adecuada a esa tradicin euronorteamericana que hemos empleado como "paradigmtica", para el pas. Esto es, en el lenguaje mertoniano, la educacin superior venezolana entrara en <deviant behaviour>, mirando hacia dentro sin hacerlo simultneamente hacia fuera. Ese difcil e improbable equilibrio seria, en una palabra, el reto esencial de una reforma de la educacin superior venezolana en el ao 2001, que es necesario.

28

En ese orden de ideas, entonces, si Venezuela se aleja de su tendencia histrica y no atiende su necesidad, cual es vincularse a la tradicin euronorteamericana, entrar en disfuncin y en anomie, como hemos sealado. Ello no quiere decir, por cierto, que entre en una patologa ni que sea fatal la vinculacin citada, sino que la disfuncin y el anomie tienen un costo elevado. Justamente Durkheim deca que Llamaremos normales a los hechos que presentan las formas mas generales, y a los dems los calificaremos de morbosos o patolgicos, pero entendamos que se trata de una patologa social y en este caso el costo de la disfuncin es el de construir una alternativa. Ahora bien, los elementos pudieran ser patgenos, pero no el procedimiento, pero, obviamente, el dilema de un pas pequeo y vulnerable como Venezuela es que si se acerca progresa, si se aleja se atrasa. Ciertamente somos una sociedad dependiente, cual no lo es en el mundo global interdependiente? El mercado internacional del petrleo depende del flujo petrolero venezolano, por su parte nosotros consumimos una serie de productos, tiles e intiles, desde candies hasta telfonos digitales, algunos de cuyos productos son ajenos a nuestra capacidad industrial. La creacin de una alternativa acadmica al mundo euronorteamericana es una fantasa, permtaseme decirlo, que tiene prueba histrica en contrario. Ese espacio acadmico euronorteamericana se ha organizado despus de diez dcadas, si hablamos de la creacin de las universidades, o de cinco si nos referimos a la expansin de Europa esto es, a partir de la nocin de descubrimiento, por parte de Europa del hasta entonces mundo desconocido, por aquellos. En esa oportunidad y con el conjunto de instituciones del colonialismo europeo vino a nuestra regin la universidad. No vino en la inmigracin forzada de los africanos, ni se hall en el mundo prehispnico. Mas bien, histricamente hablando, la educacin superior en la regin lleg a la misma como un producto de transferencia institucional y las reformas y adaptaciones que se la hecho al modelo original han quedado dentro de la regin, sin que podamos hablar de un modelo <latinoamericano>, por mas que en un momento determinado podamos hablar de la <universidad latinoamericana>, aquel modelo reajustado en la segunda dcada del siglo XIX, en la Argentina, una readaptacin que a pesar de la hiprbole acerca de su significado es, en el mejor de los casos, una refaccin institucional ms que la creacin de un modelo de educacin superior. Ciertamente aquel modelo original ha sido modificado a lo largo de los siglos y en esos largos aos han participado en la regin otros modelos, siempre modelos de transferencia, mas que originados. En efecto, despus del modelo espaol se hallan en la regin los modelos portugus, francs, britnico, norteamericano y sovitico, observndose que no existen en la regin transferencias del modelo italiano o del modelo alemn. La constante, entonces, es que en la regin hemos adoptado y en el mejor de los casos adaptado modelos originados en la tradicin euronorteamericana y tengo la impresin de que mientras no creemos una alternativa viable y valida la regin, nuestro pas incluido, deben mantenerse dentro de ese patrn normal, sin crear excesos patgenos que puedan desencadenar en una patologa, en este caso social, institucional, que en vez de acercarnos a las puntas del saber nos haga retroceder a posturas emocionales y hasta plausibles pero poco eficientes, como son aquellas inspiradas en fundamentalismos ideolgicos 42 .

29 Retornando al concepto de necesidad Marx, anteriormente, la haba planteado en otro contexto. De hecho se apoya en Barbon, quien haba expresado que "Las cosas tienen una virtud interna, virtud que es siempre y en todas partes la misma, al modo como la del imn de atraer al hierro, para argumentar la nocin de necesidad del siguiente modo: La mercanca es, en primer termino, un objeto externo, una cosa apta para satisfacer necesidades humanas, de cualquier clase que ellas sean. El carcter de estas necesidades, el que broten por ejemplo del estomago o de la fantasa, no interesa en lo ms mnimo para estos efectos. Ni interesa tampoco, desde este punto de vista, cmo ese objeto satisface las necesidades humanas, si directamente, como medio de vida, es decir, como objeto de disfrute, o indirectamente, como medio de produccin

La interpretacin ms obvia es que pases como Venezuela tienen que ver la forma como satisfacer su necesidad, histrica, de asociarse lo mas cerca posible de la punta del saber, en escala internacional, para emplear dicha cercana como estimulo a su medio de produccin. Tienen que ver esa punta como una mercanca, que satisfar necesidades perentorias, en este caso del desarrollo. Es en ese sentido que Marx hablaba del capitalismo como un inmenso arsenal de mercancas y los pases chicos y relativamente apenas intermedios en la escala del desarrollo internacional, si bien no pueden ser ni competidores ni competitivos con las unidades productoras de ciencia y tecnologa, ergo de los bienes y servicios que necesitamos para sobrevivir, al menos si podemos establecer la capacidad de establecer prioridades y adquirir en ese inmenso arsenal de mercancas aquellas mas adecuadas a nuestras necesidades. De otro modo, adquiriremos mercancas sin valor de virtud, esto es, sin valor de uso, justamente como expresaba Nicolas Barbon 43 . Si se toma la vertiente de la necesidad un pas como Venezuela no debera vacilar en escoger la necesidad perentoria de vinculacin estrecha con los sistemas educativos/escolares de excelencia en el mbito mundial. En este caso de Venezuela este pas debe mirar a aquellos lugares en donde se crea y hace la punta del saber. No es difcil hacerlo. Los lugares de excelencia en donde se produce conocimiento, innovacin, nuevos caminos en ciencia y en tecnologa, se hallan en Europa y en los Estados Unidos de Amrica. Dicho lo anterior es necesario calificar el argumento. En Europa hay que centrar la seleccin en aquellos pases que como Francia y gran Bretaa se mantienen en esos niveles de excelencia deseables y cuyas polticas pblicas en educacin incluyen paquetes de cooperacin que pases como Venezuela pueden aprovechar, no obstante queda estar atento que esta cooperacin no esta siempre ajena a intereses de los pases que la prestan, obviamente. Alemania es igualmente excelente, pero tiene las dificultades del idioma, Rusia no es atractiva, Italia menos. Espaa est mejorando considerablemente y es una posibilidad igualmente atractiva, no obstante que tiene la dificultad del idioma, en sentido inverso, puesto que manejan la misma lengua y ello en vez de una ventaja es una desventaja considerable. En el caso de los Estados Unidos de Amrica cabe tener prudencia, porque las instituciones y el propio sistema educativo de este pas obligan a elegir cuidadosamente las instituciones con las cuales es oportuno establecer alianzas estratgicas, en un conjunto de unas cuatro

30 mil instituciones, pero de estas solamente unas 150 a 200 pueden ser de inters para los venezolanos, en los trminos sealados. Personalmente veo con inters el grupo de pases que llamo los gigantes de la periferia, con quienes Venezuela debera establecer esas alianzas acadmicas que son necesarias: Me refiero a pases como Canad, Brasil, China, India y Australia. Habida cuenta de los vnculos entre los lderes de Cuba y de Venezuela se ha planteado y de hecho as son una alianza estratgica con Cuba, para intercambio de profesionales de la medicina y el deporte, as como de la educacin, tres reas en las cuales supuestamente Cuba es lder mundial. Es mi criterio de que tal asociacin no nos interesa, a los venezolanos, mas s a los cubanos. No nos interesa, acadmicamente hablando. La Isla caribea ha estado aislada y si bien hace enormes y plausibles esfuerzos por avanzar no esta en condiciones de ser un modelo a imitar. Cuba es autoritarismo, ideologizacin, nivel mediocre y aislada, (comentar mi libro) Ahora bien, Qu es un ajuste estructural en educacin/escolaridad, en el caso venezolano? Antes de definir este concepto es ms que oportuno afirmar que en modo alguno proponer esta vertiente supone endosar todas las caractersticas de la versin neoliberal de la economa y de la sociedad, como tampoco una versin neomarxista del Estado, ni lo primero significa desconocer las limitaciones tericas del paradigma asociado, el estructualismo-funcionalismo. Debe recordarse que Marx nunca termin de escribir una teora del Estado la famosa nunca escrita cuarta parte del Das Kapital. Pero si existe una coherente teora del Estado desde el punto de vista del liberalismo y del propio neoliberalismo. En todo caso ajuste estructural es una operacin que se basa en un concepto liberal o neoliberal del Estado. Pero ocurre que en este momento (2001) Venezuela parece concebir el estado dentro de una concepcin de Estado centralizado interventor, de modo que es absolutamente absurdo proponer, entonces un ajuste que difiere no solo de la nocin del Estado, sino de la doctrina que lo sustenta. En las actuales condiciones el neoliberalismo es la doctrina del mal, segn la nueva escolstica. Se usa sin discutir la frase segn la cual el neoliberalismo, incluso, es "salvaje, esto es, aparentemente, primitivo, cruel, explotador. Naturalmente, el neoliberalismo no surge de la nada, sino que es una respuesta a los excesos del populismo y la demagogia de gobiernos que saquearon los dineros pblicos, as como del desplome del socialismo, que condujo a los antiguos pases de la rbita sovitica, Cuba incluida, a posturas autoritarias que eliminaron la libertad y ejecutaron polticas sociales igualmente crueles y salvajes. Suele asociarse la nocin de ajuste estructural a las polticas propuestas por el FMI y otros organismos internacionales, desde los incidentes de la Repblica Dominicana (buscar la fecha exacta) hasta los hechos que rodearon la aplicacin de un ajuste de este tipo durante el segundo gobierno de Carlos Andrs Prez, en 1989 en Venezuela. Ahora bien, qu entiendo por un ajuste estructural en la educacin superior venezolana dentro del contexto del ao 2001?. Es relativamente sencillo decirlo, lo improbable es aplicarlo, puesto que ello requiere apoyo y voluntad poltica y esta se halla en los actuales momentos en el otro lado del espectro idelgico-poltico, esto es, absolutamente anti neoliberal y la nocin de ajuste estructural se asocia con aquella postura ideolgica, la cual se halla lejos de mi intencin, dicho sea de paso. Estoy hablando de una necesidad, no de una preferencia o antipata poltica o ideolgica. En la siguiente Tabla pueden verse las lneas bsicas de un ajuste estructural en la educacin superior venezolana:

31

Tabla 2 2001

Elementos de un ajuste estructural para la educacin superior venezolana,

Poltica Recuperacin de segmento estudiantil costos aplicados

Acciones

al Cobro de los servicios en las instituciones pblicas, en todos los niveles, pre y postgrado Modificacin del patrn salarial a los Pago por tarea diferenciado las mismas docentes e investigadores: heterologacin vs segn rendimiento homologacin Separar a los profesores jubilados de las Extender la edad de jubilacin a 65 aos y instituciones y ampliar el acceso de la separar a los jubilados de todo cargo en la generacin de relevo administracin publica. Impuesto al egresado, tanto de instituciones Tasas a cobrar segn la insercin del pblicas como de las privadas egresado en el mercado laboral, hasta tanto restituyan la inversin estatal calculada promedio segn tasas de inflacin Impuesto a las empresas que utilicen Tasas a cobrar a las empresas segn la empleados con grados profesionales, segn insercin del egresado en las mismas. el nivel de los mismos Sustituible con aportes voluntarios a un pote financiero destinado a la educacin superior venezolana Programa de evaluacin externa Crear un stock de empresas privadas destinadas a la evaluacin externa, bajo la supervisin del Estado, va OPSU Cambio del modelo de organizacin laboral, Las distintas instituciones, pblicas y del modelo docente al modelo de privadas destinaran aportes crecientes de su investigacin presupuesto a la investigacin cientfica, segn los criterios que establezca el CONICIT y los CDCH rea de servicios: publicaciones Centralizar las publicaciones de las universidades e institutos de educacin superior, en una poderosa editorial de la educacin superior venezolana, con criterios de arbitraje homogneos. rea de servicios: colaboracin y Estimular la presencia acadmica de las cooperacin con la sociedad abierta, al instituciones de educacin superior en los propio sistema escolar en otros niveles y a niveles previos del sistema escolar y la comunidad extender la accin institucional en las tareas de la comunidad Reorganizacin de los organismos directivos .La comunidad debe estar representada en de las instituciones de educacin superior, los organismos directivos de las instituciones para que en los mismos intervenga la de educacin superior, pblica y privada.

32 sociedad civil, en instituciones publicas y privadas Eleccin de las autoridades acadmicas, en Abrir los procesos electorales para designar instituciones publicas y privadas autoridades a competencia abierta, nacional y en algunos casos internacionales Instalar calendario y cronograma permanente Separar el calendario acadmico de aquel del en la educacin superior venezolana, de personal administrativo y en ambos casos hecho en el sistema escolar del pas hacerlo permanente, cambiando el patrn de vacacin colectiva a vacacin individual Operar unos mecanismos de fusiones Reducir el volumen del sistema de educacin institucionales a fin de reducir el tamao del superior, a travs del procedimiento de sistema de educacin superior, para hacerlo fusiones, para hacerlo ms eficiente, por ms eficiente y de hecho adecuado a las manejable. dimensiones objetivas de la sociedad venezolana Separar las funciones y tareas del personal Contratar tareas de servicios institucionales acadmico de aquel de servicios, empleados y de este modo hacer ms eficiente el costo y obreros de los mismos En ultimo lugar, en esta lista errtica de Abrir mecanismos de evaluacin de los elementos para un ajuste estructural, cabe profesionales y establecer los exmenes de sealar que el Estado debe intervenir Estado, antes de conceder ttulos y cuidadosamente en el otorgamiento de credenciales que, como las de abogado, ttulos y credenciales acadmicas, que estn permiten actuar en la sociedad sin control de siendo otorgadas directamente por las calidad alguna, instrumentos concedidos universidades y otras instituciones de directamente por las instituciones de educacin superior, sin control alguno, en educacin superior, algunas de las cuales, una sociedad en donde las asociaciones probablemente, no resistiran el ms mnimo profesionales no tiene del mismo modo examen de sus condiciones para emitir control de calidad. dichos ttulos y credenciales, que, en Venezuela, son de por vida. Por ello los exmenes a los profesionales deberan restringir la duracin de estos instrumentos. Entrenamiento en los mecanismos de El procedimiento del KM ser esencial para produccin de saber y gerencia del transformar el sistema institucional en conocimiento (knowledge management), a complejo cognitivo. los directivos de las instituciones de educacin superior, pblicas y privadas, en forma obligatoria Entrenamiento de los Establecer procesos de induccin para los docentes/investigadores que ingresen al nuevos integrantes de la comunidad personal docente y de investigacin de las acadmica instituciones de educacin superior, pblicas y privadas, en forma obligatoria Finalmente, sobre la base de lo anterior Crear en el pas un observatorio cientfico y sealado de la necesidad de un ajuste tecnolgico, centralizado estructural, el pas debe insertar su

33 educacin superior en los procesos de internacionalizacin y globalizacion

A mi juicio lo ms importante de analizar desde el punto de vista de lo anterior es que los procesos de democratizacin en Amrica Latina y el Caribe no slo han construido la base institucional para un proceso de decisiones polticas en donde han podido participar los distintos actores y por ello puede mantener su espritu de forma tal que cabe estos ajustes necesarios, porque es la nica manera de, eso, ajustar deficiencias y excesos cometidos por el populismo y la falsa democratizacin del clientelismo poltico, un mal endmico de la regin. Por ello no tengo problemas de llamar lo propuesto anteriormente ajuste estructural o reforma de la educacin, en e caso superior, sino en todo caso ejecutar acciones que ste generan una nueva racionalidad en nombre de la eficiencia democrtica y que repotencie las polticas pblicas. Estas tienen exigencias tcnicas que de hecho tienen propiedades ajenas a las posturas ideolgicas. Casi dira que son exigencias "quirrgicas, que de posponerse ponen al enfermo, en este caso la educacin superior, en peligro de muerte. Si no de muerte, para evitar una expresin que no cabe a las instituciones, si el de mantener un periodo de decadencia y mediocridad que atentara en contra de las posibilidades de desarrollo del pas, obviamente. El actual gobierno venezolano permite hablar de tres modelos en la formulacin de polticas pblicas: el llamado neoliberal, el socialdemcrata y finalmente el revolucionario. Al margen de las etiquetas estas cobran sentido, solamente, a travs de sus resultados. En el caso de nuestro trabajo estamos proponiendo un ajuste neoliberal, pero, repito, no tengo problemas si se hace bajo la etiqueta de revolucionario. Lo importante es ejecutar acciones tales que redunden en una reforma de la educacin superior, cuyo modelo, inaugurado en 1958, esta. Evidentemente, agotado. Ahora bien, es obvio que la nocin de reforma es contradictoria en un rgimen poltico que se denomina revolucionario. Eso en primer lugar. Por otra parte, como espero demostrar en este documento, lo revolucionario seria ejecutar un programa de ajuste estructural y lo reformista aplicar un reajuste ideolgico. La reforma en educacin superior, por otra parte, no es neutra, pues depende la agenda que se tome. Si se elige reformar el acceso, por ejemplo, o la equidad sin tradeoff con la eficiencia, se esta tomando una agenda populista, mientras que desde el punto de vista de ajuste estructural la agenda es otra, es aquella del producto, mas que del proceso como derecho abstracto, aquel del acceso. Si la agenda es la del producto el eje de la reforma tiene que ser, entonces aumentar los niveles de produccin y de productividad, acadmica, en este caso obviamente. No obstante, cabe decirlo desde ahora, no estoy hablando de un ajuste estructural ortodoxo monetarista, sino un ajuste estructural, por as decirlo, revolucionario, en trminos, precisamente estructurales, mas all del reformismo tpico de la agenda unesquiana, acceso, pertinencia, diseo curricular, calidad del proceso de enseanza-aprendizaje y as sucesivamente. De hecho en el caso de la reforma como tal se puede escoger una agenda convencional, de problemas y cuestiones superadas, al menos tericamente si bien no hayan sido resueltos, en la practica, como las cuestiones de acreditacin, seleccin, calidad de los docentes y en general todos esos problemas que llenan hasta la saciedad la mayora de los intentos de cambio mediante los cuales se aborda la reforma de la educacin y de la superior en particular o bien se escoge debatir problemas y cuestiones de innovacin, aquellos que se

34 hallan en la punta del conocimiento, como son los de rendimiento, eficiencia, pero, sobre todo, como lo veremos mas adelante, dos problemas bsicos actuales, uno el tema de la calidad y aplicacin de la produccin y productividad acadmica, el segundo la calidad de la gerencia acadmica, entendiendo que para ambos casos la cuestin no es solo gerencia, sino knowledge management y al mismo tiempo superar el hypolearning propio de los pases atrasados por el hyperlearning, que nos conduce a la sociedad del conocimiento 44 Naturalmente, tal como expresa Susana Sottoli, ...los programas ortodoxos de ajuste se basan en las explicaciones monetaristas acerca de las causas de la inflacin que consideran el crecimiento de la masa monetaria como el factor determinante del desarrollo inflacionario del mecanismo de precios, proponiendo por ello correcciones en la poltica fiscal y una poltica monetaria restrictiva como instrumentos centrales de estabilizacin 45 . Lo que trato de establecer, entonces, es como se ha producido una inflacin escolar en el cuarto nivel venezolano y que es necesario ajustarlo, porque creci en forma irregular creando desequilibrios insostenibles, por el enorme costo del mismo. Esto es una necesidad, como he planteado en este documento, que tiene que hacerse, bien dentro de la democracia representativa o dentro de la democracia protagnica, como denomina el Presidente Chvez a la que acontece en el lapso de la revolucin bolivariana, pero tiene que hacerse, al margen de las propuestas ideolgicas. Se exige, por ende, una poltica educativa de nivel superior restrictiva en su carcter, que modere los excesos populistas, elaborados, precisamente, en el lapso de la democracia representativa, lapso en el cual se magnificaron los beneficios gremiales, por ejemplo, y se disea una institucionalidad que pensaba ms en el clientelismo que en la eficiencia y es necesario retornar a niveles de rendimiento y eficiencia al menos mnimos. Es mas, la ventaja aparente del gobierno de Chvez es que supuestamente no tiene compromisos con el pasado y s es as puede ajustar con un costo relativamente bajo. Naturalmente, una segunda interpretacin es que tales intereses creados estn vigentes y activos y el gobierno del Presidente Chvez carece de la fuerza o disposicin para ajustarlos y ejecutar las mismas polticas populistas del pasado. No cabe duda, por cierto, de que las decisiones en polticas en educacin superior fueron exitosas, en el pasado. La expansin de la matricula, a partir de 1958, el crecimiento institucional, el fortalecimiento del sector privado del rea, la profunda reforma que inicio Franciso De Venanzi en la universidad venezolana, la creacin de la diversificacin institucional, son todos logros excelentes. Pero los vicios del clientelismo han generado un estado de cosas que deben ser ajustado. El clientelismo, el favoritismo, la misma corrupcin acadmica, esto es, una serie de elementos perniciosos que de continuar lesionaran aun ms un sistema de educacin/escolaridad superior que, a junio de mi persona, debe ser ajustado. Si en vez de aplicarse una poltica de este tipo y se aplica la contraria, esto es, un reajuste ideolgico, pues entonces se retrasara aun ms la necesaria reforma y se reforzara lo negativo de dicho sistema de educacin superior. No cabe, en este documento, al menos, hacer un anlisis de cada una de las polticas sugeridas anteriormente, excepto quiz una de las ms importantes, urgentes de cambio, cual es el patrn laboral de los docentes e investigadores de las universidades venezolanas. Este es uno de los mecanismos ms perverso que hemos ideado, pues estimula la burocracia y desestima la produccin y la productividad acadmica. En Venezuela se paga todos por igual, segn un escalafn ya caduco. Esto es, se ingresa en una posicin y se avanza de una

35 a otra segn ciertos criterios, que si bien tuvieron un origen meritocrtico se han convertido en fases burocrticas. Con una carga docente ridculamente baja los miembros del personal docente y de investigacin avanzan hasta llegar a posiciones cuyos sueldos y salarios son sumamente elevados, dadas las circunstancias. Dicha remuneracin es nacional, esto es, se paga por la misma tarea el mismo remuneracin, independientemente del lugar del pas y tipo e institucin. Esto es, devenga lo mismo un profesor situado en San Fernando de Apure, la ciudad menos avanzada del pas en materia acadmica y de menor costo de vida, que uno que resida en una ciudad de alto costo de vida. Se paga igual a un profesor de fsica atmica que a un profesor de alguna de las muchas actividades banales de nuestra academia. Se paga por igual a quien haya obtenido un titulo acadmico en una universidad de primer orden internacional, digamos economa en la Universidad de Chicago, que a otro que haya obtenido un titulo de doctor en una universidad panamea, por ejemplo, independientemente incluso de que esta universidad no tenga acreditacin alguna. Se paga igual al que ha producido docencia e investigacin, como aquel que se ha limitado a dictar sus horas de aula, horas de 45 minutos, dicho sea de paso, como si se trata de una escuela secundaria. De hecho, en la prctica muchas unidades acadmicas del pas no son sino escuelas secundarias ascendidas a instituciones de educacin superior gracias a un crecimiento irracional del sistema de educacin superior. Es decir, en Venezuela los sueldos y salarios han sido homologados, por virtud de las presiones de los gremios y ello es una perversidad, pues la nica poltica sana es la de heterologar los mismos, a fin de pagar segn rendimiento y no segn funcin. De lo anterior se deriva una poltica de personal aun ms inslita, la jubilacin, a edades en las cuales las personas aun estn en condiciones de rendir un trabajo de buena calidad. Los jubilados no cancelan impuestos sobre la renta y generalmente se insertan en otras actividades laborales, ocurriendo que dicha jubilacin es un sobre sueldo, que aumenta de acuerdo a los mismos aumentos que recibe la poblacin activa y de hecho, interesante, como pueden seguir participando en los procesos electorales en donde se eligen a las autoridades y habida cuenta de que el nmero de los jubilados aumenta cada ao es probable que lleguemos a un momento critico, en el cual la mayor parte de la poblacin de la educacin superior sea pasiva, pero al mismo tiempo controlaran polticamente a las instituciones. Pero hay muchas resistencias al cambio, en la educacin superior. Se trata, para decirlo de una vez, de una suma de privilegios que se resisten al cambio. Los profesores no son los nicos, ni los ms poderosos. Son los estudiantes y los grupos de presin de la sociedad os que no quieren aplicar sistemas de recuperacin de costos. Mantener una sociedad como la venezolana que la escuela superior sea gratuita es caer en una aberracin social. Es un subsidio a los sectores pudientes de la sociedad el mantener este injusto esquema de gratuidad y poltica de subsidio a los estudiantes. Sobre la materia es oportuno recordar un planteamiento clsico en el tema, segn quien: El que en algunos Estados de esta ltimo (de los Estados Unidos de Amrica) sea <gratuitos> tambin los centros de instruccin superior, solo significa, en realidad, que all a las clases altas se les pagan sus gastos de educacin a costa del fondo de los impuestos generales.46

36

Quiz me anime a citar un tercer factor, que a mi juicio tiene y ha tenido efectos negativos, el que las autoridades de cada institucin sean designadas en procesos "democrticos de seleccin interna. Esto ha generado que los espacios acadmicos hayan sido convertidos en espacios de disputa electoral, con el consabido clientelismo. Pero ms grave aun, ha reducido cada institucin a una individualizacin tal que en cada una de ellas se hace carrera poltica, mas que carrera acadmica. De este modo todas las actividades de la institucin se ven como parte de un proyecto poltico, a fin de ganar la eleccin a uno u otro cargo. Esto ha generado una enorme perturbacin en la dinmica de la academia. Tanto as que no vacilo en hacer una larga cita, del texto de un aviso publicado en la prensa nacional, a media pgina, en la cual, en apoyo a un candidato a rector de una universidad publica, firmada la misma por una curiosa como interesante gama de personas, de dentro y de fuera de la institucin en cuestin, se insertaba un texto que aparte de su dudosa calidad gramatical y de contenido, se expresa con exactitud la confusin conceptual que se ha generado en el pas, en este afn de "elegir a las autoridades acadmicas. Lase: La agresividad neoliberal, la cada de ciertos estados socialistas, junto a otros componentes del presente mundial, han colocado a la Universidad, en un estado de crisis profunda, de fundamentaron, de paradigmas, de los saberes, de las verdades, d de la cientificidad, de la tica, de sentido, de la nocin de Universidad...Las denominadas fuerzas externas a la Universidad, se originan en las manifestaciones ltimas del capitalismo tardo, como el surgimiento de la sociedad post-industrial, la hiperconcentracion del poder econmico en megaconsorcios transnacionales, la globalizacion, y el debilitamiento poltico y econmico de los Estados Nacionales. Este juego no acepta los trminos de la Universidad estatal y rechaza, tanto que siga convirtindose en un espacio para la crtica como que comparta opciones polticas y ticas distintas a las esgrimidas por la globalizacion. En este nuevo orden, la Universidad debe estar al servicio de la globalizacion. Esas voces eternas fuera de los diccionarios neoliberales, como <equidad>, <justicia>, <igualdad<, <solidaridad>, sern cosas del pasado 47 .

Lo que en propiedad pudiramos llamar el discurso anti neoliberal, promovido por el Presidente de la Repblica Bolivariana, en su versin "salvaje, ha sido incorporado en forma acrtica, por el discurso comn nacional actual. Otro ejemplo es un texto publicado por una universidad publica venezolana, Mensaje a los educadores venezolanos, en donde expresaban textualmente esta postura ideolgica: ...es urgente que nos dediquemos a concebir y poner en marcha un modelo de desarrollo alternativo que se inspire en nuestro pasado histrico y en nuestras fortalezas actuales para que se adapte a lo que somos desde el punto de vista geogrfico, poltico y cultural. Este modelo alternativo debe contener soluciones para la secuela de desigualdades y de miseria que produce el neoliberalismo, para la desintegracin de nuestro perfil histrico-cultural y para la agudizacin de la dependencia cientfico-tecnolgica, la exclusin social y la disminucin de nuestros modelos de produccin, conque amenaza la

37 globalizacion. La aplicacin de este modelo debe permitirnos ser creativos para transformar los efectos de este fenmeno en oportunidades, al potenciar nuestras fortalezas como estrategias para continuar en el proceso de desarrollo
48

Naturalmente, las odiosas y reprobables desigualdades y miserias de las sociedades no son responsabilidad de una u otra doctrina socioeconmica. Pero el neoliberalismo ha venido a ser la excusa universal para todos los males de la sociedad venezolana, a pesar de que existen numerosos indicios que sealan como, de hecho y en todo caso, el actual gobierno denuncia el neoliberalismo pero adopta polticas publicas que son en esencia polticas neoliberales. Gumersindo Rodrguez, por ejemplo, ha expresado que: El ascenso de Chvez a la Presidencia ha significado quiz la ms importante redistribucin del poder poltico en Venezuela desde el triunfo de la revolucin del 18 de octubre de 1945. Sin embargo, en lo que se refiere al dominio de los medios fundamentales de produccin y de control social, contina el intenso proceso de privatizacin, concentracin y centralizacin en manos de sectores plutocrticos domsticos transnacionalizados y de las grandes corporaciones extranjeras 49

Pero si bien en materia de manejo del capital el gobierno es neoliberal en materia de educacin superior, que es el objeto de nuestro documento, el gobierno mantiene una poltica populista de subsidio y tal parece que se resiste a proceder a cambios urgentes en esta materia, porque hacerlo seria aplicar una poltica neoliberal. De los temas de una agenda de ajuste estructural est, por ejemplo, aplicar el principio de la privatizacin de ciertas actividades de las instituciones de educacin superior los comedores estudiantiles, por ejemplo, pero eso seria inaceptable para e sustrato de subsidio al cual estn habituados l los estudiantes de la educacin superior, no obstante que se hable de privatizar las crceles del pas, al menos las ms importantes. Esto alude a cuestiones profundas de la ideologa nacional. Esto es, es valido privatizar crceles, cuya poblacin es del origen social mas bajo imaginable, pero no las instituciones que atienden las necesidades de los que estudian en las instituciones de educacin superior.

La formulacin de polticas pblicas en educacin superior, la vertiente de la conveniencia (El reajuste ideolgico).

Como todas las historias que se escriban sobre nuestro pasado inmediato, esta encierra un largo caudal de energa perdida, de frustraciones y derrotas. El pas todava se agitaba en el ms irracional crecimiento catico. La Razn y la Cultura no planifican aun el desarrollado equilibrado de la nacin. Los caudillos encarnan llmense Castro, Rolando o el Mocho Hernndez- vagos mitos

38

colectivos. Se acta ms por impulso mgico que por deliberacin lgica. Las cabezas ms iluminadas de entonces prefieren hacer discursos, negocios o trapaceras leguleyas. Cipriano Castro no es ms culpable que los que le asesoran y le sirven. Pero si este cuadro de la nacin hace medio siglo que he excavado de colecciones de peridicos y recuerdos y ancdotas de viejos, dista mucho de ser edificante, acaso ofrezca el efecto catrtico de todas las tragedias. Tambin se escribe Historia con la Utopa de mejorar los tiempos y liberarse, a la vez, de muchos materiales y formas muertas que arrastra el pasado Mariano Picn Salas, Los das de Cipriano Castro, 1953 La educacin neoliberal promueve un currculo para idiotizar a nuestros jvenes Roland Lares El Nacional, 12 de febrero de 2001

Del mismo modo, definamos lo que entendemos por la vertiente de la conveniencia y, posteriormente, respondamos la pregunta inevitable en esta parte de nuestro trabajo, qu es un reajuste ideolgico en educacin/escolaridad, en el caso venezolano? La conveniencia en este caso de Venezuela en el ao 2001 es apoyar la educacin/escolaridad en la doctrina bolivariana codificada segn la interpretacin del lder mximo de la revolucin correspondiente, Hugo Chvez Fras, Presidente de Venezuela (2000-2006). No es la oportunidad de hacer un anlisis de los componentes de esta doctrina, excepto en los termino educativos. Dicha doctrina se halla simbolizada en educacin en la escuela bolivariana. Esto es, en la adjetivacin de la escuela. La conveniencia es una aproximacin subjetiva a la dinmica institucional, mientras que la necesidad es de ndole objetiva y social. Incluso, segn Marx, satisfacer la nocin de necesidad debe ser satisfecha, porque de otro modo no podr vivir, ni, menos aun, hacer historia 50 La escuela debe ser genrica. Cundo se convierte en la escuela religiosa en su propia denominacin, o en este caso bolivariana pues entonces es dable la polmica, pues si vamos a resucitar los hroes de la Independencia, por qu escoger a Bolvar, que si bien tenia pensamiento no tena en s mismo un proyecto de reforma educativa y no a Santander, que era el idelogo de la educacin el rgimen de entonces? Ms aun, se hubiese podido tomar el pensamiento y proyecto educativo de Simn Rodrguez y en este caso la escuela se

39 llamara escuela "rodriguiana" o "simnera", pero bolivariana es un compromiso, sobre todo porque la misma no es salida en si misma como concepto sino una reforma administrativa y no ni pedaggica ni ideolgica. En este sentido podra comentar un esquema de la escuela santanderista. 51 . En efecto, hay que hacer una distincin entre lo que es el pensamiento educativo de una persona, de lo que es un proyecto educativo, de una persona o sociedad. Simn Bolvar, efectivamente, tenia un pensamiento educativo, propio de una persona del pensamiento ilustrado en el cual se haba formado, pero no tenia como tal un proyecto educativo. Quien si lo tenia, profundo y claro, era Francisco de Paula Santander, el lder neogranadino. Santander, en su condicin de Vicepresidente de la Gran Colombia propuso un proyecto educativo para la nueva nacin. En esos aos fundo escuelas en todas la Gran Colombia. Por ejemplo, el Colegio del Istmo, en Panam (1823), en Cuman, Venezuela (1824), en Cartagena, Nueva Granada (1826), la Casa de Educacin en Valencia (15 de abril de 1823), Trujillo (3 de junio de 1823), Guanare (16 de mayo de 1825) y el Tocuyo (10 de septiembre de 1823), para mencionar el caso de aquellas interesantes Casas del Educador. La Ley en donde esta el Proyecto educativo de Santander esta en la que fue promulgada en 1826, en donde se estableca el principio del <estado docente>: La enseanza pblica ser gratuita, comn y uniforme en toda Colombia...sern establecidas en cada parroquia las escuelas de enseanza mutua, a ninguna ser permitido tener ninguna abierta donde se ensee segn el antiguo y vicioso mtodo, refirindose a la escuela colonial. Para ello el principio esencial era que la escuela fuese laica y que mantuviese distancia de lo religioso, como de lo militar, esto ultimo por razones obvias de una sociedad que viva tan de cerca la guerra y la destruccin que ello implica, como ocurre, por desgracia, en estos mismos momentos en Colombia, en donde la lucha fratricida coloca a esta sociedad en los mismos tiempos de Santander, aos de violencia y de muerte. En el caso de nuestro documento, sin embargo, es oportuno regresar a la definicin de un enfoque basado en la nocin de conveniencia, que hemos definido como un enfoque segn el cual se satisface un propsito subjetivo, que enfatiza lo ideolgico a travs de un proyecto poltico, que se arropa con la rutina dirigida hacia el control y no se incorpora a la necesidad, que es lo objetivo y contextual de acuerdo a una visin de apertura, abierta a la innovacin y al cambio. Conveniencia es equivalente en este caso a un enfoque segn el cual se elabora un reajuste ideolgico. El mismo se halla contenido en un documento titulado Proyecto Educativo Nacional 52 . Ms que interesante sealar que el reajuste ideolgico no es one-sided, pues no es solamente el gobierno quien propone un proyecto educativo, sino que la oposicin al actual gobierno hace lo propio, caso en el cual el debate sobre la cosa educativa adquiere caractersticas inusitadas, pues cada uno de estos proyectos representa intereses poderosos, en la sociedad venezolana. No es nuestro inters, en esta oportunidad, analizar los fundamentos de ambos proyectos, excepto que los mismos nos permiten reforzar esta idea segn la cual lo que existe en el pas es una discusin acerca de la bondad de un reajuste ideolgico; por una parte el gobierno, con un proyecto revolucionario y por los otra sectores de la oposicin, vinculados a la Iglesia Catlica, sobre todo y a otros intereses del sector privado. Cabe sealar que existe la creencia de que el gobierno revolucionario del Presidente Chvez tiene vnculos estrechos con la universidad publica venezolana autnoma, especialmente con la Universidad Central de Venezuela, pero si bien algunos docentes e investigadores de esta institucin forman parte

40 del actual gobierno su numero es irrelevante, en comparacin con el total del personal docente y de investigacin de esta universidad 53 Es una vieja como antigua disputa ideolgica, aquella de la Iglesia Catlica y el Estado republicano, en el pas. Como ha ocurrido en otros pases de la regin, por supuesto. Muchas veces con resultados violentos, como en el caso mexicano y en los casos de Brasil y de Chile. En el caso venezolano actual el Estado, a travs del proyecto que espera organizar, procurara mantener el control de la escuela y de la escolaridad, yendo la ecuacin del ente macro al ente micro, mientras que el sector que s ele opone, que incluye, repetimos, no solo a la Iglesia Catlica sino igualmente a otros grupos del mismo sector privado, revierte la ecuacin y en este caso va de la unidad micro (familia) a la unidad macro (Estado). Son posiciones irreconciliables. Por una parte <el estado docente>, que observa y mira el proceso de enseanza-aprendizaje desde la perspectiva de los intereses comunes, representados jurdicamente en la figura del Estado. La otra perspectiva es la de la <sociedad docente>, que parte mas bien del bien comn, mas que del inters colectivo y el bien comn es la dinmica al nivel de la unidad de la familia y en este caso son los padres los que supuestamente estn en mejores condiciones para regular, vigilar y supervisar la enseanza-aprendizaje de sus hijos. Los argumentos desde cada punto de vista son slidos. El Estado mantiene que en sociedades en donde la familia es dbil, organizativamente hablando, debe prevalecer el inters de todos, los contrarios arguyen que el Estado solo significa burocracia y sujecin a principios ajenos al bienestar de los ciudadanos. La Iglesia Catlica, ciertamente, favorece que sea el ncleo familiar quien controle el poder educativo, por as llamarlo, mientras que el estado procura suponer que representa el mencionado inters comn y que debe prevalecer, por encima de intereses particulares, en este caso instituciones como la Iglesia Catlica, quien ve en el control de la escolaridad una posibilidad de catequesis. Cabe insistir que la ideologa de la educacin venezolana tiene un largo camino y que el debate acerca de esta actividad, en el ao 2001, es parte de un drama pedaggico que tiene esas dos posturas rivales, la que cree en el control del Estado, el <estado docente> y quienes creen en la >sociedad docente>, asentada la misma sobre el principio de la libertad de enseanza, que nos revierte al criterio segn el cual ensear es, prcticamente, un libre albedro y que cualquier forma de control es una "intervencin en el principio sealado de la libertad de enseanza 54 La armona y el consenso parecen improbables, entre estos dos extremos, no obstante que existen ejemplos de concordia y prudencia, de modo que muchas polticas educativas formuladas en el pas han llegado a acuerdos y como consecuencia de negociaciones. No parece ser el caso que se avecina a principios del ao 2001. La argumentacin en este documento, entonces, se refiere a como el pas, en vez de asumir un proyecto de inspiracin tecnocrtica y de ajuste estructural se enfrasca en una disputa nada cartesiana por un reajuste ideolgico, en este caso la prevalencia del <estado docente> o de su antinomia <la sociedad docente>. El citado Proyecto Educativo Nacional es un reajuste ideolgico importante, pero en si no contiene o no contempla a la educacin superior, sino casi exclusivamente a la escuela bsica. La razn es obvia. La escuela bsica es la unidad del proceso de enseanzaaprendizaje directamente vinculada a la masa de la poblacin y muchas posturas polticas

41 creen que quien controle a la escuela controla la sociedad, otros creen que sean los medios de comunicacin social y as sucesivamente, pero el Proyecto educativo de Chvez corresponde con su visin globalizante, estatista, definitivamente, y en consecuencia su proyecto educativo habr de englobar, eventualmente, a la educacin superior del pas, indudablemente. En este orden de ideas seria de esperar que las acciones del gobierno actual conduzcan, entonces, a ejecutarse como parte de un proyecto poltico autoritario, que se resista al dialogo democrtico y plural. Dicho proyecto en su manifestacin autoritaria se aplicara, por supuesto, en todos los ordenes de la vida social, pero sobre todo en educacin, cultura, deportes, esto es, aquellas actividades vinculadas a la masa popular. Antes de comentar en este documento el proyecto en su faceta denominada educativa debe observarse que simultneamente al proyecto educativo existe uno para la cultura y uno para el deporte. En este ultimo caso se han firmado acuerdos con Cuba para que 1.500 profesores del rea vengan al pas a trabajar para la coordinacin nacional del deporte. En el caso d la actividad cultural y segn resolucin N 1 del 12 de enero de 2001 en un plazo de 120 das los 36 entes tutelados y adscritos debern presentar ante el Consejo Nacional de la Cultura el diseo del proyecto de reestructuracin y reorientacin institucional y programtica, sobre la base de lo cual se organizara la reestructuracin de todos los organismos, cualquier que sea su figura jurdica, incluyendo los institutos de educacin superior que prestan servicio a la cultura como actividad del estado 55 Una de las directrices del sealado reglamento seala que se deber: Adecuar la actuacin global de cada una de las instituciones pblicas a lineamientos para la transformacin cultural: en cuanto a lneas de accin integradora y a los fundamentos de la gestin cultural publica; en cuanto a los equilibrios: poltico, econmico, social, territorial e internacional; en cuanto a la organizacin: transversalidad, horizontalidad, transectorialidad y transdisciplinaridad; en cuanto a los principios operativos institucionales: planificacin estratgica, funcionalidad, eficiencia, pertinencia, coherencia, excelencia, rendimiento, economa operativa; en cuanto a los propsitos programticos: impacto social y educativo, incremento patrimonial y documental, promocin y formacin profesional especializada, extensin y proyeccin nacional e internacional, investigacin, documentacin y estadstica, estimulo a la creatividad y a la excelencia Es interesante que unos propsitos parecidos pudieran elaborarse para la educacin superior publica del pas, aun cuando valdra la pena preguntarnos, en este momento de nuestro documento, existe la capacidad y voluntad poltica para intervenir de este modo a los <entes de la educacin superior> sin que la misma genere el repudio de la comunidad acadmica nacional?. Se tendra la impresin de que intervenir el deporte es relativamente sencillo, porque el mismo es una actividad en donde intervienen fundamentalmente personas asociadas a los grupos populares. La cultura del pas, como actividad, es relativamente tangencial e intervenirla, del mismo modo, no genera mayor preocupacin, mas all de los propios interesados 56 La educacin superior parecera otra cuestin completamente distinta, pues afecta intereses del sector pblico, de clase media y de clase alta, en ambos casos desde el punto de vista de ingreso y de conceptos sociolgicos, as como se vera como una amenaza a la libertad acadmica pro una parte, como que por la

42 otra seria una amenaza real y efectiva a inters del sector privado sumamente poderosos. El argumento ha sido esgrimido, sin embargo, puesto que en el caso de la cultura se ha dicho que: Hay que profundizar y ampliar la visin y misin, la orientacin, estrategia y estructura programtica de cada una de las instituciones, adecundolas a los lineamientos y polticas culturales, educativas y de mejoramiento socioeconmico establecidos por el Estado (Subrayado mo).

En efecto, esta es la pregunta, de nuevo: tendr el actual gobierno la capacidad, el inters, el coraje poltico, como para intervenir a las instituciones de educacin superior adecundolas a los lineamientos y polticas culturales, educativas y de mejoramiento socioeconmico establecidos por el Estado, sin que ello provoque un cisma en la organizacin de la sociedad y sus relaciones con el poder poltico que la gobierna?. En otras palabras, rompera una decisin semejante el equilibrio que aun se mantiene y que hace prevalecer el sentido de la gobernabilidad?. Por otra parte es posible acometer las necesarias reformas de la educacin superior del pas sin procurar adecuar las instituciones a lineamientos comunes, mientras que se mantienen, al mismo tiempo, las libertades propias de la academia y de la sociedad en donde este opera?. Cabe advertir que el Consejo Nacional de la Cultura es responsable por varias instituciones de educacin superior y el criterio de adecuacin podra eventualmente servir de jurisprudencia para instituciones de educacin superior dependientes propiamente del Ministerio de Educacin 57

Dentro de las acciones del actual gobierno tambin se incluye, como era de esperar, legislacin acerca de la actividad cientfico-tecnolgica. En efecto, se elabora un Plan Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnologa, que contempla reorganizar el rea, en forma tal que opere de manera integrada. El proyecto que ha circulado entre los miembros de la comunidad acadmica y cientifica-tecnolgica del pas alude a, por ejemplo, crear el sistema nacional de ciencia, tecnologa e innovacin para promover y orientar el desarrollo cientfico y tecnolgico, Estar integrado por las instituciones pblicas o privadas que generan o desarrollan conocimiento. Segn el documento que ha circulado en el pas existe Una capacidad cientfica y tecnolgica dispersa, aislada y desvinculada de los contextos sociales y productivos que la demandan, que funciona en marcos institucionales cerrados y que ha tenido un bajo impacto en el desarrollo econmico, social y cultural del pas" y en consecuencia: El pas ha decidido...comenzar un profundo proceso de transformaciones polticas, institucionales, sociales y econmicas cuya esencia es la incorporacin de diversos sectores en la construccin y goce de los beneficios de una sociedad que tiene como orientaciones fundamentales: la democracia participativa, la transformacin productiva y la equidad. Estos cambios tambin tienen como centro el capital humano, al cumulo de venezolanas y venezolanos, que se suman a estos grandes procesos de democratizacin del conocimiento para alcanzar su fortalecimiento, capacitacin y promocin, como protagonistas generadores de los cambios

43

Ciertamente un prrafo de inters, puesto que coloca al tema de la produccin de ciencia y tecnologa en un lugar de posible campo de discusin. En este sentido, es posible democratizar la produccin de conocimientos o su consumo a travs de sus aplicaciones? El lema del proyecto mencionado es en si simblico de las intenciones populistas del proyecto, pues se afirma que el mismo permitir Ciencia y tecnologa para la gente. El complejo proceso que permite la produccin de ciencia y tecnologa, va la creacin de nuevo conocimiento, es sumamente delicado, muy privado, cuasi secreta, no solo en el procedimiento en si de la creacin, sino que los descubrimientos, invenciones e innovaciones pasan por el camino del secreto, para proteger la posible aplicacin de los conocimientos as producidos, a travs de mecanismos como las patentes. Cmo entonces har el Estado para hacer que el pequeo ncleo que forma la comunidad acadmica nacional sea ms productiva y eficiente, en los ambiguos trminos de la democracia participativa, la transformacin productiva y la equidad? Cmo se reorganiza sin intervenir y de este modo impedir el libre flujo de un proceso que para poder generar ideas, saber, conocimientos y aplicaciones debe laborar y trabajar en condiciones de absoluta libertad, en la eleccin de los presupuestos tericos y metodolgicos y de la propia agenda intelectual e ideolgica que emplea?. Del mismo modo que hicimos en el tema de la cultura no vamos en esta ocasin a hacer un anlisis a fondo de esta cuestin, pero evidente de suyo que al inicio del ao 2001 el actual gobierno busca intervenir, no hay otra palabra, los diversos aspectos de la actividad relacionada con escolaridad, cultura, deportes, ciencia y tecnologa y eventualmente habr de hacer lo propio en el rea de la escolaridad superior, como, efectivamente, procurara intervenir la actividad propia de los medios de comunicacin social, puesto que el proyecto del actual gobierno es abiertamente estatista, que interpreto distinto a estatal, entendiendo a su vez por ello la funcin de equilibrio del entre institucional que llamamos a la representacin jurdica de la sociedad, mientras que estatista es la exageracin del papel del estado, que termina por lesionar el propio equilibrio de la sociedad. Entonces, para reiterarlo, qu ocurrir cuando se intente intervenir a la educacin superior nacional, para adecuarla a la democracia participativa, la transformacin productiva y la equidad, como se propone para la ciencia y la tecnologa?. Cmo en el caso del deporte, que se reorganiza contratando 1.500 supuestos expertos cubanos en esta actividad para que reorganicen esta actividad en el pas, ser posible hacer lo propio para que se mejore la educacin superior venezolana?. Las respuestas a estas y otras preguntas anlogas pueden hallarse en el comportamiento de la educacin superior internacional comparada. En educacin superior y en ciencia y en tecnologa no hay cabida para proyectos nacionales, sino para estudiar y analizar el tipo de insercin que es necesario para mantener niveles de actualidad acadmica vinculados a la punta internacional del saber/conocimiento, en cada rea. Es esto lo que me interesa destacar. El esfuerzo por reorganizar es plausible. Pero al parecer todo esfuerzo intervencionista termina por reducirse a una visin nacional, omitiendo que en estas actividades lo internacional es la prioridad. Cada pas-sociedad es responsable por organizar su sistema cognoscitivo general, pero no puede operar en forma aislada, mucho menos en el mundo globalizado en el cual nos toca vivir. Si Venezuela opta por un esquema dirigido a su entorno nacional y omite la necesaria indudablemente. Por ello

44 hemos propuesto en este documento un anlisis de las opciones venezolanas, un ajuste estructural y un reajuste ideolgico. La necesidad obligara a lo internacionalizacin/globalizacion fracturara y fragmentara sus posibilidades futuras, primero, las conveniencias inmediatas nos dirigen a lo segundo, al parecer en forma inexorable. Las consecuencias en cada caso son relativamente fciles de prever. Ahora bien, el Proyecto de Ley Orgnica de Educacin, as como el Proyecto Educativo Nacional, son propuestas y posturas ideolgicas, cada cual buscando favorecer sus determinados intereses, la Iglesia Catlica en el primero, el Estado en el segundo. En trminos tcnicos no hay sociedad en donde no existan esos intereses. No hay sociedad en donde el Estado no busque prevalecer e imponer su visin del hombre y de la propia sociedad, puesto que de otra manera estaramos hablando de una sociedad sin Estado. Del mismo modo, no hay sociedad en donde, a su vez, no existan puntos de vista que discrepen de la perspectiva del Estado y, sobre todo, del gobierno y de las personas que desempean los cargos correspondientes en la administracin del mismo. No hay sociedad que tenga un sistema escolar/educativo perfecto, puesto que los sistemas sociales e institucionales estn compuestos por eperlanos, cuyas personalidades, a pesar de la conocida nocin de <personalidad bsica> de Abraham Kardiner, difieren entre s unas y otras en forma tal que las expectativas son infinitamente diversas, tanto mas en las sociedades modernas complejas, como en este caso es la venezolana 58 . Todo lo anterior sugiere, entonces, que la arena educativa, genricamente hablando, es siempre un terreno lleno de conflictos. Pudiera citar como en algunas sociedades en donde operan conflictos socio polticos importantes este debate acerca del papel de la educacin es materia de primer orden. Ocurre entre israelitas y palestinos, entre catlicos y protestantes en Irlanda, entre los distintos grupos que mantienen el conflicto en Colombia desde hace dcadas, existe en los pases africanos del Sub Sahara en donde cruentas guerras han tendido a menudo, como trasfondo, este debate educativo. Por ello, antes de comentar en nuestro trabajo las caractersticas de ambos documentos cabe reiterar, hasta donde sea posible, que ambos proyectos son perfectamente vlidos y legtimos, como aspiracin de grupos e instituciones y entes. Es una obligacin de cada sector, el presentar sus ideas. El Estado venezolano tienen la obligacin de definir el campo de accin de los actores educativos y los actores privados tienen la obligacin de defender los espacios que juzgan propios e inalienables. En todo caso la tarea del Gobierno, como instrumento del estado y aquel de la sociedad, de arbitrar el inters comn y equilibrar las posiciones en pugna. Naturalmente, en este como en todo otro debate dicotmico cabe la tercera posicin, que es la de equilibrar, de buscar el consenso, de permitir la disidencia y la controversia, de garantizar el pluralismo de una sociedad democrtica, pero, ciertamente, a veces las discusiones en esta materia desbordan sus cauces y se afirman posiciones irreconciliables e irrenunciables, que afectan la sana dinmica del sistema educativo y del social, por ende. Dicho lo anterior observemos que el Proyecto de Ley Orgnica de Educacin y el mismo Proyecto Educativo Nacional son propuestas jurdicas que al contener un fundamento filosfico abordar, simplemente, el deber ser de la educacin. Pero, interesante as sealarlo, ambas propuestas buscan sustituir la actual Ley Orgnica de Educacin, de 1980, pero en ninguno de los dos casos hay un cambio radical con aquella. Esto es, mantienen el esquema de la escuela y sus actores como fundamento del proceso de enseanza-aprendizaje, sin comprometer el anlisis con la sociedad del futuro. Ambas son

45 profundamente autoritarias, pues buscan mantener vigentes la nocin de control, sea la familia o el Estado y en ambos casos, se trata de instituciones dbiles, en un caso la familia que es un ncleo a menudo abstracto, en una sociedad en donde es preferible hablar del hogar y de la calle el espacio pblico, como los agentes esenciales, y en el otro caso el estado, cuya abstraccin se justamente dbil en sociedades como la venezolana en donde el Estado es mediatizado por quienes lo representan ergo los gobernantes, cuyos vicios de conducta en la aplicacin de mores y de leyes hace inefectivo el aparato jurdico en si puesto que se aplica mas bien la costumbre y el inters especifico y a menudo, muy a menudo, el inters personal o de los grupos concurrentes. De hecho, ya entrando en el anlisis sociolgico, la compleja forma de organizacin de la sociedad venezolana hace no solo inefectiva a la norma, como concepto bien sea a nivel del estado o de la familia, sino que la aplicabilidad de la misma hace poner en duda la gobernabilidad institucional, puesto que las unidades actan segn su parecer, pues los caminos son mltiples para que los venezolanos obtengan los fines que persiguen. Visto entonces desde este punto de vista la disputa por el control de la educacin y de los enormes fondos disponibles para subsidiar el aparato escolar/educativo/cultural/deportivo hace sumamente atractiva la lucha por el poder de este aparato, dedicado supuestamente, nobleza obliga, a "la formacin del hombre que deseamos en nuestra sociedad y en el futuro, sino que quien la controla coopta cuantiosas instancias de poder, financiero y clientelar. Mas aun, probablemente no existe en la sociedad venezolana una presa mas codiciada que la educacin, en donde haya mas dinero disponible y por ello la disputa es y ser feroz y por ello mismo es tan improbable cambiar o eliminar las deficiencias observables en el funcionamiento y operacin de nuestro sistema educativo, lo cual puede verse en sencillos ejemplos. Me permito sealar solamente uno de ellos, que ha sido motivo de mi reflexin durante dcadas: los mecanismos de sueldos y salarios de los miembros de la academia venezolana, en el nivel de la escuela superior o postsecundaria como prefiero llamarla para no comprometer la denominacin de superior, es uno de los ms perversos imaginables porque mediante el mismo se cancela la improductividad en vez de lo contrario. Pero el mismo se halla tan anclado, como inters, en la praxis institucional del pas que seria casi absolutamente imposible cambiarlo, por un rgimen mediante el cual se procediera a lo contrario, esto es, a pagar la productividad. Por ello, habida cuenta de las caractersticas de la sociedad venezolana el conflicto que se anticipa en la arena educativa no parece ser sino la excusa de conflictos ms profundos, por el control de la sociedad y de los fondos disponibles. Pero, al menos as lo demuestra la historia, suelen imponerse los mecanismos de consenso y si bien los conflictos se leen irreconciliables terminan por sugerir el equilibrio y la cordura, ya que de ese modo logran pervivir los distintos intereses y si alguien tratase de imponer su solo criterio encontrara tal gnero de dificultades que terminaran por impedir la propia operacin del sistema escolar. Esto, al menos, dentro de la esfera de la juridicidad propia de una sociedad democrtica como la venezolana y en este sentido es necesario recordar que el actual gobierno es un gobierno legitimo, electo en libres comicios. Que sus acciones deriven hacia un desconocimiento del aparato jurdico de la democracia y eventualmente adopte una viabilidad autoritaria es cuestin que esta por verse. Interesante que la disputa planteada en la arena educativa puede ser una buena manera de medir la direccin del actual gobierno en ese sentido. Igualmente, como enfoca el problema la oposicin al gobierno de Chvez. Como son enfoques ideolgicos, por supuesto, abordan solo cuestione del deber ser, ya que en ningn momento se detienen en factores asociados con la operatividad de las propuestas. Es fcil proponer que todos los nios y nias reciban escolaridad de nivel preescolar o que

46 todos los egresados de la escuela secundaria tengan acceso a la escuela superior, pero esa u otra medida tiene un costo y una operatividad que a veces no es posible dentro de las capacidades del Estado, que debe atender estas y otras prioridades. Dicho lo anterior podemos sintetizar el contenido de ambos proyectos. Los mismos se reconocen por aquello que los diferencia. El Proyecto de Ley Orgnica de Educacin es obviamente un proyecto clerical, esto es, que su aplicacin garantizara a la Iglesia Catlica lo que se lee en el siguiente articulo: Articulo 10. El Estado garantizara el derecho e los padres a que sus hijos menores de edad reciban la educacin religiosa que este de acuerdo con sus convicciones en el seno de los planteles oficiales y dentro del horario escolar, siempre que aquellos lo soliciten y que los contenidos religiosos que se vayan a transmitir no promuevan la intolerancia hacia otras religiones o hacia los no creyentes. El Estado instrumentara convenios con los representantes de las religiones, cuya enseanza haya sido solicitada expresamente por los padres y representantes, que incluyan las condiciones para el ejercicio de este derecho y los costos del mismo, los cuales sern asumidos por el Estado (Subrayados mos) Este Proyecto utiliza numerosos artculos para tratar de justificar una tesis muy sencilla, que el sector privado es ms eficiente que el Estado, para administrar la educacin y por ello en varios artculos se propone, prcticamente, que el Estado transfiera los fondos que tiene a Los planteles privados que ofrezcan y garanticen educacin de calidad impartida gratuitamente o que comprueben un dficit que les impida cubrir los gastos necesarios para su funcionamiento.... Esta es la posicin oficial de la Iglesia Catlica, quienes, segn la Conferencia Episcopal Venezolana, mantiene que El proyecto educativo no puede ser impuesto por ningn tipo de poder social, sea poltico, econmico o religioso. Es decir, la educacin no es del estado, sino de la <sociedad docente> y los fondos del estado deben ser adjudicados a la misma. Con mis hijos no se metan Las posiciones extremas en cuanto a la visin del proceso de enseanza-aprendizaje se afirman en una expresin que hallo apropiada, en una pancarta mostrada durante una manifestacin publica, en la oportunidad de ser presentada a la Asamblea Nacional la propuesta del Proyecto de Ley Orgnica de Educacin. La misma deca que: Con mis hijos no se metan, colocando el argumento en forma directa, esto es, la educacin de mis hijos es cuestin que decide la familia. Esta afirmacin envuelve una delicada como profunda confusin conceptual, que las autoridades gubernamentales podran aclarar y evitar, de ese modo, que dicha confusin cree ruido en esferas en donde el control conceptual se pierde, porque es sustituido por la irracionalidad que genera la propia emocionalidad con las cuales suelen tratarse los argumentos en el espacio pblico. Lo que acontece explicar es que ningn Estado, excepto los de ndole autoritaria y totalitaria, quiere disputar que la educacin es un complejo problema en donde ningn actor puede considerarse privilegiado, pues intervienen muchos de ellos y es imposible ponderar hacia uno u otro un determinado esfuerzo. Lo que s acontece es que la escolaridad es

47 responsabilidad del Estado y no de los padres, mantenindose que estos son responsables, si ello cabe, por la educacin integral de sus hijos, pero que la escolaridad es un proyecto tcnico del Estado, quien posee las herramientas de este tipo, tcnicas, profesionales y cientfico-tecnolgicas, como para optimizar el entrenamiento de los ciudadanos en forma equilibrada, sin permitir que uno u otro actor, o que una u otra posicin doctrinaria, prevalezca por encima de las otras. Por ello la teora avala el hecho de que el Estado se tiene que meter con los hijos, pues tiene que aplicar a todos los nios, de hecho a toda la sociedad, las propuestas tcnicas que permitan elevar la calidad del proceso de enseanzaaprendizaje, de todos los miembros de la sociedad. Cuando se exige que se cumpla el contenido de la pancarta cuyo mensaje comentamos es necesario preguntarnos, si el Estado renunciase a su obligacin contractual quien llenara ese espacio? Una organizacin religiosa, como la Iglesia Catlica, con toda su carga, positiva y negativa, de componentes a menudo fundamentalistas? Una organizacin poltica, en este caso la de mayor importancia en este momento, el Movimiento Quinta repblica (MVR), cuyo fundamentalismo no es menor? Una empresa privada nacional o extranjera que sea encargada de la tarea que por obligacin constitucional corresponde al Estado, para que administre las escuelas como podra ocurrir con las crceles o con los hospitales?. Mas aun, podrimos preguntarnos, igualmente, despus de todo, qu es lo que quieren los padres?. Pudiramos suponer, sin que posea evidencias empricas, que los padres quieren, en la practica, que el Estado, en este caos el gobierno, acte simplemente, prestando un servicio, como cualquier otro, en forma tal que asuma los costos pero que no intervenga en el proceso en si, caso en el cual debera de permitir que instancias extra estatales administren los enormes fondos destinados a la educacin, como tal, por el Gobierno Nacional y sus dependencias regionales y locales. Los padres tienen sus expectativas bien claras. Sealo que en este caso se interpreta la nocin de padres como las cabezas de familia de las clases media y altas, porque los sectores populares tienen otras formas de organizacin social, en donde la nocin de padre es mas bien la de hogar, pues la nocin de familia que suele manejarse es aquella de la familia nuclear padre, madre e hijos, que en los sectores populares es mas bien la familia extendida, con padres, madres, tas, abuelas y otros familiares residiendo a menudo bajo el mismo techo, esto es, bajo la forma de organizacin de hogar y exactamente de la familia como ncleo reducido de pareja e hijos y en donde las terceras personas residiendo suelen ser empleados domsticos y no otros miembros de la familia.

48

Recuadro 3 Expectativas que tienen los padres de la educacin

Si aceptamos que los padres, genricamente hablando, ven a la escolaridad como un servicio que debe prestar el Estado, como el servicio de transporte o el de salud, pues entonces, sencillamente, este servicio debe ser optimo. Vale decir, que la educacin sea total y global y que los padres puedan trasladar a la escuela muchas de sus responsabilidades, esto es, exigiendo que la escuela acte como in loco parentis. Exigiran los padres que los nios sean transportados del hogar/residencia la escuela, que all los nios reciban la mejor educacin posible, que los docentes sean bien entrenados y que enseen a los nios todo tipo de conocimiento, formal e informal, bajo el entendido que los docentes esta prestando un servicio y en consecuencia no puede cuestionar a los nios y nias ni a los propios padres, el docente, incluso, visto como un trabajador domestico y no como un profesional con criterio propio acerca de cmo entrenar nios y nias que no les son propios; Que los nios regresen a casa alimentados y con las tareas ya efectuadas, a fin de que nios y nias puedas estar en su residencia sin obligaciones por parte de los padres, para esta actividad que debe ser dirigida en el hogar; que aprueben todos sus cursos, con buenas calificaciones, que no haya quejas y que los padres no sean citados a la escuela a conversar con los docentes o con las autoridades de la escuela, que la escuela opere con eficiencia durante todas las horas laborales, de lunes a viernes, que la escuela programe las vacaciones de los nios, que les enseen idiomas sobre todo ingls, que les enseen computacin, que les proporcionen todos los materiales tales como cuadernos, libros y s es posible el propio computadora personal. Querran que los nios estuviesen en escuelas cmodas, que provea todos los servicios, que los nios sena entrenados en tcnicas cognoscitivas y sociales, que sean alejados de las drogas, que no digan incluso "malas palabras y que la escolaridad prosiga todos los niveles, especialmente la educacin postsecundaria, hasta egresar a los nios y nias de la escuela superior, con empleo garantizado o en todo caso con becas para que los nios y nias prosigan estudios en el exterior, sobre todo en instituciones de educacin superior situadas en los Estados Unidos de Amrica, en las mejores instituciones en termino de calidad, cubriendo el Estado todos los costos. En una palabra, los padres querran que la escuela fuese una burbuja, en donde los nios y nias operasen con criterios ptimos. Que las nias no sean embarazadas precozmente, que los nios con contraigan enfermedades de transmisin sexual, que no se hable de problemas como la pobreza endmica, la violencia domestica, la explotacin social general incluyndola violencia en la sociedad abierta

Ningn sistema escolar puede sustituir por s solo las exigencias mltiples educativas propias de sociedades complejas, como la venezolana. Esos mltiples actores se desempean en varios espacios, lo cual podemos ver en la siguiente tabla:

49 Tabla 3 Espacios y actores del proceso educativo Espacios Escolar Actores Docentes, autoridades internas, autoridades externas, los condiscpulos, los empleados administrativos, los obreros El Presidente de la Repblica, el Ministro de Educacin y los vice ministros correspondientes, los directores de las dependencias descentralizadas. Radio, cine, televisin y prensa Es el espacio menos codificado y menos controlable, pero quiz de mayor influencia, sobre todo en la edad de la adolescencia Los funcionarios de gobierno tienen un efecto multiplicador extraordinario, en la pedagoga social. Recurdese el caso de presidentes populares tales Carlos Andrs Prez y el propio Hugo Chvez Fras. Disminuido el papel de la religin en la sociedad venezolana sus lideres tiene un gran impacto como tales, en el mbito regional y nacional Tanto las asociaciones de obreros, como de empleados y profesionales son sumamente importantes, porque sumen posturas pblicas que tienen repercusin en la sociedad Es una influencia menor, si se quiere. Los lideres de la vida intelectual, la intelligentsia es muy importante en el pas, como lo son los lideres de las artes msicos, pintores, arquitectos

El gobierno nacional, a travs de sus autoridades gubernamentales

Medios de comunicacin social La calle

Los lideres polticos, deportivos y de la farndula

Los lideres religiosos

Sindicatos, profesionales

gremios

asociaciones

El mundo acadmico tcnico tecnolgico Los lideres intelectuales y artsticos

cientfico

La Tabla anterior, sumamente esquemtica, tiene como propsito, solamente, demostrar la complejidad de lo educativo y como lo escolar es solo una parcela de un mapa mltiple en donde cientficamente hablando es improbable mensurar el efecto de cada agente en forma aislada, sobre todo porque todos esos actores interactuan constantemente entre s y se mueven en forma molecular de forma tal que todos somos, de alguna manera, entes que enseamos y aprendemos, en forma multivariada, permanente y constante, sin correlacin linear, porque de operar este ltimo punto sencillamente los hijos de los docentes, por ejemplo, seran los mejores alumnos, en termino de calidad de su educacin, lo cual no corresponde con los hallazgos cientficos del caso. En consecuencia, es exageradamente simple pretender que "Con mis hijos no se metan, porque en la practica social todos se

50 meten con los hijos. El nico problema es que a veces hay quienes desean el privilegio de meterse ellos e impedir que los dems lo hagan. Eso ocurre cuando se impone un fundamentalismo, provenga del desempeo de uno u otro actor privilegiado. La democracia en la arena educativa/escolar/cultural/deportiva, entonces, ocurre cuando hay respeto al pluralismo y en donde las responsabilidades son compartidas, entre el conjunto de actores participantes en el complejo y delicado proceso de formar a los hombres y mujeres de una sociedad. Por encima de todo el Estado es el nico instrumento de compensacin de las necesidades de las minoras, de los incapacitados, de los pobres, de los miserables, todos los cuales tienen derechos humanos y sociales. El Estado, en consecuencia, tiene la obligacin de "meterse" con los hijos, con todos los hijos, as como el de mantener un equilibrio en el desempeo de los diversos actores sin privilegiar a ninguno. En otras palabras, el estado no es solo el prestador de un servicio, sino el ente indispensable interventor por naturaleza en toda cosa social, en este caso responsabilizndose de la escolaridad y de la educacin de una sociedad, contando precisamente con la colaboracin de los padres, de los ciudadanos, para que asuman su cuota d responsabilidad en la formacin de los hijos. El Estado no puede asumir el papel de in loco parentis, como no puede penetrar en la esfera de la intimidad, de las familias, hogares e individuos, pero si en la comunidad, de manera que cuando los actores abandonan el espacio intimo y entran en el espacio pblico son entonces parte de la responsabilidad del Estado.

El Proyecto Educativo Nacional, por su parte, es una clara manifestacin del <estado docente> pero extremando su papel hasta el punto de prcticamente hacer desaparecer a la escuela como unidad e integrarla en mecanismos sociales que se denominan <redes sociales>, que supuestamente es la necesidad del sistema social, cuando en verdad, en este y en el caso del Proyecto de Ley Orgnica de Educacin no se impone la necesidad del pas sino la conveniencia de un inters particular. La metodologa vara uno u otro caso. En el primer caso opera la nocin del colectivo, de la participacin popular y masiva, en el segundo se maneja mas bien el papel de los padres y representantes, sobre todo en el mbito de la escuela privada, que es a la que ms preocupa una supervisin e intervencin del Estado, no solo por los c onsabidos conceptos de libertad y de justicia, autnticos, sino por lo dicho anteriormente de los intereses poderosos que poseen y que podran verse afectados por una participacin oficial mas directa, sobre todo los colegios religiosos que prestan servicio a los grupos de las elites nacionales. En el primer caso se observa una intencin macro del problema educativo y se plantean las relaciones socio econmico entre el pas y la situacin mundial, en el segundo caso se mira mas hacia la unidad familia, el papel de los padres y el sector privado, incluyendo a la Iglesia Catlica, que es una institucin de este tipo, privada. El Proyecto Educativo Nacional tiene un contenido que permite visualizar a la escuela como un eslabn en una red social. De hecho La educacin que queremos...como proceso formativo, integral y permanente, tiene un espacio de concrecin: la escuela. Pero no como la institucin escolar que conocemos, sino como la ESCUELA COMUNITARIA donde se materializa la prefiguracin de la nueva sociedad en construccin (Maysculas en el original). Para ello (La escuela)...se conecta con las experiencias organizativas de base donde se ejerce directamente la democracia en una diversidad de modalidades organizativas: juntas vecinales, comit de salud, comit de tierra, clubes deportivos,

51 cabildos y asambleas populares y desde la perspectiva social, la escuela comunitaria contribuye a la lucha contra la exclusin al darle acogida en su seno a los sectores vulnerables y ser factor de concurrencia de los programas sociales dirigido a combatir la pobreza. De igual forma, fomenta la calidad de vida al asociarse a proyectos alternativos de salud, deporte y recreacin. Es interesante sealar que la nocin de escuela comunitaria o de la comunidad es un concepto tradicional en la pedagoga social. Dewey, por ejemplo, defendi este modelo de escuela, como fue defendido en la URSS, recin creada, cuando Lunacharsky, el primer ministro de educacin sovitico, hall en la escuela de la comunidad un poderoso instrumento capaz de contribuir a la cohesin institucional que es necesario, como se hizo en los Estados Unidos e Amrica y en China, sociedades en donde la integracin se logr a travs de la participacin de los ciudadanos va la escuela de la comunidad. Naturalmente, el nfasis del Proyecto Educativo Nacional parte de un concepto de sociedad cero, esto es, se rompe con el pasado y se promueve un cambio educativo en la perspectiva de la Nueva Repblica. Si as acontece se estuviese despreciando un conjunto de plausibles polticas educativas del pas y se estaran adoptando mecanismos que por no conducirse segn procedimientos experimentales pueden causar mas dao que beneficios. Me explico. Todos los cambios institucionales deben hacerse siguiendo el criterio de lo iterativo y experimental. De ese modo se aplican polticas pblicas sociales progresiva y paulatinamente, puesto que si aplican polticas pblicas sociales sin prueba previa, a todo el pas, el xito/fracaso se compromete en horma de riesgo intil. En el caso venezolano, por otra parte, seria negativo que el excelente mecanismo de la escuela de la comunidad sea visto como parte de un proyecto poltico ideolgico, solamente. Ciertamente, todo gobierno procura aplica una visin de su proyecto poltico que se traslada por fuerza de necesidad a todas las instituciones, pero debe mantener la necesaria continuidad en la formulacin de polticas pblicas. En consecuencia, el pas cuenta, para principios del ao 2001, con dos visiones claras acerca de la educacin. Son dos proyectos que buscan un reajuste ideolgico. Cual prevalecer es cuestin de tiempo, pero, ciertamente, ambos proyectos cubren los dos extremos del continuo, uno de izquierda, el Proyecto Educativo Nacional, otro de derecha, el Proyecto de Ley Orgnica de Educacin. Uno, el primero, volcado hacia la comunidad y hacia la escuela como una parte de una red social descentralizada que organiza el Estado, el otro volcado hacia la familia, viendo a la escuela como un servicio que se presta a la sociedad civil, que debe ser prestado en forma optima y al menos costo posible. Afortunadamente las opciones no se reducen a los extremos, puesto que existe un tercer camino, que reafirma lo tcnico pedaggico. Sin embargo, antes de comentar este tercer c amino, que afirma lo tcnico pedaggico, esto es, que rescata la techne pedaggica por encima de la improvisacin y el arbitrio como elementos decisivos en la toma de decisiones en el rea, es de inters, para reforzar nuestros argumentos sobre el enfoque segn el cual se aplica en el pas un reajuste ideolgico, analizar las posturas de Carlos Lanz Rodrguez, quien es el responsable por parte del gobierno de sus posiciones ideolgicas y de quien ha dirigido, al menos en el plano de la opinin publica, la tarea de oposicin al gobierno, en esta materia educativa, Leonardo Carvajal, pues ambas permiten un anlisis que juzgamos muy importante.

52

Debo reiterar mi criterio, segn el cual el debate ideolgico en materia educativa es, al mismo tiempo, una disputa por el poder poltico y por va de este por el control de los fondos que el Estado puede disponer para manejar el aparato escolar, una suma gigantesca, pues en la practica uno de cada cinco bolvares que gasta el Estado son destinados al aparato educativo, incluyendo el rea de cultura y de deporte. Precisamente Carvajal expres sobre este tema que El destino de un presupuesto de 4 billones (de bolvares) o la conveniencia de presupuestos plurianuales son asuntos sobre los cuales la sociedad debe pronunciarse 59 . El concepto en este caso es que el estado y la sociedad son entes autnomos y que el control del primero no debe extenderse al segundo, una interpretacin peculiar que evadira que el Estado asumiese la nocin del <estado docente>, para que a su vez se permitiese la idea de una <sociedad docente> distinta y autnoma, que el estado tendra que subvencionar, prcticamente sin control alguno. Sobre ello el mismo Carvajal ha escrito que deberan existir cuatro tipos de planteles: planteles estatales costeados y dirigidos por el Estado; planteles estatales, costeados por el Estado, pero gerenciados por organizaciones de la sociedad; planteles privados sostenidos exclusivamente por particulares; planteles privados subsidiados por el Estado, advirtiendo Carvajal, interesante, que Este modelo el que adelanta el gobierno- constituye una clarsima amenaza de intervencin en la gerencia de los planteles privados hasta ahora subvencionados 60 . Carvajal defiende la postura de la Iglesia Catlica en materia educativa/escolar. Esta institucin ha aspirado siempre a que las clases de religin sean dictadas dentro del horario escolar. Por ello Carvajal expresa que Frente al laicismo decimonnico hoy resucitado, reafirmamos en el articulo 11 de nuestro Proyecto que el Estado debe garantizar <el derecho de los padres a que sus hijos menores de edad reciban la educacin religiosa que est de acuerdo con sus convicciones y dentro del horario escolar>...En cambio, en el articulo 66 del Proyecto de Ley de los diputados oficialistas se confina la educacin religiosa meramente al seno familiar 61 . Lanz defiende la visin opuesta. Su visin del desarrollo y de la escolaridad se apoya mas bien en posiciones evidentemente marxistas. El discurso de Lanz est lleno de las consabidas expresiones de construccin de una nueva sociedad, el nuevo hombre, la nueva repblica, el proceso revolucionario y as sucesivamente. Las posturas de Lanz, como las de Carvajal, se hallan bien sustentadas y articuladas. Se trata posiciones que se ubican en los extremos del continuo posible del debate ideolgico en educacin. Por una parte la posicin laica, estatista, de control poltico e ideolgico por parte del gobierno, populista y popular, que defiende Lanz, por la otra parte la posicin neoclerical, privatizante, que procura desmontar al Estado en la materia educativa y por ende cultural, no obstante que comparte con la primera versin una visin populista y popular. Lanz parte del punto de vista, una postura oficial del gobierno de Chavez, segn la cual el lapso histrico entre 1958 y 1998 fueron cuatro dcadas perdidas, en la evolucin del desarrollo nacional, para lo cual enumera problemas que segn Lanz entorpecieron la ejecucin de un proyecto educativo coherente. Obviamente Lanz concibe a la escuela y a la escolaridad como un eslabn del poder popular local y ...desde el ngulo cultural, la escuela que proponemos es una clula de construccin de la identidad nacional, porque al recuperar colectivamente su historia, descubre y preserva races, tradiciones y luchas nacionales

53 emancipadoras. En esa misma ptica es un espacio de resistencia cultural y de contra hegemona, porque a partir de sus acervos...enfrenta la penetracin de valores y saberes ajenos 62 . Lanz concibe que la escuela comunitaria genera lo que l denomina, en maysculas, el GOBIERNO ESCOLAR, que significa, entre otras cosas, Eleccin directa, rendicin de cuentas de supervisores y directivos; evaluacin del desempeo profesional del docente; negociacin de la distribucin de la matricula, una propuesta que traslada a la comunidad escolar el control de la escolaridad, as como Carvajal y la Iglesia Catlica se ubican mas en el plano de la unidad familiar. Lanz propone es el desarrollo de una nueva cultura poltica, la democracia directa, apoyada en el poder popular local.

De inters es la visin que tiene Lanz del desarrollo, que sustenta el Proyecto Educativo Nacional. Por ejemplo, afirma que: Los mltiples y acelerados avances cientficos y tecnolgicos que ha inducido la modernizacin de la economa, presionan sin cesar, una finalidad economicista de la educacin en detrimento del fin humanista de la misma. El progreso de los cambios tecnolgicos introduce modificaciones en la naturaleza y organizacin del trabajo, que son demandados a los sistemas educativos, so pena de ser desmantelados bajo la acusacin de ineficientes e ineficaces, para ser llevados a la orga privatizadora en aras de ser puestos a <tono> con el mercado 63

Lanz atribuye a la educacin obligaciones que me permito citar completo:

que exceden sus posibilidades, en un prrafo

Se trata...de detener la miseria en la cual viven la mayora de los seres humanos, como la construccin de una confianza en el futuro que conjure la incertidumbre impuesta por el neoliberalismo y posibilite la construccin de un nuevo Estado, que permita la salvacin de la nacin venezolana. Es este un gran desafo que tendremos desde el sector educativo: contener la desintegracin nacional que tanto cuero ha cobrado en la actualidad 64 Se propone entonces, una ...nueva educacin que supere el modelo de la educacin liberal y tecnocrtica, caso en el cual se afirma que ...(la educacin) ha asumido el papel de reproducir y adaptarnos a un modelo de industrializacin extrao a la nacin, que crece a expensas de la desigualdad social, del abismo entre los pases, del crecimiento econmico como fin en si mismos a costa de la destruccin del ambiente 65 . Del mismo modo se postula que es necesario Crear consenso sobre el imperativo de recuperar la credibilidad social en la educacin como el medio ms poderoso para corregir las desigualdades sociales e impulsar el desarrollo del pas en unas condiciones de paz, libertad y justa valoracin del ambiente y la cultura 66 , si como se afirma que ello forma parte de ...los impulsos que requiere la educacin venezolana para salir del marasmo y del atolladero formalista, estrecho, desvinculante, en que la han colocado los que han dirigido el sistema educativo, as como sus asiduos colaboradores a lo largo de estos cuarenta aos de la cogollocracia corrupta, ineficiente e incapaz del bipartidismo adeco-copeyano 67 .

54

No son posturas novedosas, sino ms bien comunes, insertas en todas las propuestas populistas acerca de la educacin, que atribuyen a la escuela y al proceso escolar responsabilidades que estas no pueden ejecutar, sobre todo la falsa creencia de que el aparato escolar pueda ser un instrumento para disminuir la desigualdad social, que obedece a otros mecanismos. Resulta antiptico elaborar argumentos en esta direccin, porque la igualdad y la equidad forman parte esencial de las esperanzas de los hombres, pero las realidades suelen negar estas como otras que no se justifican en los hechos. Mas bien desde otra perspectiva se ha visto a la escolaridad/educacin como un mecanismo que refuerza en vez de disminuir las desigualdades sociales 68 Habiendo dicho lo anterior es entonces oportuno retornar al tema que habamos abandonado momentneamente, el tercer camino, la afirmacin de lo tcnico pedaggico.

El tercer camino: la afirmacin de lo tcnico pedaggico

Lo tcnico pedaggico parte del punto de vista segn la cual la escolaridad y la educacin son cuestiones sumamente complejas, que pueden ser interpretadas en forma objetiva solamente por los tcnicos en lo pedaggico. Parte del supuesto de que las polticas pblicas estn irremediablemente condenadas a fracasar sino se formulan segn los resultados cientficos y tcnicos en el rea educativa. Es decir, as como la comprensin del fenmeno salud es competencia exclusiva de quienes conocen los delicados mecanismos que afectan la salud, la escolaridad/educacin solo es comprensible a quienes poseen los mecanismos e instrumentos tericos y metodolgicos para poder identificar las variables que afectan /xito/fracaso, que estiman costos reales, que conocen cuales son los puntos crticos del organizacin social y cual es la manera eficaz de proceder para obtener efectos, que en materia escolar/educativa son efectos de resultados lentos y a veces difciles de observar excepto a largo plazo. Esa comprensin es ajena al esfuerzo el usuario, que transita una va, por ejemplo, sin tener conocimiento de como construir la misma o que conduce un vehculo sin conocer como construirlo excepto que puede saber cuando dicho vehculo funciona bien o mal y como se halla la va en si, puesto que en este caso su saber/conocimiento se limita a la parte instrumental y de mantenimiento. En el caso que nos ocupa podemos acudir al expediente histrico comparativo, lo cual nos permite sealar que no ha ejemplos exitosos de polticas pblicas escolares/educativas que sean esfuerzo exclusivamente del Estado, as como no hay ninguna sociedad moderna en donde el Estado haya vaciado su presencia transfirindola a los usuarios. En los pases mas avanzados las polticas pblicas son aplicadas a travs del auxilio que presta la investigacin cientfica y tecnolgica. La misma es efectuada en las universidades, pero sobre todo en los centros de investigacin dedicados a la escolaridad/educacin. Interesante sealar que esos centros no existen en el pas, de manera que una exigencia del colectivo debera ser que se crease en el pas un centro de investigaciones de esta ndole.69

55 Mientras ello ocurre, eventualmente, existe suficiente stock de hallazgos cientficos en el rea educacin, generado en el mundo acadmico internacional que pudiesen permitir elaborar polticas pblicas que tengan un fundamento cientfico. De otro modo se aplican polticas que daan en vez de mejorar, como seale. Por ejemplo, la poltica educativa del desarrollo de la inteligencia, aplicada durante el gobierno de Luis Herrera Campins fue un fracaso rotundo, porque no se aplic la misma con base experimental sino estrictamente ideolgica y arbitraria, por aadidura. La poltica educativa de entrenar recursos humanos en el exterior fue un fracaso semejante, como los seria, actualmente, reabrir las escuelas tcnicas, que en su oportunidad fueron integradas a otros mecanismos. Reabrir las escuelas tcnicas de hace unos 20 aos o reabrir las escuelas artesanales de hace 60 aos no corresponde con los resultados de experiencia que demuestra empricamente los caminos a seguir. Cambiar por cambiar solo reduce las experiencias al seguro fracaso. Otro ejemplo que me permitira sealar son las polticas pblicas sugeridas segn las cuales es necesario aumentar el presupuesto destinado a educacin a porcentajes especficos del presupuesto nacional no se apoya en resultados empricos ni histricos, porque, muy por lo contrario, a veces aumentar el volumen del presupuesto no hace sino aumentar el nivel de eficiencia en su aplicacin administrativa. Es decir, las fugas y grietas administrativas en el manejo del recurso fiscal en educacin son tan grandes y graves que es necesario repararlas antes de inyectarle mas fondos. Aumentarlos sin anlisis riguroso es sencillamente ampliar el conducto de agua a una vivienda que tiene una fuga equivalente a lo que se inyecta, por lo que, en el mejor de los casos, no mejora el rendimiento en el uso del agua misma. El manejo de la educacin, entonces, no es cosa ni de aficionados ni de apasionados. Unos y otros, por presencia u omisin causan daos iatrogenicos. La manera de disminuir esos daos es a travs del anlisis cientfico tcnico. Mientras ello no ocurra, entonces, seguirn las autoridades gubernamentales aplicando polticas pblicas apoyadas a veces solamente en lo ideolgico, como en esto ideolgico se apoya la llamada <sociedad civil>, para promover polticas publicas en educacin. En ambos casos, entonces, lo que se logra en utilizar a la educacin como un instrumento poltico, con otros fines, en este caso venezolano el control del poder que a su vez permite manejar los cuantiosos montos destinados al proceso de enseanza-aprendizaje.

La situacin en la educacin superior venezolana en el ao 2001: siguiendo instrucciones del Presidente Chvez? La mayora de las creaciones del intelecto o la fantasa desaparecen para siempre tras un plazo que varia entre una sobremesa y una generacin
Joseph A. Schumpeter Capitalismo, socialismo y democracia 1942

56

Los pases de relativa escasa importancia acadmica internacional, entre los cuales se halla Venezuela, necesitan por necesidad imperativa acercarse a los paradigmas contemporneos, a la punta del saber, y esta se hace en los pases industrializados, tienen que vincularse con los procesos de globalizacion, internacionalizacin, y aceptar las tendencias propias del rea de produccin de saber y en este caso aplicar a sus instituciones los mecanismos de evaluacin y acreditacin, aquellos de privatizacin en los casos en los cuales ello sea posible, adoptar y adaptar las tecnologas nuevas y avanzadas, manejar en lo posible la linguae franca contempornea, el idioma ingls, aplicar mecanismo de las tiles como interesantes fusiones institucionales, mejorar los instrumentos que permiten buscar y acumular saber, enriquecer a las bibliotecas, presenciales y virtuales, disminuir los efectos negativos del digital divide y as sucesivamente. Pero estas cuestiones, algunas de las cuales ya mencionamos, no sern abordadas en un reajuste ideolgico. Todo lo contrario. Se aplicara un aparentemente rgido reajuste ideolgico. Para ello se idea el mecanismo de la constituyente universitaria. Esta es una actividad que tienen antecedentes en la educacin superior venezolana. En efecto, ya se experiment en el pas, un mecanismo entonces denominado la renovacin, con efectos negativos devastadores, una especie de revolucin cultural estilo chino, que propona, entre otras cosas, que la evaluacin de los aprendizajes fuesen efectuadas por los profesores, los empleados administrativos de las universidades y los propios estudiantes. Pero, aparte de esta referencia cabe recordar que la renovacin fue una expresin del tpico asambleismo, que ahora se quiere replantear con el nombre de constituyente universitaria. Pero de momento las polticas pblicas en el rea son solo asomos y estrategias dilatorias, pues excepto cambio de autoridades y reglamentos no ha hecho el gobierno una accin comparable, por ejemplo, como la que aplico en el mundo de la cultura, en donde se sustituyeron todos los gerentes del sector cultural, el mismo da y hora. Cuales son las polticas que propone el Ministerio de Educacin, Cultura y Deportes, solamente mantener la gratuidad absoluta de la escuela superior? Eso es un principio antiguo como inefectivo y es simplemente, de hecho, la glorificacin de la supuesta universidad latinoamericana y de las antiguas polticas de subsidio a una clase social emergente que ser o aspira llegar a ser miembros de las elites. El Gobierno venezolano parece haber adoptado, en efecto, un principio que ha sido defendido a lo largo de los ltimas dcadas, en el rea de la educacin superior. En este caso el Gobierno, a travs de la Vice Ministra de Educacin Superior ha expresado, con toda claridad, lo siguiente: La gratuidad absoluta constituye la bandera de esta gestin. Nadie pagara nada por cursar su pregrado en las instituciones pblicas Es una afirmacin que no coincide con la realidad, porque no hay educacin/escolaridad gratuita, pero este principio forma parte de la mitologa acadmica de la universidad latinoamericana de origen hispnico 70 Esto es, los usuarios cubren los costos que esta genera, de alimentacin, alojamiento, equipos y otros gastos colaterales. Pero es sobre entendido que la declaracin anterior se refiere a que en las instituciones pblicas no se

57 cancelar monto alguno por el costo de matricula. Sobre esta materia es oportuno hacer algunos comentarios. La tendencia internacional es hacia la recuperacin de costos, para no mencionar coro de matricula. Es decir, los costos de operacin de las instituciones de nivel superior aumentan cada ao, por encima del nivel de inflacin, y los gobiernos deben recuperar al menos parcialmente estos costos, mediante polticas financieras de cobro mltiple, a los usuarios, a los egresados a quienes usan los servicios, a las empresas, etc. En USA las matriculas de hecho aumentan cada ao por encima del nivel de la inflacin. En el caso venezolano muchos acuden a la injusticia social de mantener una situacin en la cual es solo el estado el que contribuye con los costos de la educacin superior. Es oportuno intercalar en este momento que la educacin superior en el mundo contemporneo busca aplicar mecanismo de recuperacin mltiple de fondos, para poder mantener los niveles de calidad en este costoso y exigente nivel de la escolaridad, el nivel postsecudnario. Vase, por ejemplo, la complejidad de la Matriz de Johnstone, de seguidas:

Tabla 4 LA MATRIZ DE DIVERSIFICACION EN LA RECUPERACION DE RECURSOS FINANCIERSO EN LA EDUCACIN SUPERIOR

Estado

Estudiantes Industria y y/o sus servicios de padres consumidores y clientes

Egresados y donaciones

Cooperacin internacional

1. Contribuciones presupuestarias directas 2. Contribuciones indirectas va asistencia financiera y prestamos subsidiados 3. 2. Recuperacin de matricula 2.1 Programas de grado 2.2 Programas sin grado 4. Prestamos estudiantiles y tasas a egresados 4.1 Subsidiados 4.2 No subsidiados 53. Actividades productivas 53.1 Servicios 53.1.1 Consultoras 53.1.2 Investigacin 53.1.3 Pruebas de laboratorios 53.2 Produccin de bienes 53.2.1 Productos Agrcolas 3.2.2 Productos Industriales

X X

X X

X X

X X X

X X X X X

X X

58 3.3 Alquiler de terrenos y espacios 4.6 Donaciones 4.61 Directas 64.2 Indirectas (tarjetas de crdito u otros como loteras) 5. Prestamos X X X X X X X X X

Fuente: The Financing and Management of Higher Education: A Status Report on Worldwide Reforms D. Bruce Johnstone, State University of New York at Buffalo with the collaboration of Alka Arora and William Experton, World Bank 1998 Por ello es que llama la atencin que en un complejo mundo financiero se pretenda emplear una va nica para la consecucin de fondos para cubrir las necesidades de la educacin superior. Del mismo modo es contrario a la ms elemental lgica financiera que se contine el subsidio ciego, como se pueden denominar los que se distribuyen en forma indiscriminada a los estudiantes. Un caso absurdo e irracional es el hecho de que en la Universidad central de Venezuela un almuerzo, relativamente completo, cuesta al estudiante la cantidad de dos bolvares, cuyo equivalente en moneda norteamericana es irrelevante, considerando el cambio de bolvares 700 por dlar americano (Tasa de cambio para la fecha de 15 de febrero de 2001). Ahora bien, el actual gobierno venezolano es, segn su propia definicin, revolucionario. Esto es, supuestamente, radical. En este sentido se pudiera pensar menester el examen de las ideas bsicas expuestas sobre el particular por Carlos Marx, el idelogo por antonomasia de las revoluciones contemporneas, al menos aquellas de corte socialista, anti "neoliberales Por otra parte parece mantenerse la poltica abierta desde 1958, de expansin de matricula e institucional. En efecto, la misma Vice Ministro declar que: Nuestra prioridad es la educacin oficial y gratuita, la idea es aumentar los colegios universitarios e institutos tecnolgicos oficiales La expansin fue una poltica educativa exitosa, pero la tendencia internacional es hacia la eficiencia y ello exige aplicar mecanismos de reduccin, a travs de la tcnica de la fusin institucional, una tcnica empleada exitosamente al nivel de las empresas. Esto es un tema delicado, en una sociedad en donde se acepta abrir pero no cerrar, dar pero no restringir. En efecto, somos una sociedad burocrtica que responde a necesidades de empleo y no la racionalidad institucional, por ello tenemos una tendencia a repetir y a duplicar esfuerzos. Por ello la educacin superior venezolana debe escoger opciones que eleven su rendimiento, entre ellos el ms inmediato es el mecanismo de fusin. Ello es improbable de ejecutar en el pas, porque la cultura institucional venezolana permite, en educacin superior, abrir, pero no cerrar.

59

Venezuela en la era de la revolucin bolivariana la rotura de la continuidad o ms de lo mismo?

Menschenleben Strmisch entfliehet Der Auggenblick; Was er entziechet Kehrt nicht zurck

71

Este poema, escrito por Karl Marx, nos transmite el sentido trgico y hasta curioso de la transitoriedad de las pasiones, en este caso de la pasin por el poder poltico. Chvez insiste en cada una de sus alocuciones que su gobierno es revolucionario, pero el hecho innegable es que el mismo surge de un proceso electoral, de una legitimidad que tal como apareci puede desaparecer. En mi criterio Chvez es un genio de la pasin poltica. De una manera fascinante mezcla y sintetiza una serie de elementos que por su propia naturaleza atraen los sentimientos populares. Se apoya en la mitologa criolla, sobre todo de nuestros hroes, tanto histricos como mticos como su propio ascendiente, el supuestamente heroico guerrillero Maisanta 72 Rescata supuestos hroes militares, como el General Zamora, un caudillo del Siglo XIX probablemente construido por la historiografa marxista del Siglo XX, que ha descubierto en nuestra historia los equivalentes de Zapata, el lder de Cuernavaca, as como, en cierto modo, en Chvez el equivalente del propio Bolvar. Adultera los hechos histricos para que estos sean tiles a su peculiar manera de caracterizar a los amigos y a los enemigos. Hace uso de la teologa en el sentido popular de la palabra, aludiendo a frases de la Biblia y suponiendo que los personajes bblicos seran bolivarianos de estar presentes en nuestro tiempo. Acude al folklore y a las canciones supuestamente de protesta y de hecho construye su revolucin todo un ideario en donde tiene su poeta, su cantor y hasta su traidor. Como todo lder nico carece de vida personal o familiar, pues su dedicacin a su pueblo es total y no tienen tiempo sino para ello, expresando constantemente un sentido trgico de la existencia, pues dice actuar de la forma como lo hace porque no tiene limite ni compromisos y esta dispuesto a ofrendar su vida, si es necesario o renunciar al cargo de presidente, si se lo piden, el pueblo, naturalmente. De modo que toda mezcla, esa quincalla ideolgica le permite a Chvez montar los conceptos de un proyecto socioeconmico, en donde caudillo, pueblo y ejercito constituyen una sola unidad destinada a salvar la Patria. Nada nuevo, pero siempre bien efectista, sin duda alguna. Todo lo anterior explica que Chvez haya alcanzado un protagonismo y un poder personal pocas veces visto en el pas, si bien otros presidentes y otros caudillos han sido, en su momento, tanto o ms populares que el propio Chvez. 73

60 Sin embargo, Venezuela en el ao 2001 inicia un nuevo lapso histrico, polticamente hablando, pues es el primer mes del primer ao de un gobierno que despus de tres aos puede considerarse estable, pasado ya el periodo que fue llamado de transicin, entre la "Cuarta y la quinta repblica. Segn el Sr. Presidente de la Repblica esta se hallaba en disolucin, cuando lleg al gobierno, una interpretacin difcilmente aceptable aun por el mas desinteresado observador de la historia poltica venezolana reciente 74 . Disolucin de una sociedad acontece, por ejemplo, cuando se disolvi la antigua Unin Sovitica, aquel macro estado que desconoca los estados nacionales que eventualmente se desmembraron de la misma. No es, en modo alguno, el caso venezolano de 1998. Es importante para este trabajo aclarar debidamente la nocin de disolucin aplicada a la situacin nacional, para el momento en el cual accede al gobierno el Sr. Chvez. Los hechos son conocidos y no es fcil adulterarlos. Chvez intenta un golpe militar, el 4 de febrero de 1992, y fracasa militarmente, pero a partir de entonces elabora una exitosa campaa poltica que le llevara al gobierno el 2 de diciembre de 1998. Dicho triunfo, amen de su enorme "carisma se apoy en los defectos de los partidos tradicionales y sus alianzas con partidos igualmente tradicionales, provenientes de la antigua izquierda derrotada en la dcada de los sesenta. Para cuando Chvez accede al gobierno, a travs de elecciones legitimas, el pas no se estaba disolviendo. Estaba en paz, su territorio no estaba amenazado, sus instituciones funcionaron, hasta el punto de que las elecciones correspondientes se efectuaron sin inconvenientes y el triunfo de Chvez fue reconocido sin disputa alguna. Obtuvo una enorme votacin, no as la ms elevada en elecciones nacionales por los diversos candidatos y entonces la oposicin obtuvo una proporcin interesante, del 40 por ciento. A partir de all Chvez, una vez en la presidencia, aplic un programa de cambios, redujo de dos a una el aparato legislativo, cambi el nombre y design nuevos miembros del aparato judicial, cambi el nombre y design nuevos miembros del aparato electoral, cambi el nombre de la nacin de Repblica de Venezuela a la Repblica Bolivariana de V enezuela. Para inicios de 2001 Chvez tiene control casi absoluto del gobierno. No as del poder, pues este se halla intacto, fuera de las manos del gobierno, excepto el control de la riqueza ms importante del pas, el ingreso petrolero. Chvez controla l fuente principal de ingresos del a pas, la industria petrolera, pero estructuralmente hablando la misma se halla intacta. Todo lo anterior es esencial de aclarar porque las polticas educativas y de cualquier otro gnero parten entonces de una falacia, la supuesta disolucin del pas. Por ejemplo, en materia educativa Chvez ha afirmado una y otra vez que la misma era hace dos aos "la peor del mundo, la "peor del continente" y en este sentido en alguna oportunidad expres, probablemente llevado por la emocin de sus palabras, pues era un discurso, que: ...la voz de Simn Rodrguez sigue hoy tronando por todas partes cuando tenemos mas de la mitad de los nios venezolanos sin escuelas, mas de la mitad de los jvenes venezolanos sin liceos, sin escuelas, pues hay que hacer la Revolucin por ah...no hay revolucin rpida, no hay revolucin fcil para salir de cuarenta aos de tirana, a mi me llaman el tirano quienes han sido tiranos por cuarenta aos, a mi me llana dictador quienes impusieron una dictadura de terror, de sangre, de hambre y de miseria y de saqueo contra un pueblo noble como es el pueblo venezolano; llmenme dictador los dictadores, llameen tiranos los tiranos, pero son ustedes los

61 verdearas tiranos de la patria, ahora estamos haciendo una revolucin democrtica, pacifica, basada en la moral y las luces, que me importa que me llmenme tirano los tiranos, no importa nada llmeme como quieran, como le salga de su alma negra no importa porque el verdadero juez, primero es Dios y segundo es el pueblo y all esta el pueblo el gran juez emitiendo un veredicto y esto si es lo que importa y ser fiel a ese pueblo...hasta el ultimo da de mi vida... 75

Todo ello manteniendo las alianzas y el subsidio a sectores privados, como el de la Iglesia Catlica, a travs de programas escolares de esta institucin privada. No es cierto. Las cifras sealan que el sistema ha funcionado (escolar) que los indicadores sealan que el pas tiene una calidad promedio, en el mbito internacional y que si bien esta por detrs en niveles cualitativos de pases como Chile, Argentina, Mxico, est por delante de pases como Cuba y el resto del Caribe exceptuando Puerto Rico y por encima de los valores de Amrica Central.Las politica educativas, entonces, parten de una equivocacion y en consecuencia, en temrinso tenciso referidos a formualicon d epolticas, caben ene l apartao de ausencia d ecerteza y aproximacion a ignorancia lo cual hara inefectivas las decisones que se tomen. Cabe sealar que esta tesis de la baja calidad de la escolaridad venezolana es una leyenda tejida por intereses creados. Chvez tiene el evidente objetivo de hacer creer que antes de su gestin todo era inoperante e inefectivo. En otra oportunidad aadi a lo anterior citado que "Voy a insistir en la aceleracin hacia el sector social. La educacin y la salud haban casi desaparecido. Ahora, este gobierno revolucionario coloca al hombre, a la mujer y a los nios en primer lugar 76 . La Iglesia Catlica hace lo propio, para defender que la nica alternativa es entregar la escolaridad a esta interesante institucin 77 . Incluso, en algn momento se creo una de esas llamadas matrices de opinin, en esta lnea de pensamiento, segn la cual nuestra escolaridad es de las peores del mundo. Por ejemplo, en algn momento se ha expresado que: La africanizacin de la educacin benezuelana no es un proceso reciente sino que lleva varios aos....Lo inconcebible es que no solo estamos al nivel de los pases africanos sino que, adems, estamos al nivel de los peores pases africanos. Los logros educativos promedios de Venezuela son solo comparables a los de Angola y Mozanbique, a los de Nigeria y Zimbabwe, a los de Malawi y la repblica centroafricana; ni siquiera a los niveles de los pases africanos ms avanzados, como Egipto, Kenya, Marruecos y la Repblica de Surafrica 78 Este tipo de afirmacin, que lleva implcita un enorme sentido racista de la historia, es absolutamente equivocado. Venezuela se halla, en trminos comparativos de calidad escolar/educativa/cultural, en los lugares promedio, en el mbito mundial y en el mbito de Amrica Latina y el Caribe. No es cierto, que el pas tenga la peor educacin del mundo. Esto seala no solamente ignorancia, sino una intencin gravosa y daina. No me corresponde, ni a mi persona ni en esta oportunidad, una defensa de los logros de la educacin venezolana, entre los aos de 1945 a 1998, pero en honor a la verdad cabe

62 resear, de una manera simple y sencilla, que en ese lapso se fortaleci un sistema educativo/escolar de muy buena calidad, excepto en los aos de la dcada de la dictadura militar, cuando se oper una contraccin significativa y una dcada de represin que llego a las aulas escolares, sobre todo las universidades, as como de un lapso a partir de la tima dcada en la cual se freno ese avance, por causas demogrficas, que al menos en educacin superior sealan una cierta decadencia, un tope del cual el pas parece carecer de mecanismos para seguir creciendo, porque los modelos adoptados entorpecen ese avance posible, sobre todo el haber reforzado el modelo docente e educacin y no abrirse al modelo cultural de la educacin y en el caso del nivel superior el no haber podido avanzar hacia la etapa del modelo de investigacin que consiste en algo ms que abrir la fase de los postgrados, dicho sea de paso. En el periodo 1945-1998 los venezolanos hemos visto crecer y desarrollar un magnifica sistema educativo/escolar. En esos aos de la llamada democracia representativa, lapso negado hasta la saciedad en e stos aos de la revolucin bolivariana, desde 1999 en adelante y hasta ahora, tuvimos un sostenido esfuerzo educativo/escolar, un proceso de modernizacin sumamente efectivo, que nos llevo de la mano de la sociedad atrasada de 1945 a la sociedad relativamente avanzada de 1998, con errores importantes, que quienes hemos sido crticos de esos hechos durante todo ese lapso hemos documentado y analizado, pero sin negar los avances efectuados en esos aos. La infraestructura actual fue construida en esos aos y tratar de mejorarla no nos debe conducir a negarla. Es de admitir que en esos aos se creo una monumental deuda social, porque los mrgenes de justicia y de equidad fueron disminuyendo considerablemente, en la medida en que los gobiernos se fueron burocratizando y permitiendo una mayor concentracin de poder en forma tal que las necesidades populares fueron relativamente desatendidas. Pero, ciertamente, los polticos tienden a manejar la realidad con sentido de oportunidad. Todos los hacen. Chvez no es una excepcin. Conviene a su papel en el mundo poltico desconocer todo lo anterior e iniciar su lapso poltico, finito como el de todos, como si el hubiese comenzado en el ao cero. Pero los acadmicos e intelectuales tenemos una obligacin distinta, el entender que la historia es un decurso, en donde se inscriben hechos y eventos, que merecen distintas interpretaciones, cierto, pero que estos hechos son unos y no otros. En materia educativa/escolar, por cierto, cabe reconocer que desde 1945 en adelante se ha hecho un esfuerzo notable por modernizar a la sociedad, a travs de la educacin. Los distintos gobiernos, desde Gallegos hasta Caldera, han sido gobiernos con un enorme inters en la educacin/escolaridad. Gallegos fue el hombre que creo aquella dicotoma entre barbarie y civilizacin y Caldera fue un hombre formado para crear cultura, l mismo un hombre de ideas, un intelectual con ideas serias y slidas. Basta nombrar a los distintos Presidentes desde 1945 hasta 1998, para leer una lista de personas y personalidades competentes, a quienes nadie puede menoscabar su contribucin y buena fe. Acusarles de "corruptos no es siquiera una falta de respeto, sino una tontera, porque si bien en cada uno de ellos hay errores de gestin e incluso existieron casos de corrupcin administrativa, ello no puede ser generalizado. La lista completa de estos Presidentes de la Repblica y de sus ministros es la siguiente, que me permito citar para avalar un argumento, cual es, simplemente, preguntarnos, es que acaso todos estos individuos que fueron ministros pasaron sus lapsos procurando el malestar de la nacin y de la sociedad o, mas bien, fueron autores de medidas administrativas que fueron modelando el formidable

63 aparato educativo/escolar que recibe el Presidente Chvez en 1998?. Creo lo segundo. Es mas, excepto la dcada de la dictadura militar, la educacin y la escolaridad crecieron y se desarrollaron. En la dcada militar, por lo contrario, oper el sentido de aquella frase de Mart, el prcer cubano, quien en una de sus ltimas cartas escribi aquella memorable sentencia: Usted y yo hemos decidido que el poder en las Repblicas slo debe estar en manos de los hombres civiles. Los sables cortan 79 .

He aqu la lista de los presidentes y sus Ministros, en esos aos que cubren medio siglo de gobiernos democrticos, perodo que tiene solamente la interrupcin dictatorial del gobierno militar que derroco al Presidente Gallegos y gobern hasta 1958. Tabla 5 Presidentes venezolanos del periodo democrtico y sus ministros de educacin Presidente Rmulo Betancourt Rmulo Gallegos Wolfgang Larrazabal Edgard Sanabria Rmulo Betancourt Gestin 1945-1948 Ministros de Educacin Humberto Garca Arocha Antonio Anzola Carrillo Luis Beltrn Prieto Figueroa Julio de Armas Rafael Pizani Rafael Pizani Martn Prez Guevara Reinaldo Leandro Mora Jos Manuel Siso Martnez Hctor Hernndez Carabao Enrique Prez Olivares Luis Manuel Pealver Carlos Rafael Silva Gerardo Cedeo Fermn Rafael Fernndez Heres Felipe Montilla Ruth Lerner de Almea Luis Manuel Carbonell Pedro Cabello Poleo Laura C. De Gurfinkel Gustavo Roosen Pedro Augusto Beauperthuy Elizabeth de Caldera Antonio Luis Crdenas Hctor Navarro
80

1958 1959-1963

Ral Leoni Rafael caldera Carlos Andrs Prez

1964-1969 1969-1974 1974-1979

Luis Herrera Campins Jaime Lusinchi

1979-1984 1984-1989

Carlos Andrs Prez Ramn J. Velzquez Rafael Caldera Hugo Chvez Fras

1989-1993

1993-1999 1999-2006

Fuente: Memorias del Ministerio de Educacin, 1945-1998

Resulta absolutamente improbable acusar a todos estos ministros de incapaces, incompetentes, corruptos y as sucesivamente. En esa lista de Ministros estn algunos

64 nombres insobornables, entre ellos los de Luis Beltrn prieto Figueroa, el ms eminente educador del siglo XX venezolano, Rafael Pizani, un hombre intachable, Julio de Armas, para mencionar solo tres de estos, ya fallecidos. Es exactamente el mismo caso si se quisiese decir que entre 1945 y el presente los rectores de la Universidad Central de Venezuela han sido incapaces de manejar esta institucin, cuando hemos tenido en la misma rectores como Francisco De Venanzi, probablemente, al lado de Jos Mara Vargas, el ms destacado rector de nuestra universidad, autor del proceso de modernizacin de l a misma, o Rafael Jos Neri, para mencionar dos que ya fallecieron. Pero es irresponsable generalizar, en este y en cualquier otro terreno de la actividad social. Inclusive los datos histricos de la ltima dcada son irrefutables, ya que ponen de manifiesto un enorme inters, preocupacin y seriedad frente a la cosa educativa/escolar. En esos aos se organizo la Asamblea Educativa Nacional, se publicaron los dos slidos volmenes del Plan Decenal de Educacin, 1993-2003, obra de Luis Manuel Pealver, se publicaron dos estudios importantes en la materia, el documento elaborado por la Comisin Presidencial para la Reforma del Estado (COPRE) 81 , de la cual fu miembro y en donde dirig la Comisin de Educacin, el documento elaborado por la Comisin Presidencial para la Elaboracin de un Proyecto educativo Nacional (COPEN) 82 , todos ellos documentos que de una u otra manera contribuyeron a un esclarecimiento de las necesidades y conveniencias educativas del pas. La sana formulacin de polticas educativas descansa en proceder a un proceso de continuidad, interrumpirlo desfavorece esas posibilidades, efectivamente. Comenzar desde cero es la peor estrategia en esta materia. Pero, es, en efecto, la ruta que parece tomar el gobierno instalado en el pas desde 1 989, comenzar desde cero. Estas se apoyan en un proyecto abiertamente autoritario e interventor. La doctrina sobre la materia es clara, Venezuela debe defender el pluralismo y la democracia pero de hecho ha comenzado en 1999 a que el estado subsidie a la escuela privada y ello no es prudente, como tampoco es bueno que el gobierno intervenga directamente en la escuela, excepto, en mi criterio, bajo el precepto del <estado docente>.. Karl Marx, al efecto, ha expresado en un texto revelador, al referirse a la propuesta del Partido Obrero Alemn segn quienes era necesario "Educacin popular general e igual a cargo del estado que Eso de <la educacin popular a cargo del Estado> es absolutamente inadmisible. Una cosa es determinar, por medio de una ley general, los recursos de las escuelas pblicas, las condiciones de capacidad del personal docente, las materias de enseanza, etctera, y velar por el cumplimento de estas prescripciones legales mediante inspectores del estado, como se hace en los estados Unidos, y otra cosa, completamente distinta, es nombrar al estado educador del pueblo! Lejos de esto, lo que hay que hacer es substraer la escuela a toda influencia por parte del gobierno y de la Iglesia 83 En el caso venezolano, los que hemos defendido el <estado docente> lo hacemos en funcin del nivel de desarrollo de la sociedad venezolana, privilegiando dos cuestiones bsicas: 1. El papel del estado para estimular la educacin popular, masiva, gratuita y laica. 2. Precisamente, promover una educacin laica, que proteja a la sociedad de la

65 participacin de grupos dogmticos y cuyos principios, loables como lo son, deben quedar fuera de las aulas y de la preocupacin de las personas. Eso es doctrina, en la evolucin de la educacin venezolana. Por ello es inadmisible que el estado promueva y financie a un sector religioso, como la hace Venezuela con la educacin religiosa, practica iniciada en el segundo gobierno de Carlos Andrs Prez y que mantiene el gobierno de Hugo Chvez Fras. En materia de doctrina es apropiado recordar que durante el gobierno de Juan Vicente Gmez su Ministro de Educacin, Rubn Gonzlez, uno de los Ministros de Educacin de la Repblica de mayor probidad tica y solvencia pedaggica, se solvento este problema. En efecto, el Ministro Gonzlez declaraba en forma taxativa que la educacin era un problema del Estado, la religin un problema de la conciencia personal 84 . Rubn Gonzlez elabor una doctrina pedaggica que es oportuno rescatar, en los momentos en los cuales la Iglesia Catlica reclama para s una parcela de la escolaridad venezolana, con subsidio estatal. Es oportuno citar completo el texto de aquel Ministro de Educacin, pues en el mismo se observa una posicin clara y ntida que ha sido, por lo dems, la propuesta tpica de un estado laico: El Estado esta no solamente en el derecho sino en el deber de garantizar la eficacia de los estudios conforme al programa y plan oficiales, a fin de constatar la preparacin para los exmenes y para la concesin de los ttulos oficiales de los cuales el Estado es responsable. Esto no slo es con respecto a la instruccin primaria sino tambin con todas las materias de enseanza que constituyen el programa de estudios para la concesin de ttulos oficiales a los cuales estn vinculados el orden pblico y el inters social. Como el Estado no presencia exmenes de religin porque esta es materia de la conciencia de cada uno, tampoco puede establecer la enseanza religiosa ni en los programas ni en los horarios oficiales que rigen para las escuelas donde se dan estudios para presentar exmenes y obtener ttulos oficiales. En estos institutos la enseanza religiosa, as como cualquiera otra que no sea del programa, debe estar fuera de las horas destinadas al programa oficial. Fuera de los horarios que se sealan para esos programas oficiales y que pueden variar segn las circunstancias. Cada instituto puede establecer un horario especial para las clases que desee dar, como idiomas, msica, declamacin, religin, etc, etc y este horario no necesita la aprobacin del Ministerio 85 Por otra parte, sin embargo, la bandera del proyecto de Chvez es la escuela bolivariana, que es la misma integral. Esto nos permite decir que si hay que adjetivar a la escuela esta debera ser la escuela santanderiana y no la bolivariana 86 Pero esta afirmacin del Presidente venezolano permite hacer un anlisis dentro del cual podemos captar y percibir como se mueven y movern las polticas pblicas en educacin, durante esta visin de la repblica bolivariana. Segn mi criterio podemos aplicar a esta afirmacin tanto el teorema de W. I. Thomas como la self fullfilling profecy de Merton. El teorema de Thomas dice que: If men define situations as real, they are real in their consequences Esto es, Si los hombres definen las situaciones como reales, entonces las concecuencias de las mismas sern reales. Si Chvez cree, presuponiendo que as sea, que la repblica se estaba disolviendo en 1998, pues esta definiendo como real un hecho falaz, pero que en tanto real sus consecuencias lo sern as. Es posible creer, entonces, que se

66 partir de cero, para "reconstruir la situacin, de la repblica, incluyendo educacin/escolaridad. Nada se halla ms alejado de la realidad. Para 1998 el sistema escolar venezolana operaba con absoluta funcionalidad segn las expectativas sociales y el proceso educativo operaba en forma ptima. Para evitar equivocaciones producto de interpretaciones erradas cabe dejar sentado que en modo alguno estamos diciendo que la escolaridad era optima, sino que era funcional, sociolgicamente hablando. Esto es, una institucin es funcional cuando responde a las demandas de una sociedad y en 1998 como ahora el sistema escolar venezolano responde a esas necesidades, esto es, es funcional, independientemente de que en aquel entonces como ahora en el ao de 2001 el mismo tenga dficits, fallas y defectos, porque todo sistema social, global o institucional, los tiene, ya que dada la complejidad en el numero de variables que afectan el comportamiento de las sociedades estn se hallan ajenas a la idea de perfeccin y de plenitud total, excepto en el lenguaje de los polticos o de los Proyecto Educativo Nacional proyecto educativo neoromnticos, entendiendo este concepto, en esta oportunidad, en el sentido filosfico del termino o al menos en el sentido del romanticismo alemn, del homo poeta 87 Por otra parte, lo que Merton ha llamado the self-fulfilling profhecy dice que.La profecia de la realizacin propia, a a travs de la cual los miedos se traducen en realidades, slo 88 opera en la ausencia de controles deliberados institucionales As interpreto que las intenciones y deseos por manejar control ideolgico y poltico en el acceso del gobierno o rgimen de Chvez operara de tal forma que los miedos acerca de su carcter autoritario, en educacin, se har realidad en la misma medida en que se omita el aparato institucional que promueva el control, en este caso el pluralismo democrtico y del mismo modo la imposicin de un criterio personal apoyado en un neofundamentalismo, en una nueva escolstica, todo ello centrado en la nocin de una escuela adjetivada, la escuela bolivariana. Dicho fundamentalismo comienza a cobrar niveles interesantes, sobre todo cuando, como ocurre, el actual Presidente de la repblica es sealado en su pagina web como "El Padre de la Revolucin Bolivariana 89 Ahora bien, es oportuno recordar que las sociedades asumen ciertos modelos de comportamiento econmico y organizan sus estructuras sociales en concordancia con aquellos. El gobierno de Chvez Fras se presenta ante la nacin como un gobierno revolucionario. Su inspiracin es obviamente la revolucin cubana y su lder esencial, Castro, a quien al parecer quiere replicar. Las experiencias de cada nacin no se pueden ni replicar ni clonar. Castro hizo, sin duda, una revolucin, en la Isla del caribe. Construyo su propia legitimidad, su aparto institucional y adopt un modelo socialista, en su momento. Chvez es consecuencia de procesos electorales, no ha habido lucha armada, sino combate poltico, a pesar de todo el lenguaje militar empleado por el Presidente Chvez, quien no puede aludir a una victoria militar, pero s a una interesante victoria poltica. Venezuela es una sociedad que opera dentro de la esfera del capitalismo dependiente e incluso valdra la pena preguntarnos si hemos sido en efecto una sociedad y una economa capitalista o si ms bien lo que hemos tenido es un Capitalismo de Estado y una sociedad de subsidio. Naturalmente, una cosa es el modelo econmico que sigue una sociedad, en el caso venezolano un tpico capitalismo de Estado, y otra la organizacin social. La misma, en Venezuela, es una sociedad desigual morigerada por la propia capacidad del Estado de subsidio. Si bien las desigualdades existentes en esta sociedad son tan odiosas como otra

67 cualquiera Venezuela carece de la concentracin de capital que se halla en otras sociedades, porque existe en la misma un mecanismo formidable de distribucin del ingreso y renta nacional, habida cuenta que la industria petrolera, la principal fuente de riqueza de la sociedad, es del Estado. Es mas, si examinaremos el espritu del capitalismo en la sociedad venezolana difcilmente hallamos las caraceristicas asociadas con este concepto y ms bien encontramos aquellas de la u topa de Cucaa. Aquel pas era La Edad de Oro de los holgazanes y glotones, ya que, en efecto, El pas se llama Cucaa, donde el que ms duerme ms gana...Los mritos para ser admitido en ese pas fueron el reverso de las virtudes: irresponsabilidad, gula, libertinaje, prevaricacin, despilfarro...Mientras mayores los defectos mas altos los honores y mejor asentada la nobleza: el ms salvaje, lascivo, tosco y necio era proclamado prncipe y el ms perezoso de todos, coronado rey. Los abogados y charlatanes gozaban de gran predicamento, por su reconocida destreza para torcer la verdad. Pero esas no son las virtudes de la masa trabajadora, en todos estos pases pero, ciertamente, podran serlo de la clase ociosa de Veblen, en nuestra sociedad, con su larga e interminable lista de corrupcin y robos a la cosa publica, parte de una picaresca bien hispana, sin duda. Cabe apuntar que los venezolanos no nos sorprendemos de la siguiente expresin acerca de Cucaa: Resulta muy significativo el papel asignado en el Pas de Cucaa al oro, producido all por la naturaleza como un fruto cualquiera o expulsado por los animales, e veces en forma de excremento, sobre todo porque el petrleo ha sido asociado al concepto de excremento del diablo, por uno de los idelogos ms importantes de nuestra industria petrolera, Juan Pablo Prez Alfonzo 90 Weber, en su celebre libro sobre el origen del capitalismo, expresa como ...un acto de economa capitalista significa un acto que descansa en la expectativa de una ganancia debida al juego de reciprocas probabilidades de cambio; es decir, en probabilidades (formalmente) pacificas de lucro 91 . En una sociedad como la venezolana el clculo del individuo es lucrarse a travs de transacciones con el Estado o bien cooptando los bienes que el estado maneja. De all la enorme importancia que tiene para quienes desean acceder a esos bienes el control del aparto administrativo gubernamental. Weber tambin menciona como un elemento esencial en el origen de la racionalidad capitalista ...la influencia de ciertos ideales religiosos en la formacin de una mentalidad econmica, de un ethos econmico, fijndonos en el caso concreto de las conexiones de la tica econmica moderna con la tica racional del protestantismo asctico 92 . En el caso de la sociedad venezolano el ethos econmico es aquel del premio, de la donacin, en el sentido antropolgico de la palabra, del regalo, del obsequio, de una sociedad en donde las conexiones de la tica no se hallan dirigidas hacia el trabajo, sino hacia una tica racional dirigida hacia el catolicismo hedonista. Esto es, la produccin de bienes y servicios operan bajo la racionalidad y mentalidad de la minera y de la produccin de capital como una actividad ajena a nuestro esfuerzo. Por ello, entonces, es que los criterios de produccin son relativamente bajos, pero alto el de subsidios. Precisamente la escuela superior es un maravilloso ejemplo de esta mentalidad de subsidios, que proporciona sin exigir. Por ello las caractersticas que Weber asociaba con el espritu del capitalismo son contrarias a las que observamos en el comportamiento de los venezolanos. Weber hablada de virtudes tales como la moralidad, esto es, la tica en el sentido del trabajo honrado, la puntualidad, la diligencia, la moderacin, virtudes que, precisamente, haba descrito Benjamin Franklin, de quien Weber tom estas caractersticas 93 . Pero ya alguien alguna vez nos defini de manera genial: No somos suizos, queriendo decir aquel ilustre compatriota que nos

68 comportamos segn otras virtudes, lo cual nos permite parafrasear al famoso poltico norteamericano quien dijo del dominicano Trujillo que era un son of a bitch but our son of a bitch. No podemos ser calvinistas ni luteranos, somos catlicos y ello tiene un enorme significado desde el punto de vista de nuestras virtudes, as como de nuestros defectos, efectivamente. El anlisis macro de la situacin pasa por el hecho de que Venezuela, a pesar de toda la grandilocuencia del caso, es un pas pequeo y de escasa importancia en el mbito mundial. Excepto por el ser un pas estratgico en produccin energtica su posicin internacional seria casi nula. La necedad segn la cual nuestras mujeres son bellas no pasa de ser eso, una necedad, porque contrario al estereotipo explotado por esta industria de la belleza la mujer venezolana comn, mestiza, tiene caractersticas antropolgicas contrarias a las que se suelen describir asociadas con las reinas de belleza del pas. El que el pas haya tenido hroes de la magnitud de Simn Bolvar no pasa, tampoco, de ser una referencia circunstancial. Excepto en el delirio exegtico el hroe gran colombiano es una figura que interesante como es no tiene la dimensin histrica internacional que se le quiere atribuir. Por ello, con prudencia y discrecin, Venezuela tendra que elegir sus opciones acadmicas e internacionales con mucha cautela. Debe seguir asociada a la tradicin euronorteamericana, pero debe interesarse en los que llam los gigantes de la periferia. Debe mantener inters y solidaridad con los pases de nuestra propia escala de desarrollo, pero esas alianzas no deben entorpecer aquellas a elegir dentro de parmetros competitivos, utilitarios si se quiere. Qu hemos tenido un "neoliberalismo salvaje que ha impedido redistribuir la riqueza con mayor eficacia y por ende hemos mantenido desigualdades sociales odiosas y desagradables? Pues corrjanse esas deficiencias, en la medida del o posible, pero, en todo caso, cules son las alternativas, el socialismo salvaje que no solo no elimina aquellas fracturas sociales sino que a veces las profundiza y, adems, elimina aquellas reducidas virtudes de los espacios libres que permiten las democracias representativas? Esta ltima, al parecer, ha fracasado, pero vamos a sustituir por una vaga y ambigua "democracia protagnica que nos conduce indefectiblemente al poder personal, corrupto y despiadada por su propia naturaleza?. En materia de opciones, estn frescas todava los abusos y horrores del socialismo de Estado, que llen la historia contempornea de dolor y tragedia. Me refiero, obviamente, a los pases europeos que uno tras otro cayeron bajo la hegemona de la URSS, as como por igual al caso del socialismo tropical de Cuba, que durante casi medio siglo mantiene intactos mecanismos de poder personal que ofenden la dignidad democrtica, modelo econmico y poltico que ha causado el xodo de buena parte de su poblacin y que despus de esos largos aos retorna a su lugar de origen, desde el punto de vista de sus caractersticas econmicas y sociales. Venezuela debe buscar en el mundo industrializado, segn mi criterio, los instrumentos para su mejoramiento como sociedad. En materia academia debe mantener, simplemente, un sentido de real akademie. En materia lingstica tienen que adoptar el idioma ingles, en materia tecnolgica tiene que acatar que los usos y costumbres contemporneas son producidos en esos pases Quiere decir ello que el pas como tal carece de soberana y que tiene que aceptar en forma acrtica los caminos de la dependencia - como de hecho as hace, pues no hay nada mas adecuado a las tendencias internacionales que el comportamiento

69 cotidiano de los venezolanos, que no ha podido ni puede escapar a los mecanismos de la globalizacion, observables en cada uno de los indicadores del comportamiento criollo y expoliacin de sus productos? Tiene Venezuela como pas y nacin que asociarse, como evidentemente mantengo en este documento, a la tradicin euronorteamericana, o puede crear un modelo endgeno, propio, nico y en ese caso hablar del modelo venezolano, en este caso revolucionario y bolivariano?. No tengo respuesta a estas interrogantes, excepto que en el mundo acadmico no tenemos posibilidad de otras opciones, sino que debemos entrar, como hemos comentado en este mismo documento, en una furiosa carrera hacia la internacionalizacin de nuestras demandas, que son mayores que nuestras ofertas, obviamente. Es decir, en materia acadmica, somos consumidores ms que productores y dentro de esa realidad es que tenemos que manejarnos. Donde consumir es, en todo caso, una decisin del pas, en donde cabe poca soberana, para decirlo en esos trminos retricos. Una breve lectura que puede hacerse, aun en las revistas de divulgacin, acerca de las invenciones e innovaciones del futuro, nos seala, con profundo dramatismo, que no slo nuestro pas sino nuestra regin, se halla a la cola del estado del arte en la materia y que debemos de afrontar es como comprar al menos costo posible y como adoptar y adaptar esas invenciones e innovaciones, tecnolgicas y que tiene efectos sociales fundamentales, queramos que no, porque esas decisiones no dependen de nuestro voluntarismo, sino de nuestras necesidades, caso en el cual, en materia acadmica, retornamos as a la propuesta, incomoda y desagradable, del ajuste estructural. Cabe dejar sentado en este documento, que en la sociedad venezolana, como en general en todas las culturas cuya sustentacin existencial como tal se apoya en lo que en trminos comunes se llama occidente, existe una fe cuasi religiosa en las posibilidades de la educacin, generalmente entendida como escolaridad, para mejorar al hombre y su sociedad. No hay ningn discurso poltico, sea de orientacin de izquierda, o bien de su contrario, pero sobre todo las tendencias liberales neoliberales y aun todo ese espectro llamado el humanismo, que no comience por expresar una enorme fe en las posibilidades de la escolaridad. En los mores de la sociedad se halla ese elemento, segn el cual ms escolaridad es sinnima de bienestar, personal y social. Suele creerse a travs de esas mores que la escolaridad impide a los jvenes ingresar a actividades crimingenas, cultivar la tica del trabajo, aumentar la responsabilidad ciudadana, hace mejores empleados y trabajadores y en una palabra prepara personas de mejor calidad en terminos del bienestar. Se le pide a la escolaridad que solvente los irritantes factores del racismo, que inculque valores hacia la paz y el amor entre los semejantes y los maestros, por supuesto, son los smbolos de todas estas creencias pues son ellos, supuestamente, los encargados de "transmitir todas esas expectativas. Todo ello forma parte, de tendencias institucionales que, dentro de esa tradicin del occidentalismo, hallamos en la Iglesia Catlica, por ejemplo. Esto es, dicha institucin religiosa tiene incluso una vocacin educativa/escolar tanto mas poderosa que su propia vocacin religiosa, de hecho una y la misma cosa, para algunos grupos de la Iglesia Catlica, sobre todo los jesuitas. Todo ese educational utopianism responde al infinito presin por control y a los nios todos los quieren controlar, creyendo que si se entrenan los nios se tendrn los adultos, como creen todos los que han empleado la escuela como un instrumento de indoctrinacin, bien sea dentro de las concepciones de Hitler, de Stalin, de Mao, de Krumah, del propio Castro, en Cuba.

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Naturalmente, toda escuela responde a un proyecto poltico e ideolgico. Lo han hecho los partidos polticos, de distinta tendencia, lo hace la Iglesia Catlica y los regmenes polticos. Es interesante acotar que a principios de 2001 se ha planteado un debate en Venezuela, pues el gobierno quiere ideologizar y se enfrenta a la ideologizacin de quienes controlan el sector privado. Los extremos del miedo se aplican a estos conflictos. Los que desean controlar el sector privado creen que el Estado debe manejar todo el proceso, quienes controlan el sector privado creen que deben ser los padres. En efecto, un Gobernador venezolano declaro recientemente, con exactitud, esta tendencia que ignora la condicin tcnica de la escolaridad: ...no hay mejor supervisor de una escuela publica o privada que los padres y las madres que con celo vigilan el buen funcionamiento y la mejor formacin que requieren sus hijos. 94 Pero en verdad esta es una actitud hacia la educacin relativamente comn en tendencias polticas que creen desmontar el Estado, desde un punto de vista muy particular. En efecto, se ha expresado esta postura, en trminos extremos, del siguiente modo: En el modelo societal basado en la libertad, los padres escogemos libremente donde y como educar a nuestros hijos, su educacin religiosa e ideolgica; y proponemos al Estado, como expresin misma de esa sociedad libre, cuales apoyos e intervenciones consideramos apropiados para conformar el plan de educacin de nuestros hijos, ms all de lo instruccional 95 . Segn esta postura el estado es un instrumento al servicio de unos intereses. Segn quienes creemos en el principio del <estado docente> es este quien, precisamente, como ente que representa todos los intereses de la sociedad, es quien orienta en su intencin global el proceso de enseanza-aprendizaje, estableciendo los fines y objetivos supremos de la nacin. Los padres, ciertamente, p ueden y deben contribuir al proceso de formacin de sus hijos de hecho lo hacen, aun cuando este no sea un acto voluntario. Pero no estn estos en condiciones de imponer al Estado las directrices del complejo proceso de formacin de la ciudadana, especialmente en sociedades como la venezolana, en donde esa misma nocin de padres debe ser calificada 96 . Pero, reitero, esta nocin de que sean los padres quienes deben determinar el cmo entrenar a sus hijos se halla bien arraigada en el discurso ideolgico educativo venezolano. Una conocida educadora venezolana, Luisa Elena Vegas, para citar un ejemplo proveniente de un lder educador del sector privado, expres recientemente que: Qu significa todo este ruido alrededor de un nuevo proyecto educativo, de los nuevos programas de ciencias sociales, del texto de educacin premilitar, de la nueva resolucin para las comunidades educativas, de las reformas del ejercicio de la profesin docente en el decreto 1.011, de las intervenciones del Ministerio de Educacin, Cultura y Deportes en las universidades pblicas, de los comunicados conjuntos de Asociaciones y Gremios de Docentes tanto pblicos como privados, del intercambio con Cuba de profesores de Educacin Fsica y de alfabetizadores? Significa que se intenta modificar desde el escritorio de idelogos marxistas trasnochados y de activistas a la deriva, lo que pertenece por derecho natural y por obligacin legal y social al padre y/o a la madre, quienes expresan su voluntad apoyados en los docentes a travs de la comunidad educativa. Es al progenitor o progenitora, a quienes corresponde escoger para sus hijos, el tipo de educacin afn a sus creencias religiosas, a sus valores familiares, a sus expectativas, a su tradicin... 97

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Ahora bien, la educacin, la escolaridad, son instituciones imitadas, dentro de la organizacin social. Tienen un papel, mas bien modesto, no obstante que al menso en apariencia sea el instrumento ms idneo elaborado por el hombre, al menos en el mundo occidental, par crear y recrear las personas que queremos ser, al menos en las constituciones y en las leyes. La frase de Focin Febres Cordero que me ha servido de epgrafe de este trabajo alude a dos cosas bsicas. No es la primera vez que se intenta una reforma en la universidad venezolana, pero Focin Febres Cordero escriba en 1959, al inicio como ahora d un nuevo ciclo poltico. Entonces salamos los venezolanos de la dcada de la ultima dictadura militar que hemos padecido los venezolanos, aquella de la dcada entre 1948-1958, que invento aquella pattica doctrina del nuevo ideal nacional, en cuyo nombre hacan desfilar a los venezolanos, acadmicos incluidos, en los famosos para entonces desfiles de la patria, que el dictador observaba con aires de grandeza semejantes a los del lder italiano que convirti al socialismo en fascismo 98 Ahora, desde 1999, se inicia otro ciclo poltico, esta vez un gobierno constitucional dirigido por un lder militar y poltico que tiene una visin muy particular del mundo y de su papel en el mismo, pues es una mezcla de mesianismo, populismo y una inmensa necesidad y vocacin de poder personal. 99 Ojal entonces que la reforma de la universidad de la cual hablamos en este ao de 2001 sirva para fortalecer los principios que han guiado la vida universitaria venezolana en los aos entre 1958 y hasta ahora y no tengamos los acadmicos que enfrentar nuevamente aquella dcada en la cual las libertades acadmicas fueron conculcadas por la mano militar de entonces. Por ello, es necesario decirlo en forma enftica, es importante y esencial que la universidad venezolana resista la tentacin del fcil acomodo al poder y no renuncie a pensar con cabeza propia. El proyecto poltico del gobierno no es el proyecto acadmico de la universidad venezolana y equivocarnos en ello traera consecuencias graves para nuestra solvencia intelectual. La academia es de la nacin, no del gobierno. Uno pudiera recordar el triste caso de lo que se llama el sndrome de Heidegger, aquel portentoso filsofo alemn que en un m omento de confusin que le tomo una vida tratar de reparar acat, en una hora maldita, acept y de hecho promovi a la visin del Fhrer, aquel lder del nacional socialismo, aquel rgimen indigno que alguna vez crey que durara mil aos y que apenas dur poco mas d una dcada, en la cual destruyo medio mundo, si bien por omisin nos enseo a la otra mitad a vivir en democracia y alejarnos de los totalitarismos y los autoritarismos que apan los regmenes de quienes errneamente se sienten dueos de la verdad y de los hombres. Si alguno entonces ese es el papel de la universidad, defender la libertad y la autonoma del pensamiento y ello por fortuna, el preservar esos principios sagrados de la academia, no necesita reforma.

En este sentido es interesante leer que una institucin acadmica venezolana, elabora un programa de reforma y dice que el mismo se ha hecho: siguiendo instrucciones del Presidente Chvez La cita exacta es la siguiente:

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Siguiendo instrucciones del Presidente Chvez se aument en un 65 % el ingreso de nuevos estudiantes. Esto significa doble oportunidad para los jvenes que quieren estudiar, mejor futuro para sus familias y ms tecnlogos para prosperas empresas que harn libre y soberana a nuestra Patria. 100

Conclusin, ajuste estructural o reajuste ideolgico?

La reforma de la educacin superior venezolana se abre como una reforma radical, va asambleas, constituyentes y de hecho una replica de la renovacin que ocurri en 1970. Tal parece ser una tpica lucha por el poder. La justificacin de un ante proyecto ley que habilita a las universidades nacionales no experimentales parasu reestructuracin y reforma, por ejemplo, expresa una visin interesante que revela esta lucha por el poder, en el proyecto de reforma, al sugerir que la reforma se justifica porque: los intereses degrupos y de partidos Polticos que consideran que los recintosuniversitarios son sus refugios de poder ante el traspaso de la vieja Venezuela a la nueva, que, obviamente, significar primero que nada sustituir a quienes tenan el poder antes y por otros que lo tendrn ahora. El articulo N 1 de este anteproyecto de reforma evidencia que se trata de un a visin referida a una lucha por el poder poltico e ideolgico institucional:

Artculo 1 En cada Institucin de Educacin Superior Nacional Autnoma o no Experimental, se crear una Comisin de Reestructuracin y Reforma, integrada de la siguiente manera: a) Cinco (5) Profesores, con escalafn acadmico no inferior al de Asociado electos personalizadamente mediante voto universal y secreto, de entre aquellos Profesores que se autopostulen para tal fin. b) Un (1) Profesor Novel, electo personalizadamente mediante voto universal y secreto, de entre aquellos Profesores Noveles que se autopostulen para tal fin. c) Dos (2) Representantes Estudiantiles. d) Un (1) Profesor designado por la Asamblea Nacional en cada una de las Universidades Nacionales no Experimentales 101

Para concluir esta documento es oportuno reiterar que a lo largo del mismo hemos propuesto la necesidad de que un pas pequeo como Venezuela mantenga su insercin en el mundo euronorteamricano y que proceda a un riguroso y severo ajuste estructural, a fin de poder mejorar su educacin superior. Sin embargo, ello es improbable que pueda ocurrir. Por la simple razn de que el pas avanza durante el gobierno de Chvez, en una direccin que parece "irreversible, cual es aplicar a este nivel de la escolaridad y de hecho al propio sistema educativo, un reajuste ideolgico. Cabe apuntar, elemental, que toda educacin, como sistema genrico y escolar, es ideolgica. Esto es, es parte de un proyecto poltico que por ende tiene un fundamento ideolgico. No hay formacin, ni entrenamiento, ausente de una postura que contenga supuestos acerca del deber ser de la persona y de la sociedad. Toda la literatura sobre educacin refleja esta situacin, incluyendo las posiciones de

73 intelectuales de posiciones extremas, Paulo Freire, por ejemplo, proponente de la educacin como un proyecto ideolgico, y Margaret Archer, en el otro extremo, quien analiza la educacin como una propuesta estructural en si mismas, que sin desconocer lo ideolgico como tal enfatiza la organizacin estructural del sistema escolar/educativo 102 . Ahora bien, que el gobierno del Presidente Chvez tenga un importante componente ideolgico no debe sorprender a nadie. Que lo tenga la Iglesia Catlica, la Fuerza Armada, los industriales y comerciantes tampoco es de dudar. De hecho, la poblacin en general mantiene una firme postura ideolgica acerca de la educacin, en tanto la poblacin exige que se le preste el servicio escolar, de la mejor calidad posible y, en trminos venezolanos, al menor costo posible. Los sistemas polticos contemporneos, todos, en forma unnime, reconocen el valor estratgico, ideolgico y por ende poltico de la escolaridad/educacin/cultura/deportes y en general los gobiernos, por razn natural, procuran controlar una porcin del paquete ideolgico que afecta a las instituciones. Ciertamente, en regmenes democrticos acontece el llamado pluralismo, en los autoritarios las propuestas ideolgicas se reducen a la oferta del rgimen, pero, ajeno a esas diferencias, insistimos, toda escolaridad/educacin/cultura/deporte, es parte de un componente ideolgico. Quisiera insistir en esto del componente ideolgico elemental como propio de toda visin poltica, del hombre y de la sociedad. Ciertamente, quienes suelen expresar que los quieren ideologizar estn de hecho idoelogizando. Un idelogo de la Iglesia Catlica lo expresaba con toda claridad, recientemente: Hace unos meses lo veamos como una amenaza, ahora ya esta encima: se esta bloqueando el esfuerzo para mejorar la educacin sustituido por inoportunos y provocadores avances que apuntan a la ideologizacin e instrumentalizacin poltica de los nios y de la educacin. Hay gente dentro del Gobierno que pareciera estar empeada en crearle problemas innecesarios. No creo que sea la lnea oficial, pero si esto avanza va a ser imposible el sano debate para transformar la educacin y el Gobierno (como los adecos con el 321 en el 46-47), sin querer queriendo, se habr metido en un pantano que cobra alto precio poltico 103 La educacin es una rama de relaciones e intereses y ello genera que intervengan en ese proceso las consideraciones ideolgicas, ya que la orientacin y direccin de los contenidos pedaggicos es siempre el objeto de una disputa. Efectivamente, el exceso de control y ello es autoritarismo y lesivo, porque vulnera la necesaria pluralidad que es necesario, pero acusar a un rgimen, gobierno o institucin de ideologizar no significa nada. En cambio, si significa y mucho el exceso de esos intentos, que caen ya en el terreno del autoritarismo, cuando se suprime toda alternativa y aparece el siniestro pensamiento nico, aquel que sirve de un eje fuera de lo cual las personas e instituciones son reprimidas. Cuando la Ley de Educacin de 1940 expresaba que los fines y objetivos de la educacin eran que La educacin venezolana debe tener como norte, formar hombres virtuosos y capaces de hacer valer toda la riqueza potencial de nuestro territorio. Son pues, las condiciones de nuestra raza, las caractersticas de nuestro medio fsico y las etapas de nuestro inmediato desarrollo moral, intelectual y material, las que deben determinar las formas y el contenido de nuestra educacin no hacia otra cosa que ideologizar a la nacin en una direccin, como lo hace

74 la Ley de Educacin vigente y la Constitucin de la Repblica Bolivariana de Venezuela aprobada en 1999, un medio siglo despus. Naturalmente, si entendemos por ideologa las ideas que un grupo quiera imponer a otro entonces estamos hablando no de idoelogizacin sino de eso, de imposicin, esto es, de autoritarismo, contra el cual es necesario luchar, con el fin de r etornar, cada vez que sea necesario, al pluralismo y a la democracia, como ocurri con el movimiento que contribuyo a sustituir la dictadura militar de 1948-1958 por el sistema que nos rige desde entonces y que salvo una serie de cambios a menudo cosmticos nos rige desde esa fecha hasta 2001, pues a pesar del carcter supuestamente revolucionario del gobierno de Chvez este es, estructuralmente hablando, una coyuntura, al menos para el momento de escribir este documento 104 . En todos los casos el contenido escolar/educativo del ao 2001 corresponde a un esquema distinto al de 1940. Hoy en da la adecuacin del proceso de enseanza-aprendizaje es con los contenidos propios de la sociedad del conocimiento, con todos sus ingredientes tericos, metodolgicos y tecnolgicos, a fin de adecuar a los nios y nias del momento al contexto y entorno en donde van a vivir, en el futuro, pues, efectivamente, el contenido escolar debe ser siempre, una visin de futuro. La literatura clsica en el tema y el anlisis sociolgico, que empleamos en nuestras referencias, excluyen que, de momento, se este efectuando una revolucin en Venezuela. Tcnicamente hablando podra incluso decirse que es un gobierno tradicional poder personal, conservador, reformas jurdicas antes que sociales, polticas antes que econmicas, convencional en tanto mantiene todos los ritos de los gobiernos que le han precedido, en cuanto al sentido de las jerarquas. Las expresiones de Marx y Engels, por ejemplo, nos permiten elementos para esta discusin: Sin ciertas condiciones materiales previas, la revolucin social no se consuma. Las fuerzas productivas han de haber asumido un cariz determinado; luego, ha de haberse formado una masa revolucionaria, que se rebele no solo contra ciertos aspectos de l sociedad burguesa, sino contra el tipo de produccin y el a modo de actividad sobre la cual se asienta la misma. De no existir esta preparacin previa, es completamente en balde que la revolucin se formule una y cien veces en teora. Las ideas no tuercen el curso de la realidad 105

La nocin de ajuste estructural esta ligada, en el lenguaje comn, al neoliberalismo, que es, de hecho, el scapegoat del actual gobierno. En efecto, todo discurso oficial es un ataque al neoliberaismo salvaje, supuesta doctrina a la cual se imputan todos los males y desventuras. Lo que es interesante, es como nunca se menciona cuales son las alternativas, si un capitalismo humanista, como al parecer se insinua, o resucitar el socialismo y si este puede operar sin ser salvaje, como se comprobo durante el Siglo XX y los aos en los cuales el socialismo abri la posibilidad real de una tragedia colectiva. El concepto de lo neoliberal, incluso es asociado al imperialismo y a la depredacin institucional.106 Pero, en todo caso, la solucion que halla el actual gobierno es sustituir el supuesto aparato neoliberal en otro aparato, esta vez un reajuste ideolgico, como hemos planteado en este documento. Esto es, la necesidad de la sociedad venezolna es la de ejecutar un ajuste estructural, pero la conveniencia del gobierno es la de aplicar un reajuste ideolgico. Mucho me temo que ello no sera posible y a la larga no tendremos ni un ajuste ni un reajuste, sino un caos y un desorden. Tengo la impresin, en este momento, inicio de 2001, que el gobierno no tiene

75 los instrumentos como para imponer a la sociedad un reauste ideolgico, porque la sociedad se va a resistir a ello, pues mantiene su propio ajuste ideolgico, asi como no aplicara, obviamente, ningun elemento de un ajuste estructural y va a daar lo que existe sin poder constuir en la praxis su proyecto ideolgico, por vago, ambiguo e inefectivo. En todo caso el capitalismo de estado que prevalece como modelo de organizacin econmica y social en el pas parece habr de mantenerse. La industria petrolera, propiedad del Estado, seguir como el eje de nuestra economa y con toda las consecuencias que ello implica. En que medida puede la sociedad venezolana cambiar su estructura es cuestin de verse, pero, desde el punto de vista de nuestro documento, cabe sealar que la asociacin euronorteamericana, tan obvia como es, no es aceptada por todos. Mas bien hay un rechazo a veces radical, pero, reitero, sin que se ofrezcan alternativas y cuando esto ocurre las mismas no pueden suplir las ventajas de la necesidad de la vinculacin euronorteamricana. De hecho, hay quienes mantienen que el mal venezolano va mas all de esta asociacin, porque no seriamos parte de la tradicin occidental. En efecto, Esteban Emilio Mosonyi ha expresado que

Los genocidios de la Conquista, los avatares de la Colonia, una Independencia incompleta y generadora de elites cmplices y nostlgicas de un ordenamiento mundial desigual, explican un deformante dominio euronorteaericano en lo econmico, poltico y cultural. Hasta nuestra relacin con la naturaleza esta segada por el remedio servil del desarrollo ecocida e insostenible de raz occidental 107

Ciertamente, no cabe duda de que ha existido un deformante dominio euronorteamericano, como ha sido denunciado una y otra vez, pero, el equilibrio de la relacin descansa en la capacidad endgena de los pases. Por ejemplo, en las relaciones educativas internacionales estn pueden mantenerse en un plano de respeto a la soberana nacional, pero pueden tambin ser interpretadas en forma de sumisin neoimperialista, como cabe recordar en el caso del Programa Galileo, de la Fundacin Ayacucho, un caso debidamente documentado.108 Pero de all a mantener que no somos parte de la tradicin occidental hay mucho trecho. Otro venezolano, en este caso Arnald Este, ha expresado, en sintona con Mosonyi, unos veinte aos antes, que: No somos occidentales. Aun cuando, lo contrario, subyace cualquier presupuesto econmico, social, artstico, educativo, como una afirmacin nunca discutida: no somos occidentales. El diseo de nuestras ciudades y de las casas que se encuentran en ellas, el vestido que nos obligamos a usar, los hbitos alimenticios y los presupuestos de hroe y personalidad, para nombrar algunos, son elementos que patentizan la presencia de una cultura avasallante, pero que no por ello son nuestra cultura. Estos elementos y muchos otros, solo constatan una relacin de dominio que ocasiona una distorsin cada vez mayor en nuestra personalidad individual y colectiva y en nuestro entorno 109

76 Esta es una tesis que juzgo interesante. Esto es, pienso que somos una sociedad inserta en el mundo occidental y que por ello, histricamente hablando, debemos mantenernos asociados, vinculados, a esa tradicin occidental, y que nos movemos dentro de la esfera econmica y social del capitalismo. Mantengo que, en ambos casos, no tenemos alternativas y en el mejor de los casos debemos de obtener provecho de esa situacin para aumentar y mejorar nuestros niveles de bienestar y calidad de vida, individual y social. A nuestra condicin de pas occidental parece que no tenemos alternativa, pues ni siquiera tenemos una tradicin indgena como si la tienen Mxico y Per, por ejemplo, a la cual podamos pensar en retornar. Nuestra tradicin es la influencia de tres culturas, la nativa, la hispnica y la de origen africano, pero es una sntesis y no tenemos un pasado nico adonde pensar en retornar. Esa es una fantasa extravagante, como la de aquellos buenos ciudadanos que crearon un pas, Liberia, para reenviar a Africa a los negros norteamericanos. La historia es un camino sin retorno, simplemente prosigue su curso, a menudo indiferente a los deseos de las personas y de las ideas que tengan. Por otra parte, nuestra economa y sociedad es de origen y expansin capitalista. Podemos pensar en cerrar en el pas una sociedad socialista, que es la nica alternativa eventual?. Difcil creerlo. Podemos si mejorar nuestro capitalismo, hacerlo menos salvaje, pero de ah a cambiarlo median muchas variables que no controlamos y en ciencia y en tecnologa simplemente no tenemos a donde acudir. Por ello juzgo de enorme inters las propuestas elaboradas por el citado Arnaldo Est, cuando este expresa que: Los ltimos siglos de nuestra historia estn marcados por la resistencia a la dominacin occidental. Con la llegada de los conquistadores espaoles, comenzaron las lecciones para hacernos sentir vergenza de nuestra condicin, argumentando con ello el derecho de decenas de caudillos y dictadores, que se atribuiran luego el papel de ordenadores y civilizadores para hacer de nosotros, seres a la medida de las expectativas europeas. El orgullo perseguido y la dignidad proscrita, no logran, sin embargo, aniquilar nuestra resistencia, que se manifiesta de una y mil formas. Resistencia; que es la horma de sobrevivencia de nuestra condicin y de nuestra cultura 110 Esta es una interpretacin que parece no coincidir con los hechos, porque precisamente los venezolanos hemos buscado una incorporacin al mundo occidental, sin resistencia, ms bien con vocacion de modenrizacion. Por lo demas, no existe ningun ejemplo, al menos en Amrica Latina y el caribe, de ue una reistsneia de ese genero haya tenido xito y mas bien los imperialomos han impuesto sus modos de ser y con ello su cultura, en la Region desde la invasion hispanica, en la epoca del llamaod descubrimiento, hasta la invaison sovietica, ya en el slgilo XX, en el caso cubano, que durante dos decadas impuso en la isla un modelo de sociedad socialista. Pero espaoles, portugueses, franceses, britanicos, norteamricanos y sovieticos, han logrado imponer una cultura y han contado con escasa resistencia o en todo caso una resistencia que en ninguna caso ha podido impedir la transculturaicon del caso. Ms recientemente, el gobierno venezolano ha tomado una iniciativa, para crear un consrocio acadmico con los pases d ela OPEP, una excelente idea, pero que no puede sustituir nuestra liason con la tradicon euronorteamricana, por supuesto. Los pases de la OPEP, en su mayoria pases rabes, son probablemnet uno de los regiones mas atradasdas

77 del mundo en materia acadmica y si bien esta asociaon es positiva, politicamente hablando, no lo es en trminos acadmicos. Lo mas interesant de esta propuesta es la que averiguar, por ejemplo, el efecto del petroleo y de la eocnomia petroelra en el desarrollo de la educacin superior y en el proeso demodenrizscion de estas sociedades, pero no hay posibilidad alguna, ni remota, de crear un espaico de poder acadneico, con los pases que conforman la OPEP 111 De dicho documento me pemrito citar una frase interesante, pues revela la vision de la nocin de universidad que tienen quiens aspiran crear es ta universidad de la OPEP:

Desde el punto de vista de los valores y la conciencia, los institutos de educacin superior estn dominados por la ideologa tecnocrtica. En los curriculum universitarios se les da prioridad al pragmatismo; tambin, se ensea el saber tecnicista acrtico generado en las metrpolis capitalistas (lase imperialistas, invasoras y neoliberales). Dicho saber es importado por los pases tercermundistas, praxis que acenta su dependencia cientfico cultural. Tiene alto costo en dlares; reduce o anula nuestra capacidad de investigar y producir saberes propios (mas tiles, ms acordes con nuestros problemas, patrimonios o identidades) e impide reducir internamente los costos, en el plano cada vez ms exigente de la ciencia, la tcnica y la cultura

Elegir como opcin acadmica esta visin citada anteriormente supondra un ahistrico viaje al absurdo. Pero es interesante que observemos los extremos de las opciones en si, entre aquellos que desean una universidad que supuestamente puede divorciares de los centros de produccin de saber, como otros que patrocinan servidumbre y pasividad frente al impacto de las universidades de los pases metropolitanos. Parece entonces evidente de suyo que los venezolanos hemos de escoger asociarnos, mantener nuestras vinculaciones euronorteamericanos, a despecho de las crticas que pueden hacerse de esta asociacin, pero manteniendo, en lo posible, la independencia del caso, para poder seleccionar en el mercado del saber la mercanca que sea de nuestro inters. Como siempre, es cuestin de considerar las alternativas, antes de tomar una decisin valida y efectiva. La cuestin mas crtica de la educacin superior, aparte de la cuestin estrictamente acadmica, del saber/conocimiento, es de ndole financiera. Con recursos escasos ser difcil para el pas mantener un subsidio al infinito de todas las mltiples demandas de una sociedad en donde entrepreneurship parece ser una virtud o un defecto, que opera solo en el mundo de los negocios y ms bien ajeno a la acadmica venezolana. Pero, es mi impresin, los privilegios no sern abortados en esta materia de la educacin superior y el estado seguir como garante benevolente de estas necesidades ya labradas en la ideologa del estado venezolano. Sobre este tema se ha reflexionado mucho en nuestro pas y en nuestra regin. Precisamente uno de los pensadores latinoamericanos que mas ha discutido este y otros temas vinculados a la educacin superior es el chileno Jos Joaqun Brunner, autor del libro mas leido y divulgada sobre el area en la region, quien en 1990 expreso lo sigueinte:

78 Podria pensarse que existen actualmente unos pocos Estados quiza Venezuela y Costa Rica sean los mejoers ejemplos- que querrian prolongar el viejo patron de relaciones benevolentes con las instituciones de enseanza superior, concentrandose solo en la transferencia de recursos pblicos a las universidades. Dicho esquema esta condenado, sin embargo, al fracaso. A poco andar, efectivamente, el estado encontrara sus propios limites para mantener tal politica, que son los limites inexorables del gasto pblico en tiemos de ajuste recesivo o de lanzamiento de una politica de desarrollo basada en el equilibrio de las cuentas fiscales 112 .

Es mi impresin personal que el problema del financiamiento se resuleve en la medida en que el Estado cesa de ser el unico suplidor de recursos de este tipo, via un financimainto multiple, como fue sugerido anteirormnete y que soporta un sector privado fuerte, bajo supervsion de mercado acadmico externo a las propias institucioens, que es la unica forma de evaluacion pertinente, esto es, evaluar no mediante el anlisis y etsimulo a los procedimientos, sino a travs de los prodctos acadmicos. Pero, en todo caso, el problema, como tal, de la educacin superior en un pas moderno es el como integrarse en un sistema, sino un en como crear un cognitive complex, como sealabamos, del mismo modo, en los trminos parsonianos empleados en el contexto referencial teoretico del presnete documento. La idea de organizar un sistema integrado de educacin superior en el pas, a partir de la integraicon de las instituciones, no es atractiva ni seala un rumbo inedito, sino mas bien una expectativa antigua y trillada. Cuando se habla de integraicon, en este sentido, se suele referir a la intencion de unificar expresines curriuclares, correspondencia de titulos y credenciales, homogeneizar patrones amdinistrativos y asi sucesivamente, incouyendo cronogramas d etrabajo, fluidez en la transferencia de estudiantes d euna a otra institucin y d euno a otro nivel. Crear un sistema de eudcacion superior es, entonces, relativamenet sencillo, pues es un problema de indole amdinistrativa. Mas complicado, como necesairo, es crear un cognitive complex. Ya hemos citado la definicion que le da Parosns a este cocnepto, pero es oportuno repetrla en esta oportunidad:

El foco cognitivo primario de la universidad es un complejo cognitivo, el cual se basa en el sistema cultural y se institucionaliza en las estructuras modernas de la sociedad. La educacin superior, en general, y la universidad en particular, representan preocupaciones institucionalizadas con los asuntos cognitivos en el sistema cultural. En la parte social, es con el subsistema fiduciario que stas se representan . 113

Este cognitive complex plantea una razon esencial de discutir en el caso de los pases como el nuestro, cual es el hecho de que su componente principal, el conoicmiento, es un producto cultural, mas que intelectual y se halla en volumen de escacez, especilamente en el caso venezolano. El saber/conoicmiento, segn Parsons, es una cognitive rationality y pareciera que en nuestra sociedad los patrones de orientaicon se dirigen mas bien hacia una racionalidad apoyada segn interpreto en una emocionalidad y en una busqueda inceante de poder, que es, por esencia, unidimensional, en los temrinos marcusianos. Sobre este

79 punto quisiera detenrme, pues es fundamental para nuestra argumentaicon. Un valor es un patron cultural intenalizado en la conducta y conciencia colectiva. En ese sentido el saber/conoicmiento no es un valor, en nuestra sociedd, de hecho es una actividad eterea y burocratica disociada del aparato productivo. Esto es, nuestro apartao productivo opera sij vinculaicon con el stock de saber/conocimiento que se maneja en el mundo acadmico, que es la sede natural de la instituconalizacion del valor de ideas que definimos como saber/conocimiento. Parsons afirma que esta cognitive rationality es... un valor-modelo que une los niveles culturales y sociales, pero que no son reductibles el uno al otro. Este valor-modelo es slo una parte del complejo cognitivo. Si se considera separadamente, ste no constituye una fuerza social de importancia. 114 Taken separately not constitute a major social force 115 . Entonces, crear un complejo cognitivo es mas que crear un sistema, es asociar la nocin de produccion de saber/conoicmiento con las necesidades de la sociedad, en este caos, las del aparato productivo en si mismo. Sin embargo, en la actualidad la eduaccion superior venezolana presta funciones disociadas de un complejo cognitivo, funcione stales como entrenar estudiantes para las profeisones (teoria de capital humano), generar empleo a travs del cual se crean mecanismos interesantsd e distribucion del ingreso naiconal (burocratizacion de la sociedad) y en general porveer la nocin , a menudo falsa, de una plataforma intelectual y acadmica, afirmndo que es a menudo falsa porque a vees los niveles intelectuales y academios que se manejan en esta sinstitucones son irrelevantes, banales,incluso. Entonces la traea del pas es como formular poltiicas eudcativas en el nivel postsecundario que transformen, de hecho, lo que Frigotto denomina A productividade da escola improdutiva, concepto que se aplica a nuestras institucones de eudcacion superior, que son imporidyctiva spor dos razones, una porque atienden a demandas para proveer recursos humanos, esto es, incrementar el capital humano, y en segundo lugar, porque son institucine subsidiadas que no tienen eigencia d eproducicon de saber/conocimiento. Es decir, por supuesto, improductivas en cuanto no generan sino que transfieren saber/conoicmiento, a veces en niveles contrarios a las tendencias que se observan en las puntas del saber, en la dinamica internaiconal de esta actividad 116 . Entonces, el problema del financimaiento es secundario al del saber/conocimiento. En tanto este es un valor y un objeto extrao a la sociedad venezolana, el financiamiento de la educacin superior debe dirigirse a este elemento extra acadmico, incidiendo al interno de este corpo concpetual mediante el estimulo suficiente como para crear un complejo cognitivo, que unfique el campo intelectual acadmico a trevs de la producicony no a travs d elos procesos que conducen a faciitar las otras funciones ya mencioadas y que son perfectamente operativas en la sociedad venezolana. Parsons define knowledge (saber/conoicmiento), entonces, como un objeto cultural, cuya identiifcacion para su eventual estimulo y desarrollo hemos d eidentificar, como un componente esencial de la reforma en la educacin supeior:

El conocimiento es un tipo de objeto cultural con respecto al cual el significado cognitivo-diseador de smbolos y cdigos tienen mayor importancia. El conocimiento, a pesar de ser producto de una accin, es, como un tipo-objeto cultural, independiente de cualquier otro actor particular. Esta reflexin se demuestra por el hecho de que el conocimiento est internalizado en las personas, pero que tambin puede ser exteriorizado,

80 en forma escrita u otra. Ya sea que se encuentre en un libro o en el cerebro de alguien, el conocimiento sigue siendo el mismo. 117 . Pasando al segundo tema a abordar en este orden de ideas, ademas del citado del financiamiento, debemor referirnos al tema del control poltico. Podra el Estado venezolano controlar el sistema de educacin superior hasta el punto de que elimine el sector privado o que apruebe tales formas de supervsion necesarias como son, que este se contraiga motu propio, al mismo tiempo que aliene la incipiente comunidad acadmica del pas? Por otra parte, en la era de las comunicaciones electornicas digitales satelitales, cmo puede un Estado un gobierno, controlar dichas comunicacioens, incluyendo las acadmicas?. Si el actual gobierno procede a ejecutar un ajuste ideolgico el control es correspondiente, en tanto el ajuste estrcutural sugiere un mundo acadmico abierto, a la competencia y competividad. Si hay control ideolgico sobrevendra un aislamiento del mjundo internaional, que afectara los propios instrumentos de financiamiento, en ese plano internaiconal. El deseo del control obedeced a la tentatcion totalitaria de Revel. Es fcil, en Venezuela, y en cualquier otra sociedad que se acepte eventualmente esta tentacion totalitaria, asumir el papel del Big Brother y de hecho, como por arte de magia, aparecen los aprendizces de brujos, los nuevos zares del mandarinazgo, que en nombre de la revolucion montan sus aparatos de control poltico e idoelogico. Por ello me permito el siguiente Colofon del presente documento, como una breve reflexion sobre el tema de la libertad.

Colofn: la reforma de la educacin superior y el tema de la libertad El habito constante de corregir y completar ideas, comparandolas con otras, lejos de producir dudas y vacilacion, es el unico fundamento estable de una justa confianza en todo aquello que se desee conocer a fondo John Stuart Mill Sobre la libertad 1859
El comun de los acadmicos creen que el principio enunciado por Mill es basico en la vida del ambiente en donde se desarrolla la educacin superior, caracterizada la misma por la apertura al debate, la disidencia y la confrontacion. Pero ese principio segn el cual <corregir y completar ideas, comparandolas con otras>, es precisamente la nocion e idea del necesario pluralismo, democratico, que choca contra todo intento, provenga del mercado o del Estado, por vulnerarlo. Generalmente en paises como Venezeula existen esas dos presiones, el cerrojo que suele imponer la institucin amaprada en el sector privado, que quisiera ver que la vida es solo mercado y empresarios y que los sistemas sociales estan destinados por la naturaleza divina a crear riqueza mediante lucro desproporcionado y distribuido en forma inequitativa, mientras que en el lado opuesto existe la <tentacion

81 populista>, el discurso unidimensional, la formula fundamentalista, la represion ideologicam en una palabra. Por ello la esperanza de los academcios es que las instituciones de educacin superior sean autonomas, dentro de una sociedad democratica y gobernadas por un estado que se maneja segn el principio de la libertad y de la pluralidad. La <tentacion populista> es la <tentacion totalitaria> de Revel y en una palabra es el camino a los obstaculos que al uniformar el pensamiento coartan la propia esencia del mismo, la libertad. Los gobiernos venezolanos, desde 1958 hasta el presente han sucumbido, por razones a menudo legitimas y de justicia social como fondo argumental de la postura en cuestion, a la <tentacion populista>. Pero generalmente han impuetso lo popular a costa de lo adecuado. Por ello, ...el populismo es otro modo de apropiarse indebidamente de los bienes publicos: la falsa prioridad expropia a la prioridad genuina. En efecto:

El populismo es un abuso de la esperanza. Y un continente cuyo discurso politico suele andar tan lejos de lo factible, es por lo mismo un continente abierto al populismo. En todos los tiempos y en todos los lugares, los candidatos suelen ofrecer mas de lo que pueden cumplir; pero en Latinoamerican y el caribe, los elegidos tratan a menudo de cumplir sus promesas y echan mano de recursos que no les pertenecen 118

Ahora bien, muchos intelectuales y observadores politicos han expresado, en los ultimos tres aos, que el gobierno de Hugo Chvez Frias es una amanaza a la libertad y que eventualmente habra de radicalizarse hacia formas autoritarias de gobierno, lo cual eventualmente incluiria al mundo acadmico. Sobre todo porque la <tentacion populsita> es parte de lo que parece ser la doctrina bolivariana, esencia del proyecto polititico del chavizmo. Tal temor es fundado. Chvez es un militar, ha manejado con habilidad los mecaimsos de la democracia que le permitio accedar al gobierno como una palanca para acumular poder personal, ha designado nmerososo militares en cargos importantes en la administraicon publica, ha hecho transformaicones importantes si bien formales, desde el nombre de la naicon hasta asumir practicamnete el control de todas las fuerzas polticas del pas, habiendo colocado a la oposicion en situacion debil, sto es, la unica fuente de poder es el propio Chvez. Para preocupacion d elos scetores que gobernaron al pas entre 1958 y 1998 ha incoporrado al gobierno a muchos miembros d ela generaicon politica de la decada d elos sesenta, que entonces ancabezaron la guerrilla que amenzao la estabilidad delpas en esa decada y que ahorar acceden al gobierno, reeditando, con otro sentido histroico, aquella revolucion cubana, d elos guerrilleros al poder, en aquel caso depsues d euna guerra civil, en el venezolano depsues de alianzas electorlas, derrotada como fue en su oportunidad el aparato guerrillero. Es decir, Chvez es una mezcla de la guerrilla de la decada de los aos sesneta, de los militares quele acompaaron a su fallido golpe militar y de la cupula militar que no ha tendo objeciones en apoyar a un antiguo teniente coronel derrotado en campaa militar pero tirunfante en las de indole electoral y poltiica. Ideologicamente busca en doctrinas del pasado, las supuestamente bolivarianas, la fuente principista de su accion, asi como elementos del marxismo, interpretadas con cierta libertad de criterio, asi como

82 infouencias coloquiales como las de Ceresole y el Oraculo del Guerrero. Es un fenomeno inedito en una region que tiene todo genero de experiencias polticas e idoelogicas 119 Pero, con la mayor objetividad del caso, el gobierno de Chvez, mas alla de su forma tosca y vulgar de gobernar, del uso y abuso que esta haciendo del ejercico del poder, respeta y ha repsetado las formas que son propias d ela dmeocracia. Qu el gobierno de Chvez es malo o es bueno. Depende quien lo juzgue. Quien escribe es un observador y analista de la sociedad venezolana a lo largo del proceso democratico, entre 1945 y el presente y en una mirada a largo plazo no halla en el gobierno de Chvez ninguna amenaza a las libertades pblicas, al menos en forma directa, no obstante que muchas de sus acciones provocan by leisonan la libertad publica en forma indirecta, grave en si misma. En trminos del concepto de libertad en el sentido clasico del termino, como el expresado por John Stuart Mills y aun en aquellos d Roger Garaudy y de Paulo Freire, asi como de e pensadores contemporneos como John Rawls, no cabe duda alguna, al incio del ao 2001 que la estabilidad democratica esta presente y activa, bajo el actual gobierno, no obstante que existen ciertos elementso que pudieran hacer pensar que el gobienro actual se dirige rapidamnete hacia un formato de gobienro unipersonal, de partido unico y de condonaicon d elas libertades publicas 120 . Ciertamente, muchos analistas creen que Chvez no tiene otro camino que radicalizar su proyecto poltico, caso en el cual, eventualmente, podrian sufrir las libertades pblicas y por ende la democracia como sistema poltico, pero no es el caso, reitero, segn la apreciacion que se puede hacer en el momento en cual terminamos este documento 121 Quienes argumentan lo contarrtio, en mi criterio, abundan en visiones que no guardan correspondencia con la realidad. Ernesto May Vallenilla, por ejemplo, citado al inciio de este documento, expreso en este mismo ao de 2001 lo siguiente: ...lo que se avecina en Venezuela es un regimen poltico totalitario al estilo nazista, peronista o fidelista 122 Al finalizar este documento y colocarlo en contexto cabe comentar que si bien tentaicones totalitarias existen siempre en la mentalidad de neustros gobiernos, ahitos del enorme poder que proporicona el arca petrolera, tengo la imprsion de que no estan dadas las condiciones historicas para que se establezca en Venezuela un regimen totalitario. Habida cuenta de que el Presidnete es un militar, que su vocacion personalista no parece tene rlimites, que ha constuido un cumulo interminable de denucnias empelando los adjteivos conocidos de la era de la Guerra Fria, que gobierna en cercano contacto con grupos y personas que probablemente tengan en sus cabezas una vision totalitaria, todo ello hace pensar con temor en el futuro. La sociedad venezolana, es mi criterio, sin embargo, que por estructura y organbizacion social es una sociedad con amplias bases consensuales y es mas bien probable que el actual gobierno arribe a un punto de equilibrio que satisgafa todos los intereses profundos, si bien, obviamente, muchas de sus medidas causen irritacion, por su inefable estilo brusco y de confrontaicon permanente. Wishful thinking? Ojala que no, ciertamente.

Pero el caso es que la educacin superior venezolana requiere y exige en el ao 2001 un over-haul, una reforma que, infortunadamente, no puede ser integral, en la medida en que

83 puede reformarse toda la educacin superior, sino que tienen que hacerse cambios estratgicos cuyos resultados vayan estableciendo los parmetros a travs de los cuales mejorar la calidad institucinal. sino que tiene que ser iterativa, respetando los derechos de una comunidad acadmica que se rige con criterios sumamente delicados. Pero se exige, a mi juicio, el establecer ese conjunto de normas de comportamiento institucinal, que regulen en forma democrtica el comportamiento de este nivel. Un socilogo francs, Francois Bourricaud expreso hace algunos aos, en Caracas, que la educacin superior, en algunas instancias, haba devenido en una "sociedad sin obligacin ni sancin. En efecto, quiz no sea exagerado decir que en la medida en que se ha atomizado el funcionamiento y operacin del sistema de educacin superior cada una de sus partes se comporta sin obligacin y no hay sancin alguna, en caso de comportamiento ineficaz o desviado. La educacin superior ha llegado a ser en el pas una especie de actividad voluntaria, sin obligaciones ni sanciones. Cada institucin y cada actor dentro de la misma se comportan segn sus principios personales. La sociedad venezolana como tal es desregulada y esta es una observacin fundamental, pues significa que estructuralmente hablando la sociedad tiende a la desorganizacin y no hacia lo contrario. Esto es, en termino tcnicos, se desmoderniza, que es un proceso inverso a la necesidad histrica, crendose as mayores divergencias en la organizacin social, pues al mismo tiempo que se desmoderniza, como acontece, crecen las lagunas en donde opera la alta tendencia hacia la modernizacin 123 Esta desregulacion se observa en todas las manifestaciones, funcionales y latentes de la sociedad venezolana. El crecimiento del sector marginal de la economa, la incapacidad del estado para garantizar la seguridad ciudadana, crendose de hecho un estado de anomie casi total en donde priva un rgimen de impunidad, el creciente numero de homicidios que a la manera de un parte de guerra se producen cada fin de semana, el consumo incontrolado de alcohol y de drogas, la incapacidad de aplicar a la organizacin ciudadana instrumentos elementales, tales como el parqumetro, el taxmetro y todo otro mecanismos de regulacin ciudadana, todo nos indica la existencia de una sociedad en donde la regulacin es vista como una imposicin indeseada. Sociolgicamente hablando ello se observa en el manejo del transito, que opera prcticamente sin control alguno. Es interesante sealar que el comportamiento del conductor, altamente individualizado, responde a presiones culturales, que se observan en todo comportamiento masivo, como, por ejemplo, en los super mercados, en cuyos pasillos los consumidores se comportan como en el transito urbano, sin separar el peatn del vehculo y ocupando todos los espacios disponibles sin seguir norma alguna. Eso es lo que interpreto que afirma Bourricaud, cuando toma de Jean Guyau su anlisis del comportamiento moral, en la misma lnea que iba a iniciar muchos aos despus Lawrence Kolhberg, esto es, que la norma es explcita pero no implcitamente internalizada 124 Es decir, la norma es una expresin de la fuerza externa, nunca parte de la construccin interna, de una integridad moral, tica. Esto es, que la educacin superior venezolana opera y funciona sin obligaciones ni sanciones institucinales y lo que cada cual hace como actor interesado es una decisin personal. Ciertamente se me dir que hay un aparato jurdico que regula al sistema, pero lo extraordinario es que ese aparato es aplicado segn conveniencia personal, no segn necesidad institucinal.

84 Es en este sentido que Bourrricaud y posteriormente Mayz Vallenilla hablan de <degradacin de la institucin universitaria> y del <ocaso de las universidades>. El socilogo francs habla no solo de degradacin, sino de desintegracin, para lo cual se apoya en tres argumentos, que voy a denominar la triada de Bourricadud:

Encuadre 3 Los problemas de la universidad: La triada de Bourricaud

1: Desintegracin ya que las actividades de formacin e investigacin tendern a escapar cada vez mas de las universidades. Degradacin ya que privadas de esas actividades prestigiosas, las universidades tendern a convertirse en inmensas guarderas, donde los jvenes sin aptitud ni vocacin particular esperaran su ingreso en la vida, sometidos a una alternativa de sentimientos negativos que les harn pasar desde la apata hasta la rabia contra un sistema sin salida 2. Un segundo sntoma de degeneracin es el peso excesivo de recursos consagrados y en algunos casos derrochados, en actividades que tienen mas relacin con lo que los americanos llaman custodial functions, guardera y vigilancia, que con las actividades propiamente universitarias de investigacin, enseanza y formacin de futuros responsables y dirigentes 3: No faltan ejemplos de universidades profundamente desintegradas, anmicas (en donde) Desgraciadamente, en general, las innovaciones que resultan de tales iniciativas son discontinuas, precarias, en una palabra estn desprovistas del carcter acumulativo sin el cual son imposibles no solo el progreso de los conocimientos sino tambin la formacin de una verdadera comunidad cientfica 125
Bourricaud introduce la nocin de politizacin <salvaje> como un signo de esta degradacin. Una politizacin <salvaje> que incluye, en el caso venezolano, la imposicin de la lucha por el poder, sin dejar lugar alguno a una legitima lucha por los valores de la academia. En este caso los venezolanos hemos observado a lo largo de los aos como las instituciones han sido creadas por un partido, trasformadas por otro e incorporadas a un tercero, en todos los casos con el mismo fundamentalismo proselitista. Quienes hoy vociferan a favor el gobierno del Comandante Chavez eran probablemente los mismos que antes elevaban sus voces para hacer lo propio con otros gobernantes. En este caso me interesa la nocin de derroche, porque un anlisis sencillo del gasto de las instituciones de la educacin superior venezolana revelar al observador mas distrado como se derrochan los

85 fondos que el Estado asigna a la educacin superior, no solo en la forma irracional como se cancelan las obligaciones de sueldos, salarios y seguridad social de los diversos actores del sistema, sino como los gastos suntuarios son simplemente excesivos. Los fringe benefits que reciben quienes controlan el poder acadmico son tan atractivos que ello explica la fiera disputa por ese poder acadmico. En alguna oportunidad el Presidente Chavez, al justificar su intervencin de las instituciones de la cultura oficial expres que en la misma se haban constituido lo que llamo "principados", injustificados. Pues bien, en la educacin superior se podra hablar de reinados, en donde el funcionario que resulta electo o designado como Rector se comporta como eso, como un rey, caso en el cual en el lenguaje coloquial institucinal les llaman el rey-tor y no el rector 126 Por ello, de hecho, el personal acadmico que se halla fuera de la esfera del poder institucinal conforma una especie de ronines, que observaban el comportamiento de los samurai como si estos estuviesen ungidos de un poder especial 127

Esta triada de Bourricaud puede llevarnos a pensar hasta que punto el sistema de educacin superior venezolana es de tal nivel o no es sino la secundarizacin de la escolaridad, esto es, que la llamada superior no pasa de ser una educacin escandalosamente mediocre, inferior, en termino intelectuales y acadmicos, una acumulacin de ignorancia en vez de un espacio en donde se crea saber y conocimiento. Es por ello que mantengo, en trminos de otra ndole, que nuestra educacin superior es un conjunto de empleos, pero que no genera trabajo; esto es, que opera alrededor de posiciones burocrticas pero en donde la produccin de saber/conocimiento es una actividad marginal. Por ello es que se hace indispensable en nuestra sociedad no solo una reforma, como un proceso de regulacin y por ello en este documento hemos insistido en que ello solo puede lograrse a travs de una tendencia que favorezca satisfacer necesidades acadmicas (ajuste estructural) y no aplicando mecanismos que satisfacen conveniencias polticas inmediatas (reajuste ideolgico). Pero regular supone cambios efectivos, no solo de orden cosmtico. Por ello la improbabilidad de ejecutar estas transformacines. Este documento no es, por ello, un conjunto de propuestas, como un anlisis de las opciones de polticas publicas en la educacin superior. Mi preocupacin, ya al final de este documento, es que quienes quieren dedicarse a la improbable tarea de reformar nuestra educacin superior, equivoquen el carcter y naturaleza de la misma e intenten <arreglar el problema de una vez por todas>, porque ello es imposible. Mas aun, en estos casos los reformadores suelen olvidarse de los fines y objetivos de las instituciones de la educacin superior, para interesarse mas por sus propios fines y objetivos, generalmente de control poltico inmediato, para controlar el enorme stock de empleos vinculados al ejercicio de las instituciones de la educacin superior venezolana (y). La reforma universitaria, siguiendo la estrategia < de una vez por todas> y el eventual intento por intervenir todas las instancias acadmicas suele requerir mecanismos sumamente costosos, en termino polticos e institucinales. En este sentido existe siempre <la tentacin totalitaria>, <la exigencia autoritaria>, que en ambos casos nos seala la existencia de la liquidacin del pluralismo democrtico y la imposicin de un <gobierno central>, generalmente compuesto por un numero reducido de personas, que en nombre de sus convicciones ideolgicas desregulan al intentar regular, por la va equivocada. La mayor equivocacin es la de creer que la educacin superior es un problema de control de

86 poder poltico e ideolgico y no entender que es mas que eso, que es un espacio dedicado, en esencia, a la bsqueda de las explicaciones que nos provee el cultivo del talento, de la inteligencia, de la tolerancia y de la disputa y disidencia. Eliminar esa esencia conduce a la represin y al control que hacen irrespirable la atmsfera de la universidad (l) Ciertamente, quienes quieren reformar, en nombre del antiguo como inefectivo populismo acadmico, de larga tradicin en los pases de Amrica Latina y el Caribe y con resultados negativos sumamente costosos, hablan de la necesidad de romper el esquema i deseado de la inequidad, en nombre n de la justicia, y obvian el problema de la excelencia y del elitismo que es menester en la educacin superior. Por ello recuerdo en esta oportunidad las palabras del acadmico australiano John Passmore, quien en alguna memorable ocasin expres que: Los intentos para asegurar una igualdad absoluta en todos los aspectos (un intento en el que ya Aristteles haba visto como el vicio principal de las democracias) puede resultar en la destruccin de la excelencia. Todos los pases son diferentes, trabajan segn tradiciones diferentes, con modelos institucionales diferentes y deben enfrentar los resultados obtenidos a su manera. Sin embargo, a menos que lo vean como un problema, a menos que estn preparados a desviarse del igualitarismo en el nombre de la excelencia, nuestras universidades vivirn una rpida cada. 128 En este documento hemos empleado la palabra dilema, para plantear como los paises, en este caso Venezuea, cuando se proponen formular poltiicas educativas, en este caso en el nivel de la escuela postsecundaria, tienen que tomar decisiones, que apoyadas en una detemrinada racionalidad ideologica y politica elijan aquellos caminos mas eficientes, referidos a las necesidades reales y objetvas de la sociedad, segn sus necesidades, no segn sus conveniencias. Esto es, que opten por el mejor camino, el mas util a la sociedad. Pero los dilemas subsisten. Venezuela opto, en 1958, al inicio de la democrcaia, por expansion matricular e instituconal, para responder entonces a una necesidad historica, habida cuenta del retraso en ambos renglones d ela dictadura militar que gobenro al pais entre 1948-1958. En el ao 2001 el gobierno esta en condicione de tomar otras decisiones. Estaria obligado por las circunstancias por limitar la expansion tanto demtricula como del numeor de institcones, a fin de abordar entonces finalmente el tema de la calidad y de la excelncia, con base democratica s pero con fireza a sabiendas de que no hay trade off posible entre equidad y calidad, entre justicia social y excelencia. Pero las prsiones ideologicas del actual gobienro les llevara, en mi opinion, a tomar las mismas decieioens que se tomaorn en 1958, esto es, epandir el tamao de la matricula e incrementar el numero de instituciones en el nivel postsecunadrio, cuanso la stendneica sinternaiconales se dirigen hacia lo contarrio, pues la calidad parece estar reida con la masificacion y el numero de insttiicones es una variable independiente de la excelencia. La logica del gobienro actual les llevara, entonces, a imponer un reajuste ideologico y a aceptar las presiones populistas, que impediran, nuevamente, que el pais mire hacia el futurocon solvencia y se compomoeta una vez mas con formulas agotadas e ineficase, de encarar la educacin postsecudaria, que alguien, eventualmente, designo como superior, porque en los origenes de la universidad, es oportuno recordarlo, nadie tenia estas infulas de superioridad, sino que este nivel

87 escolar se denominaba, simplemente, studium generale. Por ello, si es cuestion de reformar a veces es oporutno retornar a los origenes, en aquellos momentos que hoy son cada vez mas revalorizados, cuando la universidad era, para reiterarlo, universitas magistrorum et scolarium, al menos en el espiritu del pensamiento del Cardenal Robert de Courcon en Paris en el Siglo XIII 129 Es decir, en una palabra, la universidad tiene como funcion esencial el saber por el saber mismo, que de aplicaciones, a nivel de las profeisones y otros menesteres ya se ocuparan otros, aquellos vinculados al saber por la utilidad misma. Los dilemas acadmicos son, despues de todo, cosa sencilla de resolver. Por ello, precisamente, la reforma de la educacin superior es una lucha, para preservar esos valores absolutos de la universidad y en consecuencia no existe reforma eficaz que se base en la aceptaicon resignada, cinica o inocente de la degradaicon de la institucin que se pretende reformar y para evitar esas tendencias negativas es que los acadmicos debemos enfatizar que la educacin, para ser superior, debe ser, por encima de todo, la busqueda del saber/conoicmiento, ajena la misma a todo dogma, fundamentaismo e imposicon, politica, ideologica o del simple ejercicio del poder, que tenga como objetivo hacer claudicar el refugio del hombre, en toda circunstancia, el pensamento, libre y autonomo y para ello no se ha ideado otra institucin, que la universiudad.

Caracas, 15 de marzo de 2001

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______________ La viabilidad argentina: una alternativa de supervivencia : lineamientos bsicos de un proyecto nacional alternativo. Madrid : Altalena, 1983 ____________ Pleamar, 1972 Argentina y Amrica Latina: doce ensayos polticos. Buenos Aires :

____________ Geopoltica de liberacin: Argentina, el Grupo Andino y las naciones del Plata. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Corregidor, 1972. _____________ Peronismo: teora e historia del socialismo nacional. Buenos Aires : Centro de Estudios e Investigaciones Sociales, 1972

______________ Per o el nacimiento del sistema latinoamericano. Buenos Aires : Galerna, 1971 _____________ Per : una revolucin nacionalista. Buenos Aires : Sudestada, 1969. ____________ La Venezuela libro.net/catalogo_aut.htm). 2001. del Comandante Chvez : (www.e-

Cobban, A. B. The medieval universities their development and organization. London : Methuen, 1975 Comisin para la Reforma del Estado. Un proyecto educativo para la modernizacin y la democratizacin. En: La reforma del Estado, COPRE, Vol. I, 1988. Cordeiro, Jos Luis. El combate educativo del siglo : benezuela vs. Venezuela. Caracas : CEDICE, 1998. Est, Arnaldo. Una escuela para la gente, una universidad para Venezuela. Caracas : Unidad de Extensin, Facultad de Humanidades y Educacin, Universidad Central de Venezuela, 1983. Estrellla Schultz, Lucas (1998) El orculo del guerrero. Caracas, Venezuela: Alfadil. Fernndez Heres, Rafael. Vertientes ideolgicas de la educacin en Venezuela. Caracas : Academia Nacional de la Historia, 1985. Freire, Paulo. La pedagoga del oprimido o la educacin como la prctica de la libertad. Mxico : Siglo XXI, 1997. Gaudencio Frigotto. A protutividade da escola improdutiva. 1984. Sao Paulo : Cortez Editora,

91 Gellerman, Saul W. Motivation and productivity. 1963 American Management Association,

Gonzlez, Rubn. Documentos relacionados con su actuacin publica. Caracas : Ministerio de Educacin 1976. Guyau, Jean. La morale sans obligations ni sanction. Paris : F. Alcan, 1989. Herzberg, Frederick. Work and the nature of man. New York : Wiley & Sons, 1966 ________________ The motivation to work. New York : Wiley & Sons, 1959. Hurtado Rayugsen, Omar. 8 razones para votar por: la UPEL en el nuevo siglo. En: El Nacional, 19 de noviembre de 2000. Kezar, Adrianna. Pluralistic leadership: incorporating diverse voices. En: The Journal of Higher Education. Vol. 71, N 6, 2001. Kholberg, Lawrence. The philosophy of moral development. San Francisco, CA : Harper Row, 1981 Lanz Rodrguez, Carlos. Entrevista. En: El Nacional, 27 de agosto de 2000. __________________. La reforma curriuclar y la autoformacin del docente investigador centro de educacin popular. Caracas : Sosa Lujan Invedecor, 1998. ___________________. Teora crtica e innovaciones pedaggicas : diversidad y centro de educacin. Barquisimeto : Sosa Lujan, 1998. ________________. Las innovaciones pedaggicas : la tensin esencial, la reproduccin y la transformacin educativa. Caracas : Ediciones Invedecor, 1996. _________________ El poder en la escuela. Barquisimeto : Ediciones Invedecor, 1994. _________________Crisis de paradigma y metodologa alternativa. Mrida : ULA, 1993 _________________. La crisis y la mistificacin del capital. Caracas : Facultad de Ciencias Econmicas y Sociales, Universidad Central de Venezuela, 1985. _________________. El caso Niehous y a corrupcin administrativa. Caracas : Editorial l Fuentes, 1979. _________________ . El proceso educativo transformador. Maracay : Invedecor, 1996. Ediciones

__________________ Aportes para el debate sobre la contituyente educativa, Ministerio de Educacion, Caracas 1999.

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McClelland, David. The achieving society. New York : McMillan, 1990. __________Human motivation. Cambridge, Mass : Cambridge University , 1988. Marx, Karl. Crtica del Programa de Gotha. Madrid : Ricardo Aguilera, 1968. _______________. El Capital, crtica de la economa poltica. 2 ed. Mxico: Fondo de Cultura Econmica, 1959. Marx, Karl; Engels, Federico. Ideologa alemana. Buenos Aires. Editorial Nueva Vida, 1958. Mayz Vallenilla, Ernesto. El ocaso de las universidades. Caracas : Monte Avila Latinoamericana, 1991. Merton, Robert K. Social theory and social structure. Glencoe, Illinois : The Free Press 1957. Mises, Ludwig von. El socialismo, anlisis econmico y sociolgico. Mxico : Editorial Hermes, 1961, ______________. 1960. La accin humana, Valencia, Espaa : Fundacin Ignacio Villalonga,

Monod, Jacques. El azar y la necesidad, ensayo sobre la filosofa natural de la biologa moderna. Caracas : Monte Avila Editores, 1971 Moreno de Angel, Pilar. Santander. Bogot : Planeta, 1989. Mosonyi, Esteban Emilio. El fascismo sin tabes ni complejos. En : El Nacional 5 de enero de 2001, p. A/9 OPEP. Universidad de la energa y del petrleo de la OPEP Juan Pablo Prez Alfonzo : un nuevo paradigma en la educacin, investigacin y cultura de la energa y del petrleo para el nuevo milenio, Caracas : OPEP, 2000. Pardo, Isaac J. Fuegos bajo el agua, la invencin de utopa. Caracas : Fundacin Casa de Bello, 1983, Parsons, Talcott. Structure and process in modern societes. Illinois : Free press of Glencoe, 1960. ______________. The social system. Illinois : Free press of Glencoe,1951.

93 ______________ . The structure of social action. 2 ed. Illinois : Free Press of Glencoe,1949. Parsons, Talcott; Platt, Gerald. The american university. Cambridge : Harvard University, 1973. Parsons, Talcott; Neil J. Smelser. Economy and society, a study in the integration of economic and social theory. Illinois : Free Press of Glencoe, 1956. Persell, Caroline Hodges. Education and inequality. New York : The Free Press 1977. Prez Alfonzo, Juan Pablo. Hundindonos en el excremento del diablo. Caracas : Editorial Lisbona, 1976. ___________________. Venezuela y su petrleo. Caracas : Imprenta Nacional, 1960.

Puiggrs, Adriana. Imperialismo, educacin y neoliberalismo en Amrica Latina. Mxico : Paids, 1994. Resistencia al cambio y crisis de participacin. Maracay : Ediciones Diversidad, 1997. Rodrguez, Gumersindo. El neoliberalismo real del gobierno de Chvez. En: El Nacional 15 de enero de 2001 Romero Barboza, Cira. Quin educa?. En: El Universal, 10 de enero de 2001. Roosen, Gustavo. Desde la perspectiva de la educacin. En: El Nacional, 18 de octubre de 2000. Salas Feo, Henrique. Salas Feo: no hay mejor supervisor que los propios padres. En: El Mundo, 28 de diciembre de 2001 Schumpeter, Joseph A. Capitalismo, socialismo y democracia. Madrid : Aguila, 1952. Sizer, John. Research and the knowledge age. En: Conferencia de apertura de la 22nd Annual EAIR Forum, 6-9 September, 2000, Freie Universitt Berling, Germany. Social Science Report UNESCO. Pars : UNESCO, 1999. Sottoli, Susana. La poltica social en Amrica Latina bajo el signo de la economa de mercado y la democracia. En: Revista Europea de Estudios Latinoamericanos y del Caribe. N 68, 2000. Ugalde, Luis. Educacin 2001. En: El Nacional, 11 de enero de 2001.

94 Vegas, Luisa Elena. Nos conviene dejarnos engaar? En: El Universal, 19 de enero de 2001. Wanloxten, Gustavo, Castellanos, Iris: Delpetri, Eduardo. Maisanta, en caballo de hierro. 4 ed. Caracas : Fuentes editores, 1992. Weber, Max. La tica protestante y el espritu del capitalismo. Madrid : Editorial revista de Derecho Privado, 1955. Wessell, Leonard P.; Marx, Karl. Romantic irony, and the proletariat, the mythopoetic origins of marxism. Baton Rouge : Louisiana State University Press, 1979. Wood, Allen W. Karl Marx. London : Routledge & Kegan Paul. 1981. World Science Report, 1998. Pars : UNESCO, 1999.

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REFERENCIAS
1

La referencia es a Walter Regg, mi admirado y fraternal amigo suizo, antiguo Rector de la Universidad alemana de Frankfurt e importante filosofo de la educacin superior, autor de una obra slida en el pensamiento acadmico y editor general de A History of the University in Europe, cuatro volmenes, Cambridge University Press, 1992, 2000. Manuelito Pealver, por su parte, era para el momento en el cual declar que no ramos suizos, Secretario del partido social demcrata Accin Democrtica y con su expresin quera decir que los venezolanos no ramos ni tan organizados ni tan eficientes como los suizos. Es interesante acotar una frase escrita por Mario Vargas Llosa, segn quien El inconformismo que significa vivir en pugna con lo posible y con lo real, ha hecho que la vida latinoamericana sea intensa, aventurera, impredecible, llena de color y creatividad. Que diferencia con la bovina y sosegada Suiza! C la excepcin on de Guillermo Tell, quien por lo dems nunca existi, dudo que jams haya existido suizo que perpetrara ese sistemtico rechazo de la realidad que es la ms extendida costumbre latinoamericana. Vase por Vargas Llosa su artculo Abajo la ley de gravedad! El Nacional, 4 de febrero de 2001. 2 Vase por Joseph Ben-David su libro Centers of learning, Britain, France, Germany, United States, New Brunswick, USA,. New York : Transaction. 1992. Esta edicin tiene una excelente Introduccin, por Philip G. Altbach. 3 La nocin de complejo cognitivo la he tomado de Parsons, quien entiende por ello: The primary cognitive focus of the university is the cognitive complex, which is grounded in the cultural system and institutionalized in the structure of moder society. Higuer education in general and the university in particular represent institutionalized concern with the cognitive matters. On the cultural system; on the social side, it is with the fiduciary subsystem. Parsons, Talcott; Platt, Gerald. (with collaboration of Neil J. Smelser) The American University. Cambridge : Harvard University, 1973, p. 33. 4 Concern with knowledge and its advancement is analytically independent of its practical uses. Similarly, art is not primarily concerned with furthering societal interest, nor is religion primarily an instrument of enhancing economic productiviy 5 Vase por Philip G. Altbach, The knowledge context, comparative perspectives on the distribution of knowledge. New York : State University of New York Press, 1987. 6 Es bastante probable que no sea temerario afirmar que la carga acadmica venezolana es relativamente light. Se trata de un empleo, que no de un trabajo y en este caso un empleo que tiene muchas caractersticas de bajo nivel de obligacin, alto nivel de autonoma y de hecho la semana laboral del acadmico venezolano es de escaso nmero de horas. Muchos de los acadmicos venezolanos operan bajo la nocin de <dedicacin exclusiva>, categora que supone que la persona en cuestin no desempea actividad en ningn otro sitio, pero en la prctica ocurre lo contrario y muchos acadmicos operan bajo la categora citada, pero bien laboran en otros sitios o mantienen una carga laboral, reiteramos, relativamente liviana. Incluso, no solamente la carga laboral es liviana, sino que al no existir responsabilidades ni obligaciones de orden acadmico, desde el punto de vista de produccin de saber/conocimientos, pues la carga laboral es cuestin de medio da al da, cuatro das a la semana, hecho que puede constatarse, habida cuenta del hecho de que en muchas instituciones los das laborales son de lunes a jueves. Naturalmente, estos comentarios son errticos e impresionistas, pero hay evidencias empricas al efecto. Vase por Orlando Albornoz La profesin acadmica en la educacin superior venezolana: productividad, rendimiento y competitividad, Fundacin Educacin y Desarrollo, dos volmenes, Caracas, julio de 1996. Estos comentarios no excluyen, en lo ms mnimo, el hecho de que un importante volumen de miembros del personal docente y de investigacin en la educacin superior venezolana prestan un servicio fiel y leal a las instituciones en donde laboran. 7 Vase por el socilogo norteamericano su libro The Higher Education System, Academic Organizations in Cross-National Perspective, University of California, 1983. Clark no es necesario sealarlo, es uno de los especialistas en educacin superior mas reputados del mundo. Su libro sobre la entrepreneurial university, Creating Entrepreneurial Universities. Elsevier, Oxford, 1998 ha tenido un impacto internacional interesante. 8 Idem, p. 15. The discovery of knowledge is an open-ended task. It is an assigment to the unknown, the uncertain, and as such, it is difficult to systematize through normal organizational structures that are ostensibly erected as rational means of attaining already known and defined ends Acerca de la idea de universidad, por cierto, Clark tiene una interesante opinin, Almost any educated person could deliver a lecture entitled <The goals of the university>. Almost no one will listen to the lecture voluntarily. For the most part, such lectures and their companion essays are well-intentioned exercises in social rhetoric, with

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little operational content. Efforts to generate normative statements of the goals of the university tend to produce goals that are meaningless or dubious, p.19 9 A ttulo muy personal me permito comentar como me ha sido extremadamente difcil poder generar inters en el mercado acadmico nacional por mis servicios en el rea de knowledge management, actividad de punta que he desarrollado en otros pases de la regin, mas avanzados que el nuestro en el rea de la educacin superior. En el caso venezolano porque, al parecer, simplemete no existe la necesidad de tratar de elevar un bien inexistente, como es la bsuqueda del saber/conocimiento. Incluso, cuando he ofrecido trabajo, esto es, actividades destinadas a crear y generar trabajo en las instituciones de educacin superior las respuestad positivas han consistido en ofrecerme empleo. Esta es una contradiccin interesante. 10 Una impresionante lista de los avances cientficos y tecnolgicos actuales puede verse en revistas comerciales tales como Time (December 4, 2000), que trae un reportaje sobre los inventos ms importantes del ao 2000 y la revista Newsweek (December 2000-February 2001), que comenta los avances que estarn en el mercado en los prximos aos. Esta special edition trae un interesante artculo, por cierto, por Calude Smadja, el Director del World Economic Forum, sobre el tema de la globalizacin, From diatribe to dialogue. 11 El Presidente Chvez tiene la conviccin de que dirige una revolucin. Un miembro de su entorno, poltico y militar, el Capitn Eliezer Otaiza, por ejemplo, lo expresaba de la siguiente forma, que pone de manifiesto el grandeur que alimenta la perspectiva que se tiene del actual proceso poltico venezolano: Todo el mundo crea que con la cada del bloque socialista se producira el triunfo de Occidente, y resulta que (ste) ha empezado a desmoronarse la idea utilitarista que lo sustenta. En este sentido el 4 de febrero (oportunidad de 1992 en la cual el actual Presidente intent un golpe de estado militar, que fracas) fue un importante acelerador de la revolucin mundial porque abri los caminos para reflexionar sobre la crisis de la democracia representativa y el neoliberalismo, dos fundamentos del utilitarismo El Nacional, 2 de febrero de 2001. En esta informacin se alude a que el citado Capitn haba cursado una Maestra en Ciencias Polticas en la Universidad Simn Bolvar. La visin poltica expresada por el militar en cuestin no guarda ninguna correspondencia con una interpretacin acadmica del mundo contemporneo. Especialmente porque se tiene la impresin de que Occidente no se halla precisamente bajo un proceso segn el cual est desmoronndose. 12 The author is fully aware that, at present, no power, no authority, no government exist which would traslate liberating tolerance into practice, but he believes that it is the task and duty of the intellectual to recall and preserve historical possibilities which seem to have become utopian possibiliities-that it is his task to break the concreteness of oppression in order to open the mental space in which this soicety can be recognized as what it is and does 13 Mayz Vallenilla, Ernesto. El ocaso de las universidades. Caracas : Monte Avila Latinoamericana, 1991, con una primera edicin de 1984. 14 La educacin superior venezolana, es oportuno sealarlo, opera sin control externo alguno, a las instituciones. No hay supervisin acadmica, por ejemplo, ni menos administrativa. Cada institucin recibe un monto anual por parte del estado, el cual ejecuta prcticamente sin control externo alguno. Por ello es probable que existe un volumen importante de corrupcin acadmica y administrativa, en las instituciones de la educacin superior venezolana, publicas y privadas. En el mes de enero de 2001, por ejemplo, se publicaron informaciones en la prensa nacional acerca de una posible irregularidad administrativa en una dependencia de la Universidad central de Venezuela, en donde se haban hecho gastos muy poco acadmicos, como en licores, regalos a funcionarios y otros egresos fuera de presupuesto. Despus de dos o tres das no se escucho nada mas acerca de este incidente y aun las propias autoridades de la citada institucion declararon que no exista irregularidad alguna. Es un tema del cual no se habla, para nada, en parte porque aceptar que existe corrupcin en esta rea vulnerara la suma de enormes privilegios que rodean a las instituciones de educacin superior del pas, que recibe la mayor parte del asimismo enorme presupuesto dedicado por el Estado a la educacin. 15 Vase el World Science Report, 1998, UNESCO. Del mismo modo e Social Science Report UNESCO, l 1998. 16 En la sociedad democrtica la tcnicausual para arribar a polticas sociales es la del consenso, esto es, disminuir el conflicto, hasta donde sea posible. La sociedad democrtica es, en esencia, plural, en forma autentica y legitima. Para el caso de la educacin superior vase un interesante documento, por Adrianna Kezar, Pluralistic leadership: incorporating diverse voices, en The Journal of Higher Education, november/december 2001, vol. 71, N 6, pp. 722-742. Sin embargo, la tcnica del consenso no omite el echo de que las polticas sociales deben ser elaboradas a partir de una base tcnica, sin la cual toda decisin es

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inoperante, ya que el consenso tiene que basarse en posibilidades reales, de otro modo no se establece la necesaria asociacin entre medios y fines. 17 Esta cita de la entrevista a la Vice Ministra de Educacin Superior de Venezuela, Dra. Mara Egilda Castellanos de Sjstrand, publicada en la revista Gaudeamus : Revista del rectorado de la Universidad Nacional Experimental Simn Rodrguez, N 1, octubre-diciembre de 2000. 18 Ello va a ocurrir, dentro de otro contexto, si el pas, en vez de aplicar un ajuste estructural en la materia adopta un reajuste ideolgico, segn el cual, como escuche a un funcionario del gobierno actual, la cuestin es estar de acuerdo con las lneas maestras del proyecto. En efecto, alguien me deca recientemente que yo no podra prestar mis servicios al pas, en materia de educacin superior, porque era evidente que mi pensamiento no estaba de acuerdo con el Big Brother encargado de elaborar el reajuste ideolgico. 19 Vase por Gustavo Roosen su artculo Desde la perspectiva de la educacin en El Nacional, 18 de octubre de 2000. 20 Vase las palabras por Baroness Blackstone Twin forces of change set to meet the millennium, en The Times Higher, January 15, 1999. In democratic societies, governments have never had a monopoly of knowledge. Yet for much of the postwar period, policy-making was guided by the presumption that t e man h in Whitehall knew best. That has changed irrevocably. Quite apart from the radical devolution and decentralisation of power we have ben undertaking sine May 1997, the proliferation of new sources and forms of knowledge in society is such that government cannot hope to generate all new ideas and policy programmes. It needs constantly to turn outwards to civil society: to those developing ideas in businesses, public services and the comuniity at large. Think-tanks occupy a crtical role. They operate at a number of interfaces, one of the most important of which is that between higher education and government. Think-tanks rarely conduct primary research, but collate, interpret and traslate into policy proposals the work that others have done in universities and elsewhere. They are future-oriented and multidisciplinary in nature. Think-tanks at their best supply connected, or joined-up, thinking to political decision-makers 21 Vase el documento por John Sizer, Chied Executive, Scottish Funding Councils for Further and Higher education, Research and the Knowledge Age, Conferencia de apertura de la 22nd Annual EAIR Forum, 6 -9 September, 2000, Freie Universitt Berling, Germany. Citado con permiso del autor. For Scotland, a small country on the fringe of Europe which forma part of the United Kingdom but which is benefiting from e-commerce breaking down geographical boundaries and distances- the explotation of its science and technology base is not an optional extra, it is a necessity. Scotland needs both to continue to develop and to exploit its own distinctive world class research capabilities in biological sciences, computer sciences, physincs and elctrical and electronic engiineering, oil and petroleum ingineering. It also requires to manitain a world class research base as part of the UK science base to collaborate with, and for its scientist and engineers in business to benefit from, global developments in research and technology, such as the genome project 22 Vase por Talcott Parsons, Structure and Process in Modern Societes. The Free Press of Glencoe, Illinois,1960, p. 17 As a formal analytical point of reference, primacy of orientation to the attainment of a specific goal is used as the defining characteristics of an organization which distinguishes it from other types of social systems. This criterion has implications for both the external and the internal structure of the system referred to here as an organization 23 Vase por Margaret Archer, Social Origins of Educational Systems. Sage. London 1979 24 Sobre el tema de las opciones macro en educacin vase mi libro Cuba y China son opciones acadmicas para Venezuela? : un ejercicio de educacin superior comparada. Caracas : Facultad de Ciencias Econmicas y Sociales, Universidad Central de Venezuela, 2000. 25 Archer. Op cit. p. 29 ...the number of cross-cutting interdependencies between parts is so high, that any change induced in one element will have repercusions for others 26 La tesis de Durkheim de la compatibilidad institucional y el estado anomie como la disfuncin puede verse en caso todos los documentos del socilogo francs. Quiz en donde se halla una explicacin ms extensa es en L volution pdagogique en France, 2 volmenes, Paris 1938 Felix Alcan. Estos dos volmenes, pstumos, puesto que Durkheim falleci en 1917, contienen un anlisis de ndole prctica de la metodologa de Durkheim, publicada la misma en 1895, como Las reglas del mtodo sociolgico. Una versin en castellano publicada por Ddalo de Buenos Aires, en 1959. Durkheim maneja en este volumen su nocin de variaciones concomitantes, para interpretar como la comprensin de la sociedad pasa por el eje de la observacin simultanea de los hechos sociales (P. 145) de la edicin argentina.

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27

Vase por Jacques Monod su libro El azar y la necesidad, ensayo sobre la filosofa natural de la biologa moderna, Caracas Monte Avila Editores, 1971. Monod fue un bilogo muy controversial, en sus apreciaciones epistemologas. Entre otras cosas llego a mantener que el materialismo dialctico era un desastre epistemolgico, puesto que aspiraba darle base cientfica a interpretaciones dialcticas, op cit p. 49. 28 Op cit p. 136-137. Desde el punto de vista de la teora de Monod, de las <adaptaciones enzimticas> quiz la universidad venezolana deba reformarse a travs de este tipo de adaptacin, en el supuesto de que no haya alternativas como para crear un modelo autnomo y propio de institucion de educacin superior, pues en todo caso ningn nuevo modelo puede prescindir de la tradicin euronorteamericana. No se trata de postular, ciertamente, un <cdigo gentico>, a la evolucin de la universidad, pero lo que deseo dejar claramente sentado es que la evolucin histrica tiene su propia normatividad de la cual es improbable escaparse. Por ejemplo, construir un avin es sencillo, siempre que nos atengamos a los patrones normales. Podemos variar el modelo pero no la base gentica en este caso tecnolgica. En cuanto a la universidad puede variar, igualmente, el modelo, pero no la base organizativa, no obstante el cambio incluya la plataforma tecnolgica del caso, segn el desarrollo de una sociedad, pero si bien podemos admitir que esta cambia segn cada sociedad y su nivel de desarrollo no podemos incorporarnos a las puntas del saber excepto empleando la misma tecnologa de quienes acceden a esas puntas. 29 Monod. Op cit p. 20 30 Archer. Op cit p. 639 Given an impenetrable political structure the crucial point is not merely that educational change is polity directed for this is true of political manipulation in all centralized systems- but that it remains the perogative of a tight circle of people (whose interests are equally circumscribed) whilst other demands are systematically repulsed 31 Talcott Parsons, The Structure of Social Action. The Free Press Glencoe. Illinois, 1949 segunda edicin la primera en 1937, p. 75 32 Talcott Parson, The social system. The Free Press Glencoe. Illinois 1951, p. 191-195 33 Idem p 22 ...(es una) tendency to authoritarianism, in that the clear conception of what is ideal for all makes it natural for those who have roles enjoining collective responsbaility to see to it that every-one lives up to the ideal, either directly, or in making the proper contribution to the collective achievement 34 Sobre este tema vase el libro clsico sobre el tema, por McClelland The Achieving Society. McMillan, 1990, New York. Vase igualmente su libro Human motivation. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, Mass, 1988. McClelland's concept of achievement motivation is also related to Herzberg's motivation-hygiene theory. People with high achievement motivation tend to be interested in the motivators (the job itself).Achievement-motivated people want feedback. They want to know how well they are doing on their job.On the other hand, people with low achievement motivation are more concerned about the environment. They want to know how people feel about them rather than how well they are doing. Por Frederick Herzberg vase su libro Work and the Nature of Man. NAL editor, 1973 y The Motivation to Work. Wiley & Sons, 1959. Ambos desaparecieron recientemente, McClelland falleci en 1998 y Herzberg en 2000. 35 Vase por Joseph A. Schumpeter su libro Capitalismo, socialismo y democracia Aguila, Madrid 1952, p. 184. 36 Especficamente sobre el <achievement motive> vase por Saul W. Gellerman, Motivation and productivity. American Management Association, 1963, captulo 12. Quines creemos que en el momento actual el problema de la reforma educativa es el de trasladar el inters de los procesos organizativos (acreditacin, evaluacin, credenciales, curriculo y otros problemas todos resueltos, al menos en el plano prctico de la palabra) a los procesos de produccin y aplicabilidad del saber, estudiamos con inters la posibilidad de responder a la pregunta fundamental, quin produce academia, producir para qu?. En ese sentido el <achievement motive> es un componente importante, sin duda. 37 Vase por Talcott Parsons y Neil J. Smelser, Economy and Society, a Study in the Integration of Economic and Social Theory. The Free Press, Glencoe, Illinois, 1956, p. 26 ...refers to the ways in which available resources are combined in the productive process 38 Tengo la impresin de que en Venezuela el Estado interviene como funcin bsica de la condicin de una economa de capitalismo de Estado, caso en el cual no hay un mercado natural, mucho menos el acadmico, que opera bajo patrn de subsidio. Vase este concepto en la parte sexta, volumen uno de la obra por Ludwig von Mises, La accin humana, Valencia, Espaa, Fundacin Ignacio Villalonga, 1960, pp. 421-II. Naturalmente, von Mises, uno de los tericos fundamentales del capitalismo era a su vez un severo crtico del socialismo. Para ello vase su libro El socialismo, anlisis econmico y sociolgico, Editorial Hermes, Mxico, 1961, sobre todo es interesante la Primer Parte, Liberalismo y socialismo, pp. 23-100. Von Mises

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crea que ambos sistemas eran incompatibles, el capitalismo y el socialismo, pero crea posible un tercer sistema, que partira del capitalismo nunca del socialismo, por la flexibilidad del primero y la rigidez del segundo: Si pretendemos estructurar junto, o entre los dos aludidos rdenes, un tercer sistema de cooperacin humana bajo el signo de la divisin del trabajo, forzosamente habremos de partir de la economa de mercado, nunca del socialismo. No permite, en efecto, este, con su rgido monismo y absoluta centralizacin donde slo una voluntad decide y acta, compromiso ni atenuacin de ningn genero (Cursivas en el original), p. 142. 39 Vase por Clark Burton, Creating entrepreneurial universities, p. 3-4 Entrepreneurial...(is) a characteristic of social systems; that is, of entire universities...The concept carries the overtones of enterprise a willful effort in institution-building that requieres much special activity and energy. Taking risk when initiating new practices whose outcome is in doubt is a major factor. An entrepreneurial university, on its own, actively seeks to innovate in how it goes about its business. It seek to work out a substantial shift in organizational character so as to arrive at a more promising posture for the future. Entrepreneurial universities seek to become stand-up universities that are significant actors on their own terms. Institutional entrepreneurship can be seen as both process and outcome 40 Op cit. p. 148 41 Este es el concepto tal como fue expresado por Robert MacIver, citado por la Robert K. Merton en su libro Social Theory and Social Structure, The Free Press, Glencoe Illinois 1949, edicin consultada de 1957 aumentada y corregida. Anomy or anomie signifies the state of mind of one who has been pulled up by his moral roots, who has no longer any standard but only disconnected urges, who has no longer any sense of continuity, of folk, of obligation. The anomic man has become spiritually sterile, responsive only to himself, responsible to no one. He derides the values of other man. His only faith is the philosophy of denial. He lives on the thin lines of sensation between no future and no past 42 Para un anlisis de los modelos de universidad en la regin vase por Orlando Albornoz, Education and Society in Latin America. St Antonys/MacMillan Series, Oxford, 1993. 43 La cita de Karl Marx en el Das Kapital, El capital, crtica de la economa poltica, Fondo de Cultura Econmica, segunda edicin de 1959, Mxico, I-3. La referencia a Nicolas Barbon es a su libro A discourse on coining the new money lighter, in answer to Mr. Lockes considerations, London, 1696, pp. 2 citado por -3, Marx. 44 Paper presented at the Sixth Inruda International Symposium on the Role Of Universities in Developing Areas, Technology & Social Sciences, Universities, Industry & Government, Paris, France, 8th -11th June 1999 Hyperlearning and Hypolearning in Latin American and the Caribbean Higher Education y publicado en castellano en la revista Asuntos. Vol. 4, N 7, 2000. Vase igualmente por Albornoz, Orlando. Las tcnicas de la gerencia del conocimiento aplicadas a los espacios de produccin de saber (Ps) en las empresas y en las instituciones de la educacin superior. En: Gerencia del conocimiento: potenciando el capital intelectual para crear valor. Caracas : FONCIED, 2000. 45 Vase por Susana Sottoli. La poltica social en Amrica Latina bajo el signo de a economa de mercado y l la democracia. En: Revista Europea de Estudios Latinoamericanos y del Caribe. N 68, 2000. pp. 3-22. 46 Karl Marx su texto Crtica del Programa de Gotha (1875, publicado por Federico Engels en Londres en 1891), Madrid, Ricardo Aguilera, 1968. p 41 47 Vase el aviso 8 razones para votar por: Omar Hurtado Rayugsen, la UPEL en el nuevo siglo, El Nacional, 19 de noviembre de 2000. 48 Aviso publicado en el diario El Nacional 15 de enero de 2001, por al Universidad Pedaggica Experimental Libertador. 49 Vase el artculo por el autor citado en el texto, El neoliberalismo real del Gobierno de Chvez El Nacional 15 de enero de 2001 50 Carlos Marx y Federico Engels, Ideologa alemana, Editorial Nueva Vida Buenos Aires 1958. Obra escrita en Bruselas en los aos de 1845-1846 fue publicada solamente en el siglo XX, en 1932, el tomo V de las obras completas de los autores publicada en Mosc, por el Instituto Marx-Engels-Lenin, p. 43. 51 El libro ms importante sobre el asunto es el del norteamericano David Bushnell, El rgimen de Santander en la Gran Colombia (Bogot, 1966), sobre todo el captulo XII, La educacin en el rgimen de Santander, pp. 21-221 y sobre los asuntos estrictamente educativos la monografa de L. Ahern, "El desarrollo de la educacin en Colombia: 1820-1850", publicada por la Revista Colombiana de Educacin (N 22-23, Bogot, 1991). La biografa por Pilar Moreno de Angel, Santander, dedica un captulo a la gestin educativa de

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Santander y los conflictos con Bolvar, en esta rea. Vase el libro citado, Planeta, 1989, captulo XXIII, La educacin y la cultura durante la Gran Colombia, pp. 321-336. 52 El documento as titulado tiene como lema lo siguiente: Constructores de sueos, profesionales de la esperanza. La versin que hemos manejado es de octubre de 1999. El documento es una versin preliminar de la sistematizacin de las propuestas regionales, y es un documento oficial del Ministerio de Educacin, Direccin Sectorial de Planificacin y Presupuesto, Proyecto Constituyente Educativa. El director de este Proyecto es el socilogo venezolano Carlos Lanz Rodrguez. Segn informaciones de prensa Lanz se define a si mismo en los siguientes trminos: Soy gramsciano desde el punto de vista filosfico, y mis ideas son un compendio de la teologa de la liberacin, el marxismo, el bolivarianismo, la indianidad y el cimarronismo... (aade que) soy habermasiano Vase una entrevista a Carlos Lanz en El Nacional, 27 de agosto de 2000, H1. Por cierto, el tema del bolivarianismo como doctrina ha sido examinado en forma crtica por pensadores venezolanos. Sombre ello vase el libro por Luis Castro Leiva, De la patria boba a la teologa bolivariana, Monte Avila editores Caracas, 1991. Una contribucin importante es el libro por Germn Carrera Damas, El culto a Bolvar, EBUCV, 1969. Por Carlos Lanz Rodrguez vase su libro Las innovaciones pedaggicas: la tensin esencial, la reproduccin y la transformacin educativa, Ediciones Invedecor, Caracas 1996. Un libro suyo anterior es interesante para leer las interpretaciones de Lanz acerca del tema: La crisis y la mistificacin del capital, Facultad de Ciencias Econmicas y Sociales, Centro de Estudios de Historia Actual, 1985. En 1979 Lanz pblic un libro, El caso Niehous y la corrupcin administrativa, Editorial Fuentes, 1979, en donde este explica el porque de su participacin en el secuestro de un empresario norteamericano, por parte de la guerrilla venezolana. Las ideas pedaggicas de Lanz se pueden ver con precesin en un folleto en mimeo, titulado 4 lneas estratgicas del proyecto educativo nacional como concrecin de la pedagoga alternativa, noviembre de 2000, documento distribuido en la reunin del Seminario Internacional de Pedagoga Alternativa, organizado por la Universidad Pedaggica Experimental Libertador en la ciudad de Maracay, en el mes de noviembre de 2000. 53 Sobre este tema expresa Rmulo Orta que Entre los venezolanos se ha regado la creencia de que el Gobierno de Chvez es de la UCV, debido a los muchos altos y medios funcionarios gubernamentales que son profesores de esa universidad. Sin embargo, a la UCV nunca se le ha pedido que postule para esos cargos a personas que cumplan con determinados requisitos profesionales, tcnicos o personales. La escogida o el escogido ya viene con nombre y apellido, la seleccin no siempre es por mritos cientficos o docentes, las razones son mas de ndole politico-partidista y en no pocos casos por amiguismo o palancas. Como miembro del Consejo de la Escuela de Medicina Luis Razetti de la UCV he tenido que opinar y decidir en torno a solicitudes de permiso para docentes de la universidad con escasos mritos acadmicos, precaria experiencia y muy bajo rendimiento en sus funciones universitarias que han pasado a ocupar funciones de gobierno en ministerios, gobernaciones y alcaldas. Siempre voto negativamente. Pero estn bien palanqueados. No representan a la UCV. En Cartas a El Nacional, Gobierna la UCV?, 4 de febrero de 2001. 54 Vase sobre este tema el trabajo por Jess Andres-Lasheras, Educacin y estado en Venezuela: historia de las bases ideolgicas. Cuadernos de Postgrado, Facultad de Humanidades y Educacin, UCV, 1997. 55 El decreto del Consejo Nacional de la Cultura, N 1 es del 12 de enero de 2001. De hecho es una reorganizacin que en 120 das debe permitir justamente integrar el mundo cultural venezolano. 56 El 21 de enero de 2001 el Presidente de la Repblica design a los directivos de todas las instituciones bajo la tutela del Consejo Nacional de la Cultura. El argumento presidencial, interesante, se afirma en el principio de que antes la cultura estaba bajo el domino de las lites, mientras que ahora entra en vinculacin directa con el desarrollo del pas. La cita exacta es oportuno citarla en este documento: Quiero anunciar lo siguiente, cambio no solo en el bullpen, en la lomita, en el center field, en el right field, en primera base... Hay un cambio aqu casi completo. Llego la hora de arrancar la revolucin cultural bolivariana creadora y liberadora. Esto lo venamos preparando... Este es el nuevo equipo de la cultura para seguir impulsando la cultura al servicio del desarrollo. No la cultura al servicio de las elites del pas, buena parte de las cuales se aduearon de un proceso cultural que fue tergiversado. Es una cultura (ahora) al servicio de la revolucin humana de la creacin, de la liberacin del pueblo venezolano, Programa de radio Al Presidente, domingo 21 de enero de 2001, publicado en El Universal, 22 de enero de 2001. 57 El Consejo Nacional de la Cultura controla, entre otros, el Instituto Universitario de Danza, Instituto Universitario de Estudios Musicales, Instituto Universitario de Estudios Superiores de Artes Plsticas Armando Revern, Instituto Universitario de Teatro. Entre entes tutelados y entes adscritos son 36 instituciones las que pertenecen en el plano administrativo al citado Consejo Nacional de la Cultura. Estos organismos controla fundaciones, compaas, institutos de educacin superior y asociaciones civiles.

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58

Este concepto es atribuido a Abraham Kardiner, quien lo analiz en su libro The individual and his society (1939), versin castellana de Fondo de Cultura Econmica, Mxico 1945, El individuo y su sociedad. Pero es un concepto elaborado en cooperacin con Ralph Linton, The study of man (1936), Fondo de Cultura Econmica 1942. Forma parte de una interpretacin psicolgica tanto de la antropologa como de la sociologa. Vase el libro por Mikel Dufrenne, La personalidad bsica, un concepto sociolgico, Paids, Buenos Aires, 1959. 59 Vase la entrevista a Leonardo Carvajal en El Universal 25 de febrero de 2001, El modelo educativo propuesto por el gobierno es puntofijista, p.1-8. El periodista Roberto Giusti seala en esta entrevista que ...Leonardo Carvajal simboliza uno de los productos mejor acabados de la educacin catlica venezolana, aludiendo al hecho de que este egreso de la Universidad Catlica Andrs Bello, es profesor de la misma y ahora lder de las posturas que favorecen a la Iglesia Catlica, en materia educativa. 60 Vase el articulo por Leonardo Carvajal Por una educacin libre, democrtica y de calidad en El Universal, 22 de febrero de 2001. Carvajal es miembro de la Asociacin Civil Asamblea de Educacin, una ONG que fue creada a partir de un ente oficial, que opero durante el segundo gobierno del Presidente Rafael Caldera, que antecedi al de Hugo Chvez Fras. Sobre ello vase mi libro ya citado Del fraude a la estafa : las polticas educativas en el segundo quinquenio presidencial de Rafael Caldera : 1994-1999. Caracas: Facultad de Ciencias Econmicas y Sociales, Universidad Central de Venezuela, 1999. 61 Idem. 62 Vase por Carlos Lanz Rodriguez, 4 lineas estrategicas del proyecto educativo nacional como concrecion de la pedagogia alternativa, mimeografo, noviembre de 2000. 63 Vase por Clos Lnaz Rodriguez su documentoAportes para el debate sobre la contituyente educativa, Ministerio de Educacion, caracas 1999. P. 18 64 Idem, p. 20 65 idem. 66 Idem, p. 24 67 idem 36 68 Este es un tema que desborda los objetivos de este documento. Sobre ello vease, or ejemplo, por Caroline Hodges Persell su libro Education and inequality The Free Press 1977 y el libro editado por Gerald D. Berreman y Kathleen M. Zaretsky, Social inequality, cmparative and developmental approaches, academic press, 1981, para citar dos manuels que abordan el tema en forma exhautiva. Desgraciadamente, incluso, las sociedades socialistas han generado enormes diferencias sociales, como ha ocurrido, por ejemplo, tanto en la antigua URSS como en China y comoocurre en la propia socieddsoclaista caribea, Cuba. La estratificacion social, entnces, parece ser un mecanismo perverso, de las sociedades. 69 La investigacin cientfica en educacin en el pas es sumamente limitada. Se hace, pero en volmenes muy pequeos y sin influencia visible. En una ocasin hace algunos aos, Arturo Uslar Pietri convoc a un grupo de personas vinculadas a la educacin, para crear un centro de este tipo, que no logr organizarse. Entre otras personas puedo recordar la presencia de Antonio Luis Crdenas, posteriormente Ministro de Educacin del segundo perodo de Rafael Caldera, el Dr. Luis de Ugalde, rector de la Universidad Catlica Andrs Bello. 70 Es tan prestigioso el oponerse a la recuperacin de costos en esta materia en Venezuela que en una entrevista a un profesor de la Universidad Simn Bolvar, al destacar sus mritos acadmicos aludan a que Un fsico graduado en la Universidad de California y profesor titular de la USB... particip activamente para impedir el pago de una contribucin estudiantil que se intent instrumentar en la USB hace tres aos. Entrevista a Gustavo Mata, presidente del Consejo Superior de la USB y cabeza de los representantes del gobierno en ese cuerpo, El Nacional 29 de enero de 2001. 71 Human Life: The Moment/Flees Stormily/Whatever it Takes Away/Does not Return; Vida humana: El instante pasa/como una tormenta/ lo que s lleva/nunca regresa (Mi traduccin). Los ingredientes religiosos y romnticos en la obra de Marx han sido explorados cuidadosamente en a obra citada de Wessell Jr. Cabe citar l que esta interpretacin del pensamiento marxista no es acogida, en los crculos ms orientados hacia el anlisis filosfico de Marx. Es el caso de una las obras ms slidas acerca del filsofo alemn-britnico, Karl Marx, por Allen W. Wood, Routledge & Kegan Paul, London, 1981. La lectura del propio Manifiesto Comunista, escrito en colaboracin con F. Engels, pone de manifiesto el sentido del romanticismo alemn en el pensamiento del filsofo, como por ejemplo en la famosa frase Todo lo que es slido se esfuma en el aire, un himno no a la sociedad socialista, por cierto, sino al concepto de modernizacin y de las virtudes constructivas de la sociedad industrial burguesa. Vase sobre ese tema el libro por Marshall Berman, The experience of modernity, all that it solid melts into air, New York, Simon and Shuster 1982

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72

Un libro sobre Chvez en donde se menciona a su antecesor es por Gustavo Wanloxten, Iris Castellanos y Eduardo Delpetri, Maisanta, en caballo de hierro Fuentes editores, 4 edicin corregida, Caracas 1992. 73 Baste sealar que Chvez no ha sido el candidato ms votado en una eleccin nacional, honor, si cabe, que tiene el Presidente Jaime Lusinchi. Desde el punto de vista de popularidad personal muchas personas creen que el Presidente Carlos Andrs Prez, en su primer perodo, despertaba una adhesin cuasi religiosa, que no ha tenido Chvez, a pesar de su evidente e indudable popularidad. 74 La referencia exacta es la siguiente: Venezuela era un pas en disolucin y la Asamblea Constituyente fue el nico camino que le qued, pero no proponemos esto como una formula ortodoxa" cable de EFE desde San Juan de Puerto Rico, El Nacional, 3 de enero de 2001. 75 Vase el discurso de Hugo Chvez Fras en la oportunidad de recibir el Doctorado Honoris Causa en Ciencias Polticas, Universidad Rmulo Gallegos, San Juan de los Morros, 4 de julio de 1999. Publicaciones de la Universidad Rmulo Gallegos. Los considerando de este Doctorado por cierto, decan que El Teniente Coronel Hugo Rafael Chvez Fras, Presidente de la Repblica de Venezuela, es uno de los lderes ms resultantes del proceso revolucionario democrtico en democracia que actualmente vive Venezuela y Amrica Latina, promotor de un cambio fundamental en la historia venezolana, estudioso e intrprete de la historia nacional con una evidente y demostrada compenetracin con los intereses ms sentido de nuestro pueblo, aadiendo: Que el Gobierno Nacional, presidido por el Comandante Hugo Rafael Chvez Fras, h asumido a la educacin como pilar fundamental para implementar un nuevo proyecto de Desarrollo del Pas, Que la universidad venezolana, con su alta misin rectora del desarrollo cientfico humanstico y tecnolgico del pas, tiene en el comandante Hugo Rafael Chvez Fras un aliado decidido y solidario... (El Nacional, Aviso de prensa, 2 de julio de 1999). Esta retrica se multiplica entre los miembros de los afectos a Chvez. Un alcalde, de la ciudad de Puerto La Cruz, lleg al simptico extremo de declarar que Admira a Dios, a Fidel y a Al Primera (sic). Total que Dios, despus de todo, es una especie de Ricky Martin! 76 El Nacional, 16 de septiembre de 2000, p. D/4. 77 Vase por Orlando Albornoz. Del fraude a la estafa : las polticas educativas en el segundo quinquenio presidencial de Rafael Caldera : 1994-1999. Caracas: Facultad de Ciencias Econmicas y Sociales/Universidad Central de Venezuela, 1999. 78 Vase Jos Luis Cordeiro. El combate educativo del siglo : benezuela vs. Venezuela. Caracas : CEDICE, 1998. 79 Carta de Jos Mart a Manuel Mercado, 10/11/1877, citada en el libro por Julio Miranda, Retrato del artista encarcelado. Universidad Cecilio Acosta, Maracaibo, 1999, p. 92 80 En la gestin entre 1948 y 1957 fueron Presidentes Carlos Delgado Chalbaud, Germn Surez Flamerich y getying Marcos Prez Jimnez y fueron Ministros de Educacin Simn Becerra, Augusto Mijares, Jos Loreto Arismendi, Dario Parra, Nestor Prato y Humberto Fernndez Morn. 81 La Comisin Presidencial para la Reforma del Estado fue creada por el Presidente Jaime Lusinchi segn Decreto 403 del 17 de diciembre de 1984 y la misma promovi los cambios polticos y administrativos que en funcin del concepto de descentralizacin modificaron el mapa poltico del pas. La misma fue presidida por Ramn J. Velzquez (1984-1986) y por Arnoldo Jos Gabaldn, posteriormente. Los miembros de la misma fueron, en orden alfabtico, Orlando Albornoz, Octavio Andrade Delgado, Celestino Armas, Jonas Barrios, Juan Jos Bolinaga, Angel Brito Villarroel, Marco Tulio Bruni Celli, Germn Carrera Damas, Toms Enrique Carrillo Batalla, Aura Celina Casanova, Reinaldo Cervini, Jos Angel Ciliberto, Jos Benjamin Escobar, Ramn Escovar Salm, Jos Antonio Gil Ypez, Ismario Gonzlez, Braulio Jattar Dotti, Alfredo Machado Gmez, Pompeyo Mrquez, Domingo Maza, Moiss Naim, Luis Enrique Oberto, Jos Andrs Octavio, Carlos Pealoza, Mercedes Pulido de Briceo, Eduardo Quintero, Manuel Rachadell, Juan Carlos Rey, Hctor Silva Michelena, Antonio Stempel Pars y Gustavo Tarre Briceo. El Secretario Ejecutivo fue en aquel entonces Carlos Blanco. Para las conclusiones en materia educativa vase la Seccin Tercera, Un proyecto educativo para la modernizacin y la democratizacin, en La reforma del Estado, COPRE, Vol. I, 1988, pp. 295-334. En aquella oportunidad convoqu a los distintos sectores de opinin del pas, para elaborar un consenso acerca de los objetivos y fines de la educacin en el pas. La idea central de aquel esfuerzo fue el definir y conceptualizar un proyecto educativo nacional que acogiese sobre todo el principio del consenso, la estrategia que considere entonces y ahora la ms adecuada para organizar un proyecto educativo coherente y viable. 82 La Comisin Presidencial para el Estudio del Proyecto Educativo Nacional fue creada por el Presidente Jaime Lusinchi y el Informe Final le fue entregado, dos aos despus de iniciado el trabajo de la misma, el 5 de septiembre de 1986. Aquel Informe, divulgado en su momento al pas, fue elaborado por dicha Comisin, compuesta por Orlando Albornoz, Felipe Bezara, Antonio Luis Crdenas, Germn Carrera Damas, Edmundo

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Chirinos, Senta Essenfeld, Arnoldo Gabaldn, Ignacio Irribaren, Ivn Olaizola, Enrique Prez Olivares, Luis Beltrn Prieto Figueroa, Pedro Rincn Gutirrez y Arturo Uslar Pietri, quien fue el Coordinador. En esa Comisin escuchamos, del mismo modo, individuos y grupos vinculados al acontecer educativo del pas, buscando, como en el caso de la Comisin Presidencial para la Reforma del Estado, el consenso que es necesario en esta materia de polticas pblicas. 83 Vase por Karl Marx su texto Crtica del Programa de Gotha (1875, publicado por Federico Engels en Londres en 1891), Madrid, Ricardo Aguilera, 1968. 84 Quienes estudian la evolucin de la historia de la educacin venezolana, tanto en su doctrina como en la dinmica de sus instituciones, saben con perfecta claridad que sta ha sido rica y extraordinaria en su evolucin. El Estado venezolano ha protegido la educacin, con la excepcin hecha del perodo de la dictadura militar de 1948-58, uno de los momentos ms negativos de nuestra historia republicana, sobre todo en materia educativa. Gonzlez fue Ministro en la dcada de los aos veinte, del siglo XX. 85 Vase el libro Rubn Gonzlez, Documentos relacionados con su actuacin pblica Caracas, Ministerio de Educacin 1976. Sobre el debate entre Rubn Gonzlez (<estado docente>) y Felipe Guevara Rojas (<la sociedad docente>) vase por Andres-Lasheras, Op. Cit. En este sentido pudiramos decir que en cada generacin de venezolanos se plantea este problema, esta rivalidad, histrica, entre el pensamiento libre al extremo de la ms absoluta libertad de enseanza, y el criterio segn el cual, el Estado debe intervenir en educacin controlando los niveles de calidad y justicia del sistema escolar/educativo/cultural/deportivo/cientfico y tecnolgico. La mejor tradicin intelectual venezolana ha tomado partido en una u otra direccin, en este inacabable debate, cuyo nico punto de equilibrio descansa en la posibilidad de armonizar ambas posiciones. Esa especie de milagro ideolgico se ha producido en el pas cuando ha gobernado la prudencia, en el Gobierno, y las instituciones de eso que ahora llaman comnmente la sociedad civil han podido actuar sin sentir como excesiva la necesaria presin por parte del Estado, para controlar sus actividades, en este caso ideolgicas, que son por supuesto aquellas de tipo axiolgico, esto es, el tipo de hombre que queremos formar en la sociedad. 86 Es sumamente interesante que la idea de escuela bolivariana no ha enfatizado posturas laicas. El actual gobierno prosigue subsidiando a las escuelas religiosas catlicas, contrariando as la doctrina pedaggica liberal que forma parte de la tradicin histrica de nuestros pases. Por ejemp lo, Santander, cuando era Presidente de la Nueva Granada, como se llam la actual Repblica de Colombia, hasta 1857, escribi una carta el 9 de agosto de 1835, dirigida al sacerdote Jess M. Botero, en la cual expresaba posiciones laicas muy claras: No se me oculta que el siglo presente tiende mucho a la impiedad y a sacudir el yugo de la potestad espiritual creada por Dios hombre en la fundacin de su Iglesia; pero a medida que esta tendencia es ms manifiesta, tambin veo algunos ministros de la religin (no todos) propender a resolver por medio de doctrinas errneas el poder que han ido perdiendo a proporcin que se han ido deslindando los lmites positivos del poder espiritual. Por eso, si de parte de ustedes es un deber ilustrar a los pueblos, para que no incurran en la impiedad y extender el depsito de la verdadera doctrina, de nuestra parte, llenamos tambin un deber en contener a los que abusando del ministerio quisieran someter a los pueblos a falsas creencias. Archivo Santander, Tomo XXI, pp. 313-316. 87 Es fascinante la asociacin que hace Wessell Jr., en cuanto al papel del romanticismo, por ejemplo, en el pensamiento de Marx y de all derivo la asociacin entre el poltico tropical y el poltico romntico, que en ambos casos promete todo, precisamente aquello que no puede cumplir, pero que lo cree en su fascinacin romntica o populista. La educacin como sistema es fcil de usar, porque ningn sistema escolar satisface todas las expectativas, como en general todo otro servicio pblico, pues la expectativa es siempre superior a lo que se recibe. El amor de la pareja por ejemplo, es otro caso, porque ninguna pareja logra en su praxis las ilusiones de la fantasa. Del mismo modo que toda familia tiene dificultades de funcionamiento y por ello es siempre fcil sugerir mejorar las relaciones en el seno de la familia, lo que todos aceptaran como un presupuesto valido. Sobre este fascinante tema vase el libro por Leonard P. Wessell Jr, Karl Marx, Romantic irony, and the proletariat, the mythopoetic origins of marxism (Louisiana State University Press, Baton Rouge, 1979). 88 The self-fulfilling prophecy, whereby fears are traslated into reality, operates only in the absence of deliberate institutional controls 89 En www.comandantechavez.com se deja abierta la interpretacin de que Simn Bolvar fue el Padre de la Patria y el Presidente Chvez el Padre de la Revolucin Bolivariana. 90 Las citas tomadas del libro por Isaac J. Pardo, Fuegos bajo el agua, la invencin de Utopa. Fundacin Casa de Bello, Caracas 1983, captulo Sobre fbulas e historia, pp. 619-642. La obra de Prez Alfonzo es

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fundamental para comprender el papel del petrleo en nuestra sociedad. Un libro temprano en su obra es Venezuela y su petrleo (1960, Imprenta Nacional) y una obra de madurez es el libro: Hundindonos en el excremento del diablo, Editorial Lisbona, Caracas 1976. 91 Vase la traduccin al castellano de la obra por Maw Weber Die Protestantische Ethik und der Geist des Kapitalismus (1904), La tica protestante y el espritu del capitalismo, Editorial Revista de Derecho Privado, Madrid, 1955. P. 5. La traduccin de esta obra del alemn al ingls fue hecha por Talcott Parsons en 1930. La traduccin publicada en Londres en 1972 elimina el Prlogo que haba escrito Parsons e inserta uno escrito por Giddens hubiese preferido que se publicasen los dos, pues ambos son excelentes. Interesante recordar que Paul Lazarfeld alguna vez dijo no entender toda la bulla acerca de este libro, pues dicho texto would never have learned a Ph.D in sociology at Columbia. Por cierto, es de destacar que hay una distincin entre lo que Weber llamaba el espritu del capitalista y el espritu del capitalismo, este ltimo asociado a la idea del trabajo y de la produccin como parte de una tica. Nosotros, los latinos, somos mas bien herederos de una tica del dolce far niente? El trabajo, en la tica segn Weber, era un beruf, una vocacin, una actividad que asocia trabajo con la idea divina de Dios. Este es un tema que hallo fascinante de discutir en nuestra sociedad, pues, a mi juicio, explica muchas de nuestras caractersticas como sociedad, esperando siempre el subsidio, la donacin y con ello al Mesas redentor que nos proporcionar eso que esperamos, para no tener que trabajar. Sin embargo, no dejo de llamar la atencin que esa sociedad fue la que creo al Fhrer, esto es, al Mesas. De modo que la reflexin no es fcil, ciertamente. 92 Idem. P 14 93 Vase por Benjamin Franklin su libro Advice to a young tradesman (Consejos a un joven comerciante, 1736). 94 El Mundo, 28 de diciembre de 2001, Salas Feo: no hay mejor supervisor que los propios padres. Henrique Salas Feo es gobernador del estado Carabobo. 95 Vase por Cira Romero Barboza su artculo Quin educa?, en El Universal, 10 de enero de 2001. 96 En la ejecucin de un proyecto de reforma escolar que implante en el estado Apure (Venezuela) descubr que no era ni la escuela ni la unidad hogar quienes influan ms en el proceso de formacin de l persona, sino a el espacio que llam genricamente la calle en donde los nios y nias aprendan el saber pertinente a sus intereses. En todo caso la escolaridad y la educacin es un problema comn, del Estado, de la familia, del hogar y de la comunidad. No es otro el planteamiento igualmente comn de la teora pedaggica moderna. 97 Vase el artculo por Luisa Elena Vegas, Nos conviene dejarnos engaar?, El Universal, 19 de enero de 2001. 98 No deja de ser curioso el observar que aquella dictadura militar, encabezada por Marcos Prez Jimnez, que aconteci hace ya casi medio siglo, ha sido arrinconada en la historia del pas, como si no hubiese ocurrido, no obstante, he all lo curioso, que el dictador de entonces vive aun, en el opulento exilio madrileo. 99 El lenguaje o discurso del gobierno actual es extremadamente mesinico. El propio Presidente, constantemente, mezcla nociones religiosas en sus declaraciones pblicas. En ms de una ocasin ha dicho que si Jess estuviese con nosotros fuese bolivariano. Un Alcalde, por ejemplo, dijo en una oportunidad que Dios est mirando hacia Venezuela y la revolucin no puede fallar, declaraciones de Lenn Figueroa Chacn, Alcalde del Distrito Heres, estado Bolvar, (El Nacional, 7 de enero de 2001). 100 (Instituto Universitario de Tecnologa de Maracaibo, Repblica Bolivariana de Venezuela, Ministerio de Educacin, Cultura y Deportes, Direccin General de Educacin Superior, 5 de enero de 2001. El Nacional, 5 de enero de 2000) P. A-5. Cabe apuntar que, por cierto, design una Comisin Reorganizadora uno de cuyos funcionarios tenia, el nada acadmico antecedente de haber sido Auditora-Jefe en el Hipdromo de Santa Rita, donde se haba destacado por su lucha contra la corrupcin. 101 Ante la inminencia de un PROYECTO DE LEY DE EDUCACIN SUPERIOR y tomando en consideracin la indiscutible Constituyente Universitaria, los universitarios debemos contribuir en la elaboracin de esa nueva Ley. Por ello te hago llegar para su estudio y contribucin este ANTEPROYECTO con el propsito que seamos los mismos universitarios los proponentes de los cambios necesarios Estas propuestas fueron presentadas en su oportunidad ante la Comisin Legislativa Nacional y actualmente estamos hacindolas llegar a la Asamblea Nacional, Ernesto Palacios Pr Centro de Microscopa Electrnica. Universidad de Los Andes. E-mail: prupal@ula.ve, cme@ula.ve Para la fecha, mes de enero de 2001, son cinco las instituciones que de una u otra manera han sido intervenidas por el Gobierno nacional, la Universidad Nacional Experimental Rmulo Gallegos, la Universidad Nacional Experimental Francisco de Miranda, la Universidad Nacional Experimental Simn Rodrguez, la Universidad Simn

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Bolvar y la Universidad Nacional Experimental de Los Llanos Occidentales Ezequiel Zamora, todas experimentales, ninguna autnoma. La propuesta de Ley no dice que se intervendrn universidades autnomas sino las no experimentales 102 Por Paulo Freire, el eminente educador brasileo ya fallecido, vase su libro fundamental, La pedagoga del oprimido, o bien La educacin como la prctica de la libertad, uno de los libros ms vendidos en el Continente. Hasta el ao de 1997 tenia 45 reediciones Siglo XXI, Mxico. Por Margaret Archer vase su obra Social Origins of Educational Systems, Sage, 1979. London. Aado un trabajo por Rafael Fernndez Heres, su Discurso de Incorporacin como Individuo de Nmero de la Academia Nacional de la Historia, Vertientes ideolgicas de la e ducacin en Venezuela, 14 de marzo de 1985. Fernndez Heres utiliza una expresin interesante, en su documento, cuando se refiere a la contribucin de Antonio Leocadio Guzmn, cuando seala que Enriquece el tesoro ideolgico de la educacin venezolana... (p. 67). Esto es, hay un tesoro entendiendo por ello que a lo largo de la historia los venezolanos hemos generado y conservador muchas ideas sobre educacin y que es improbable que nadie parta de cero, aunque todos los polticos, habidos y por haber, siempre permanecern en esa creencia de que el mundo comienza y termina con cada uno de ellos. 103 Vase por Luis Ugalde, rector de la Universidad Catlica Andrs Bello, su artculo Educacin 2001 en El Nacional, 11 de enero de 2001. 104 Para estudiar el tema de la ideologa vase por Angelo Broccoli su libro Ideologa y educacin. Nueva imagen, 1977 Ciudad de Mxico. Tambin el libro por Luis Althusser Ideologa y aparatos ideolgicos del estado. Buenos Aires Nueva Visin, 1973. Naturalmente, en el sentido marxista ideologa es una configuracin de clase social. En trminos educativos la ideologa es aquella que la clase dominante logra imponer a toda la sociedad. 105 Vase el texto por Carlos Marx y Federico Engels, Ideologa alemana. P, 69. Op cit. 106 Vase por Adriana Puiggrs. Imperialismo, educacin y neoliberalismo en Amrica Latina. Mxico : Paids, 1994. 107 Vase por Esteban Emilio Mosonyi su artculo El fascismo sin tabes ni complejos, El Nacional 5 de enero de 2001, p. A/9 108 Vase por Orlando Albornoz. Galileo las paradojas del desarrollo. Mxico : Universidad Autnoma de Mxico, 1998. 109 Vase por Arnaldo Est su folleto Una escuela para la gente, una universidad para Venezuela. Unidad de Extensin, Facultad de Humanidades y Educacin, UCV, 1983, p. 6 110 Idem, p. 7 111 Vase el documento Universidad de la energa y del petrleo de la OPEP Juan Pablo Prez Alfonzo, un nuevo paradigma en la educacin, investigacin y cultura de la energa y del petrleo para el nuevo milenio, Caracas 26 y 27 de septiembre del 2000. De dicho documento me permito citar una frase interesante, pues revela la visin de la nocin de universidad que tienen quienes aspiran crear esta universidad de la OPEP: Desde el punto de vista de los valores y la conciencia, los institutos de educacin superior estn dominados por la ideologa tecnocrtica. En los curriculum universitarios se les da prioridad al pragmatismo; tambin, se ensea el saber tecnicista acrtico generado en las metrpolis capitalistas (lase imperialistas, invasoras y neoliberales). Dicho saber es importado por los pases tercermundistas, praxis que acenta su dependencia cientfico cultural. Tiene alto costo en dlares; reduce o anula nuestra capacidad de investigar y producir saberes propios (ms tiles, ms acordes con nuestros problemas, patrimonios o identidades) e impide reducir internamente los costos, en el plano cada vez ms exigente de la ciencia, la tcnica y la cultura 112 Vase por Jos Joaqun Brunner Educacin superior en Amrica Latina: cambios y desafos, Fondo de Cultura Econmica, 1990. Brunner es el autor mas citado en educacin superior, en la regin y probablemente fuera de la misma. 113 The primary cognitive focus of the university is the cognitive complex, which is grounded in the cultural system and institutionalized in the structure of modern society. Higuer education in general and the university in particular represent institutionalized concern with the cognitive matters. On the cultural system; on the social side, it is with the fiduciary subsystem.
114

...a value-pattern linking the cultural and the social levels which are not reducible to one another. This value-pattern is only part of the cognitive complex. 115 The american university. Op cit. p. 38

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116

Vase el libro por Gaudencio Frigotto, A protutividade da escola improdutiva Cortez, Editora Sao Paulo, Brasil 1984. 117 Parsons, Op cit. p. 58 Knowledge is the type of cultural object with respect to which the cognitivedesignative meaning of symbols and codes have primacy. Knowledge, though a product of action, is, as a cultural object-type, independent of any particular actor. This is indicated by the fact that only is knowledge internalized in personalities but it is also externalized, as in written or recorded form. Wether incorporated n i a book or in someones head, it can still be the same knowledge 118 Vase el libro Educacin : la agenda del siglo XXI hacia un desarrollo humano, programa de Naciones Unidas para el desarrollo. Hernando Gmez Buenda editor, Prologo de Carlos Fuentes, Tercer Mundo Editores, Bogot, 1998 p. 98, "La debilidad del proyecto pblico" 119 Vase a Ceresole, Norberto (1991) Tecnologa militar y estrategia nacional. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Pleamar. (1989) La Tablada y la hiptesis de guerra. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Instituto Latinoamericano de Cooperacin Tecnolgica. (1983) La viabilidad argentina: una alternativa de supervivencia: lineamientos bsicos de un proyecto nacional alternativo. Madrid, Espaa: Altalena. (1972) Argentina y Amrica Latina: doce ensayos polticos. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Pleamar. (1972) Geopoltica de liberacin: Argentina, el Grupo Andino y las naciones del Plata. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Corregidor. (1972) Peronismo: teora e historia del socialismo nacional. Buenos Aires, Argentina. Centro de Estudios e Investigaciones Sociales. (1971) Per o el nacimiento del sistema latinoamericano. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Galerna. (1969) Per: una revolucin nacionalista. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Sudestada. Un libro interesante en el contexto de n uestro documento es el libro virtual La Venezuela del Comandante Chvez (www.e-libro.net/catalogo_aut.htm). Vase por Estrella Schultz, Lucas (1998) El orculo del guerrero. Caracas, Venezuela: Alfadil. El pensamiento de Chvez, por cierto, se apoya al menos en unos de los documentos bsicos de quienes construyeron el grupo que dio comienzo a la rebelin que abort en el fallido golpe militar de febrero de 1992, en el Sistema EBR, constituido por la raz robinsoniana (Simn Rodrguez), raz bolivariana (Simn Bolvar) y finalmente la raz zamorana (Ezequiel Zamora). 120 En la oportunidad en la cual el actual gobierno efectu una serie de actos, en ocasin del aniversario del golpe militar fallido del 4 de febrero de 1992, el Presidente Chvez dio un discurso en la Plaza Caracas definitivamente antiintelectual y que hacen pensar en la conformacin de un fundamentalismo alrededor de los conos de la ideologa del actual gobierno. En esa oportunidad el Presidente de la Repblica acus a sus opositores de ser <estpidos ilustrados>, una frase memorable, ciertamente, para decir lo mnimo. Esta frase le permitir a los enemigos de Chvez argir que su antiintelectualismo es tpico de los militares y que tales posturas anuncian un rgimen autoritario. El antiintelectualismo es comn en muchos gobernantes. Bill Clinton, de USA, es un intelectual slido, bien formado. Fernando Henrique Cardozo, de Brasil, y Ricardo Lagos, de Chile, son intelectuales y acadmicos importantes. Pero Vicente Fox, de Mxico, George W. Bush de USA y el propio Chvez de Venezuela son lideres antiintelectuales. Ronald Reagan es un tpico ejemplo de un lder, popular, desatendido de cuestiones intelectuales. En general el antiintelectualismo se manifiesta en posiciones populistas y sobre todo anti-medios. Chvez declar en una oportunidad que los medios de comunicacin social eran anti-sociales y que contribuan a degenerar a la sociedad (El Universal, 15 de febrero de 2001). 121 El tema de las libertades publicas y en especial de las de ndole acadmica es una materia delicada. El pensamiento de filsofos como Robert Nozick resultara de interesante anlisis, en el caso venezolano, pues desde el punto de vista de su pensamiento en nuestra sociedad seria posible decir que no existe la nocin de <free will> y que las libertades pblicas y acadmicas estn restringidas por un autoritarismo que es una praxis comn en la escala de valores de la sociedad. El hecho de que el actual gobierno se halle dirigido por un militar y por una mentalidad correspondiente hara pensar que ese <free will> est limitado, en esencia, mucho mas si el fanatismo de todo gobierno unipersonal construye una lgica irremediable de conduccin personal de los asuntos pblicos. Por el filsofo norteamericano vase su libro Philosophical explanations The Belknap Press of Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 1981. Del mismo autor vase un libro que juzgo de inters para la actual situacin venezolana, Anarchy state and utopia Basic Books New York, 1977. En este libro Nozick elabora un meticuloso anlisis del minimalismo del Estado, en la misma lnea de quienes hablan de las inconveniencias del <estado omnipotente> o del <estado macroceflico>. En este libro Nozick expresa, por ejemplo, que The minimal state is the most ext ensive state that can be justified. Any state more extensive violates peoples rights (p. 149). Desde el punto de vista de pensadores como Nozick la educacin superior no se halla bajo la nocin de <free will> sino en todo caso de voluntarismo, enmarcado el mismo dentro de la nocin de pensamiento y control burocrtico. Esto se vera ms claro en las condiciones

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bajo las cuales opera la educacin superior del sector privado, en donde la discusin y debate de ideas se halla severamente limitada, en Venezuela. Me permito acotar que Nozick edito un volumen (con Jorge I. Domnguez), en 1994, sobre Regimes in Latin America. Garland, New York. Vase sobre todo el captulo sobre The new Latin America military coup, pp. 61-74, referido a la experiencia peruana de Alberto Fujimore y por extensin al caso de Hugo Chvez, en Venezuela. 122 Declaraciones a El Nacional, 23 de enero de 2001, p. C-8 123 Sobre el tema de la regulacin en las sociedades capitalistas vase el documento por Clyde W. Barrow, "The theory of capitalist regulation and the development of American higher education documento presentado en el Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Chicago, abril 3-7 1991. Es interesante que se plantee como en Venezuela no existe un procedimiento de acumulacin capitalista, porque vivimos bajo un capitalismo de Estado, como, del mismo modo, no disponemos de mecanismos de acumulacin intelectual y acadmica, porque en ambos casos buscamos caminos dependientes no autnomos. 124 Vase la obra por Jean Guyau La morale sans obligations ni sanction, F. Alcan, Paris 1989. Por Lawrence Kholberg vase su libro The philosophy of moral development harper row (San Francisco 1981) 125 Vase el libro por Francois Baurricaud La universidad a la deriva, Fundacin E ugenio Mendoza, Caracas 1971, (la versin original Universits la drive: Francia, Eta-Unis, Amerique du Sud, Paris: Stock, 1971). Baurricaud dict tres conferencias en la Fundacin Mendoza en Caracas en donde discuti estos temas. 126 Me permito un comentario personal. He visitado centenares de universidades y me he entrevistado con autoridades de distinto nivel jerrquico en las mismas pero en muy pocas he visto el cmulo de poder que tienen nuestras autoridades en especial los rectores. En verdad en pocos pases he observado que un funcionario universitario posea tantos beneficios, auto con chofer, etc. un estilo de vida obviamente en detrimento de las necesidades acadmicas. El poder de un rector de una universidad metropolitana en Amrica Latina y el Caribe es enorme. He citado en Mxico, para complacencia de mis colegas en ese pas, que el Rector de la Universidad Nacional Autnoma de Mxico es uno de los personajes ms importantes del pas, de hecho no hay rector ms importante en buena parte del mundo, en su pas, que el rector de la citada macro universidad latinoamericana. 127 Es mi impresin que tras la retrica del caso, la educacin superior venezolana, aquella del sector pblico, es un frtil campo de disputa, porque no se trata solamente de pociones acadmicas, como de privilegios burocrticos interesantes. Un clculo rpido permite suponer que existen alrededor de unos mil cargos de gerencia acadmica en el pas y ello es un nmero importante, de esos privilegios burocrticos. Es el poder acadmico entendido de esa manera, burocrtica. La educacin superior privada, por su parte, es igualmente sumamente atractiva, muy lucrativa, de all que para el ao de 2001 se pueda hablar de un poderoso sector de la educacin superior venezolana, controlada por el sector privado, si bien este hay que conceptualizarlo discriminando tipos de instituciones, pues hay unas de ndole confesional, otras de misin empresarial y otras de simple lucro. Pero en todos los casos los ingresos son elevados, aadiendo que estas instituciones no cancelan impuesto sobre la renta y suelen recibir, directa o indirectamente, apoyos del sector publico. 128 Vase el documento por John Passmore, Quality and equality re-considered, Conferencia Internacional sobre The pursuit of truth in the eighties, Lisboa Portugal abril 27-30, 1981. ...the attempt to secure absolute equality in all respects an attempt to which Aristoteles long ago saw as the besseting vice of democraciescan be destructive of excellence. Different countries, working in differet traditions, with different institutional patterns, will have to deal with the resulting problem in their own way. But unless they see it as a problem, unless they are prepared to deviate from doctrinal egalitarianism in the interest of excellence, our universities cannot but go into a rapid decline Personalmente recuerdo una interesante discusin en un panel en esa reunin, con el citado John Passmore y con Allan Bloom, en donde me correspondi el dudoso e improbable honor de defender el carcter igualitario de la universidad en Amrica Latina y el Caribe. Veinte aos despus mantengo los mismos argumentos, que me sealan que mientras ms masifiquemos un aparato de empleos sin abrirnos a la necesidad aplicar ese esfuerzo a la necesidad de producir saber/conocimiento estaremos, simplemente, magnificando el aparato y reduciendo su impacto acadmico, intelectual. John Passmore was Reader in Philosophy at the Research School of Social Sciences, ANU, from 1955 through until 1957, and Professor of Philosophy from 1958 until his retirement in 1979. He was Head of the Philosophy Program from 1962 until 1976. Passmore's book A Hundred Years of Philosophy was recognised as a major feat of philosophical scholarship throughout the international philosophical community. It was followed by influential books on a whole range of issues, including Man's Responsibility for Nature, one of the first books on the philosophical issues raised by the environmental movement. Passmore was one of the very first to give shape to what is now, under his influence, called 'applied philosophy.' His many books have been translated

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into a wide variety of languages. He remains a major figure in the history of ideas. In recognition of his service to education, Passmore was made a Companion in the General Division of the Order of Australia in 1992. The first volume of his autobiography, Memoirs of a Semi-detached Australian, was published by Melbourne University Press in 1997. He is currently Emeritus Professor of Philosophy and Visiting Fellow in the History Program at RSSS. El libro por Allan Bloomm or su parte, "The Closing of the American Mind" is essential reading for understanding Bloom's thought and the decay of the modern university. It was the first of what might loosely be called the "anti-PC" books, and the only one offering an intellectual diagnosis of the problem along with a sound antidote. With its manifold allusions to the Great Books and their authors, the book itself is a marvelous affirmation of its thesis that the great texts and writers can shed much light on the issues that face us today. En cuanto a Allam Bloom el filsofo norteamericano es autor de una obra esencial en el pensamiento acadmico. En efecto, The closing of the American Mind, How higher education has failed democracy and impoverished the souls of todays students, esprobablemnete uno de los libros ms controversiales e influyentes publicados en el rea de la educacin superior. The first part of the book is devoted to characterizing the moral and intellectual state of modern university students. "Students these days are, in general, nice. I choose the word carefully. They are not particularly moral or noble." He attributes this bland docility to moral relativism, instant gratification, and the poverty of the students' education. With profound insight, he sees many students emotionally dulled by a "premature ecstasy" derived from music, much like former drug addicts who "find it difficult to have great enthusiasms or great expectations" after prolonged abuse. The second part of the book is the most difficult. It traces many of the roots of modern intellectual and relativism, whose highest expression is the multiculturalism on campuses today, to 19th and 20th century German philosophy and its import into American thought and culture. Though hard reading, it is insightful for understanding the sources of modern decay in our universities. Es mi criterio que este libro ha sido totalmente ignorado en Amrica Latina y el Caribe y en el caso venezolano es una simple curiosidad, en vez de ser un libro que debera de haber creado un enorme impacto en nuestra academia. 129 Vase el libro por A. B. Cobban The Medieval Universities their Development and Organization. Methuen, London 1975

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Education and Society in Latin America, una dcada despus

Cmo mejorar la calidad acadmica en instituciones de educacin superior: individuos, grupos e instituciones

Dr. ORLANDO ALBORNOZ Profesor Titular

Patrocinado por Centro de Altos Estudios Gerenciales Instituto Superior de Investigacin y Desarrollo Coordinacin: Dr. Genaro Mosquera C.

Cmo aumentar la calidad acadmica en instituciones de educacin superior: individuos, grupos e instituciones
Lectura 4 Objetivo: El tema venezolano, a escala nacional, debe vincularse con la regin. Ningn pas es una isla, en el mundo contemporneo, menos ello en el rea de la educacin superior, en donde los organismos internacionales como la OECD, BM, BID, UNESCO y otras, participan directa e indirectamente en la formulacin de polticas en la regin y de hecho en el mundo. Se har a partir de esta l ctura un anlisis de la e formulacin de las polticas pblicas en educacin en el rea.

Education and Society in Latin America, una dcada despus

Orlando Albornoz oalborno@reacciun.ve

We cannot step back and close the mountain, for retreat would annihilate the modern ages greatest gift to humanity: the freedom of an individual to choose his own path Erik Weihenmayer (2003) The nation, which in the sixteenth century offered the world a spectacle of magnificence and madness, Spain is now reduced to codifying her inertia. Incapable of falling into steps with civilization, bigots or anarchist, they could never renounce their inactuality E. M. Cioran (1956)

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Tuve el privilegio, en 1993, de publicar Education and Society in Latin America1 . Diez aos despus, en 2003, me propongo, en este trabajo revisitar los problemas abordados en aquel libro, esta vez bajo el formato de una reflexin general. En prime lugar, es mi deber reportar que este libro tuvo un interesante impacto en el mundo acadmico angloparlante, pero muy limitado en nuestra rea de habla castellana o portuguesa. Esto, en s mismo, es un fenmeno de inters, para el anlisis de la difusin e impacto del trabajo acadmico elaborado por latinoamericanos. Para decirlo en forma simple: si publicamos en ingls somos ledos solo por el mundo angloparlante, como dijimos. Si lo hacemos en castellano no somos ledos por quienes leen portugus. En este idioma no nos leen los que trabajan solo en castellano. En ningn caso, castellano o portugus, nos leen quienes se manejan solo en ingls, que es ciertamente la lingua franca de nuestro tiempo. Este libro tuvo casi cero difusin e impacto en mi propio pas, destino parecido a todo lo que se publique en ingls. Es el destino de un libro que seguramente sufrir la misma suerte, una aventura intelectual reciente, entre una editorial comercial y la Facultad de Ciencias Econmicas y Sociales, de la Universidad Central de Venezuela. Este libro, Higher education strategies in Venezuela: higher education changes under a revolutionary government and the threats to academic freedom and institutional integrity (2003), fue inicialmente escrito a solicitud de una organizacin europea, el Observatory de la Magna Charta Universitatum, publicado en Caracas por Bibliotechnology Ediciones en Asociacin con la Facultad de Ciencias Econmicas y Sociales, Universidad Central de Venezuela. El slogan de esta aventura es gracioso, por s mismo: Venezuelan books for the international market. Quizs sea ello una necesidad. Releyendo ambos libros, aquel publicado en el ao 1993 y este publicado en 2003 pienso en una lnea de continuidad de mi pensamiento, lo cual no quiere decir que este no haya sufrido modificaciones, pero, en todo caso, pudiera recordar lo que en una ocasin le escuch a Charles Wright Mills, en una de sus hoy famosas conferencias en The London School of Economics and Political Sciences, en Febrero de 19592 . Deca el entonces el ya eminente socilogo norteamericano, que los socilogos odiamos cambiar de metodologa, quizs de teora y epistemologa, pero que nuestros problemas a estudiar y nuestra visin del mundo simplemente se reforzaba con los aos, esto es, con al experiencia. Aos despus le escuche a Martin Buber decir lo mismo, pero aplicndolo a los filsofos y en general al pensamiento filosfico, pues se poda cambiar de filosofo, para analizarlo y estudiarlo, se poda cambiar de poca, de metodologa incluso, pero los problemas que cada cual estudia son aquellos que en forma permanente se asoman en el pensamiento de cada intelectual y en este caso acadmico. La base de mi argumentacin Cuando escrib este libro me hallaba trabajando en la Universidad de Oxford, Inglaterra. En el seminario sobre educacin superior en Amrica Latina y el Caribe, que entonces dictaba en el St. Antonys College, tena una audiencia tpica de este College internacional, compuesta por estudiantes de doctorado y postdoctorado de pases como Pakistn de hecho el estudiante de aquel pas haba sido Ministro de Finanzas; dos de India, dos de China uno de Taiwan, uno de China Continental y as sucesivamente, incluyendo una colega sociloga griega, eminente en el campo de la educacin superior comparada internacional, de la Universidad de Ianinna. Esta circunstancia me obligaba a presentar mis argumentos en nivel macro, en forma conceptual y abstracta. Tome entonces una decisin que me pareci adecuada, esto es, analizar la Regin y su educacin superior
1

MacMillan & St Antonys College, Oxford, London. Hard Cover. Una edicin norteamericana fue publicada por la University of Pittsburgh Press, en Paper Back. 2 Estas conferencias dictadas en Londres y en Varsovia, fueron luego publicadas en el libro por Mills The sociological imagination (1959) Un libro magistral, que resulta a ratos confuso y a menudo contraproducente. Tiene edicin en castellano, si bien me consta que los estudiantes de sociologa del pas ya no leen a Mills. Pero esto no es de extraar. Hace un ao conversaba con un grupo de alumnos de un curso que dictaba en la escuela de sociologa de la UCV, comprobando que ya no lean ni a Abouhamad ni a Silva Michelena, ambos importantes socilogos pioneros de la disciplina cientfica en el pas.

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a partir de los modelos adoptados en cada pas en la Regin3 , omitiendo tipos y modalidades institucionales, as como el seguimiento de los actores, que haban sido hasta entonces mi enfoque, sobre todo analizando comportamiento poltico del movimiento estudiantil, que era lo que haba elaborado en la Universidad de Harvard, en el proyecto entonces dirigido por Seymour Martin Lipset. Del mismo modo, omit el anlisis de los profesores, que inici justamente cuando el eje de la dinmica de la educacin superior en la Regin se traslad de los estudiantes a los profesores. Es decir, la dcada de los sesenta haba sido dedicada a los estudiantes, ya la dcada de los ochenta a los profesores. Naturalmente, la constante en ambos casos ha sido la cuestin de la reforma o de la revolucin de la educacin superior. Al analizar este segundo punto, en el seminario citado, descubr no sin sorpresa que a lo largo del s iglo XX haban ocurrido solamente tres reformas esenciales: 1. La argentina, ocurrida por razones circunstanciales en Crdoba, pero era esencialmente una reforma ideolgicamente elaborada en Buenos Aires. Es el gran documento latinoamericano, de impacto relativo en su momento, pero por buenas razones convertido en una especie de declaracin de la independencia universitaria latinoamericana. 2. La introduccin en la Regin del modelo norteamericano, sobre todo en Brasil. Esta ha sido la influencia ms poderosa, en varios sentidos, sobre todo la introduccin del modelo de educacin superior privada, que se expandi gracias a esta influencia 4 . 3. La igual introduccin en la Regin del modelo sovitico, en Cuba. En Venezuela este modelo, ya cubanizado, no ha tenido la influencia que pudiera haberse esperado (Albornoz, 2000). De resto todo el reformismo en la Regin se ha dedicado al problema legislativo. En consecuencia, mi anlisis en aquel seminario lo hice alrededor de dos temas, la cuestin del modelo de educacin superior en la Regin y en definitiva como se haban construido siguiendo las lneas metropolitanas coloniales. En segundo lugar el tema de los cambios ocurridos en el siglo, mencionados los tres anteriores y, en tercer lugar, como el enfoque que se ha privilegiado en la Regin para establecer los lmites y posibilidades de los cambios necesarios ha sido el enfoque legislativo, orientado obviamente hacia el deber ser, pero obviando el anlisis del es 5 . Mis enfoques no han sido populares en la academia de la Regin. La educacin superior genera en la Regin, un discurso retrico, dedicado al deber ser, al ideal. Basta leer cualquier discurso de un rector de institucin de educacin superior en la Regin o de un ministro de educacin, que cuando
3

Entend como el modelo del patrn cultural permiti la creacin de la educacin superior en la Regin. Un enfoque distinto del concepto de modelo educativo en el libro por Gregorio Weinberg, Modelo educativos en la historia de Amrica Latina. Buenos Aires : Kapelusz, 1984. 4 La historia de la influencia e impacto del modelo USA de educacin superior tiene diversas expresiones. Una de las ms interesantes en el pensamiento de Rudolph P. Atcon. Este tuvo mucha influencia en Brasil y en Colombia. Vase por este experto norteamericano, convertido por obra y gracias de ciertas posturas ideolgicas en la bete noire de la izquierda en la Regin, su ensayo La universidad latinoamericana. Eco. Bogota, 1963. 5 Vase sobre este tema, el enfoque de Margaret Archer, en su libro Social origins of educational systems. (1979) De hecho trat de responder para la Regin la misma pregunta que se haca Archer: How do educational system develop and how do they change? Mi respuesta para el anlisis de la Regin se halla en mi trabajo sobre la educacin superior, cuya formulacin terica debe mucho al trabajo de la profesora Archer. El mismo enfoque britnico ha influido mucho en mi elaboracin terica acerca de la pregunta planteada anteriormente. En parte porque mis estudios de graduado los haba hecho en ese pas (LSE, 1959), pero tambin por la enorme influencia de cmo se ha manejado en ese pas a la educacin, sobre en la lnea de dos elementos, uno el anlisis del es, otro la continuidad institucional, que ha hallado fundamental para examinar la educacin superior en la Regin, llena de discontinuidades.

4
se refie ren al nivel escolar superior siempre aluden a este deber ser, a este nivel normativo, las ms de las veces correcto en su contenido, las ms de las veces inaplicable, en la prctica. A mi juicio este discurso es fallido, sobre todo porque alude a relaciones inexistentes, como que el acceso debe ser universal a la educacin superior o que la educacin superior puede aliviar los problemas sociales de la Regin, sobre todo de la pobreza y la desigualdad social. Lo seguro que fcilmente se observa en la Regin es la falsa recopilacin de datos estadsticos aislados, a travs de los cuales se hacen comparaciones espurias, sin sentido, pero que suelen captar el inters de quienes acatan la superficialidad estadstica. Esto es, mientras no se estandaricen las unidades de medicin los datos estadsticos son irrelevantes. Por ejemplo de qu me sirve saber que en un pas existen antas instituciones con estudios de doctorado si no se sabe nada acerca del volumen de las bibliotecas correspondientes? Esto lo llamo la retrica de los nmeros. Tanto ms vacua que la retrica de las palabras, si se quiere. Ciertamente, de todos modos, en apenas una dcada no se puede esperar cambios dramticos en el mapa acadmico de la Regin. Cuando James Watson escribi acerca de las c inco dcadas transcurridas desde que en compaa de Francis Crick y Maurice Wilkins descubrieron el ADN pudo reportar enormes cambios, transformaciones notables en el modo de apreciar el mapa gentico humano. No as en educacin superior en nuestra Regin. De hecho se observa a travs del anlisis de los datos existentes que la Regin se mantienen estable en relacin con los indicadores de produccin de conocimiento, a escala internacional. En las bases de datos la Regin aparece con niveles de contribucin entre uno y cinco por ciento. Ciertamente el sistema crece, en l numero de estudiantes, profesores, instituciones y as sucesivamente, pero pudiera decirse que no se desarrolla. Es mi impresin, que se puede cotejar fcilmente, que la educacin superior en la Regin asume un criterio legalista. Frente a los problemas se emiten leyes, despus de arduas discusiones, pero no se resuelven los problemas de fondo6 . Esta distincin entre crecimiento y desarrollo, comn en el anlisis macro econmico, es aplicable si elaboro la diferencia esencial entre dos categoras, la sociedad del entrenamiento y la sociedad del conocimiento. Mantengo que la Regin ha sido extraordinariamente exitosa en el desempeo propio del primer nivel, pues la integra el enorme stock de profesionales que a su vez desempean las funciones propias en la administracin y servicios de los pases de la Regin. Pero la Regin ha sido lenta en incorporarse a la sociedad del conocimiento, a pesar de los tangibles y a veces costosos esfuerzos efectuados en esa direccin. La Regin se mantiene en niveles modestos de contribucin a la ciencia y la tecnologa internacional, medido ello no solo en el limitado nmero de patentes originadas en la Regin, sino en la simple prueba de cmo la mayor parte de los que empleamos en la Regin en la vida cotidiana, especialmente los grupos modernizados, proviene de la invencin e innovacin fornea a la Regin. Debo admitir que usualmente el pensamiento crtico en la Regin, sobre el comportamiento institucional, en este caso el sistema de educacin superior, es denominado excesivamente duro, pesimista y as sucesivamente. Pero es necesario el abandono de la retrica y enfrentar los hechos como son. En el caso venezolano, para dar un ejemplo, una comunidad cientfico-tecnolgica apenas emerge en los ltimos diez aos, al amparo del patrocinio del Estado, quien ha sido el principal mecenas del desarrollo de la educacin superior en el pas. Esa comunidad cientfica, por ejemplo, aun es evaluada por sus pares, etapa que corresponde en el esquema de Muldur al lapso de la etapa primera de su esquema, 1950-1975. Esto es, en el mejor de los casos, tienen un atraso de unos treinta aos, en comparacin con los pases avanzados. Si tal

Vase la informacin sobre esta cuestin en http://www.iesalc.unesco.org.ve/ All puede verse como la reforma de la educacin superior es anloga a elaborar una nueva ley, hasta promulgarla.

5
como veremos ms adelante se produce una implosin acadmica en este pas el gap aumentar, indefectiblemente 7 . En la Regin se produce un nmero elevado e interesante de documentos de apoyo, para el mejoramiento de la educacin superior. De hecho, cada pas tiene una hoja de ruta que no transita, pues en la mayor parte de los casos se trata de documentos blancos, literatura blanca, compuesta por normas y procedimientos virtuales, que nunca se ejecutan. Cada pas tiene su ley, su proyecto de ley, su contra-proyecto de ley y as sucesivamente. Los documentos que preparan los organismos internacionales circulan profusamente en los pases de la Regin. En esta dcada entre 1993 y 2003, decenas de documentos han circulado y se han discutido, pero pocas reformas se han ejecutado. Esto es, se generan discusiones, se escriben reportes, se hacen foros, se discuten reformas legales, pero no se pasa a la accin, probablemente porque los intereses creados son poderosos e impiden cambio alguno. En el caso venezolano pareciera esto ser axiomtico y no vislumbrarse cambio, sino el refuerzo de lo establecido. Por ejemplo, basta leer los reportes generados en organismos internacionales como la UNESCO y el Banco Mundial, para corroborar el aserto anterior: La enseanza superior. Las lecciones derivadas de la experiencia (Banco Mundial, 1994), Prioridades y estrategias para la educacin (Banco Mundial, 1995), Documento de poltica para el cambio y el desarrollo en la educacin superior (UNESCO, 1995), Declaracin sobre la educacin superior en Amrica Latina y el Caribe (UNESCO, 1996), Gua para la elaboracin de un plan de accin (UNESCO, 1996), Declaracin Mundial sobre la Educacin Superior en el Siglo XXI: Visin y Accin (UNESCO, 1998), Tertiary education in Latin America, trends and prospects (Banco Mundial, 2003) Del mismo modo hay dos fuentes interesantes, sobre el tema. La educacin superior se ha convertido en noticia. Cada diario importante de la Regin tiene un parte acerca del tema y en los pases ms avanzados existen diarios o semanarios dedicados a la educacin superior, exclusivamente, tipo el Chronicle, que sale semanalmente, excepto en vacaciones. Por otra parte, la educacin superior es una permanente fuente de discusin que se soluciona con legislacin. Esto es, opiniones y legalismos. Por supuesto, ambas actividades no envuelven ni conflictos ni abren camino a la posibilidad de lesionar intereses creados. Estos documentos no cesan de ser producidos, despus de todas las burocracias internacionales estn obligadas a perseverar su existencia . Por supuesto, en el caso de la universidad en la Regin la abundante retrica no tiene fin. Con razn deca en una oportunidad Clark Kerr, que cualquier miembro de una universidad podra dictar una conferencia acerca de los fines de la universidad. En una ocasin le comente al eminente norteamericano que ello era verdad, pero tambin que probablemente el mismo acadmico no podra conversar diez minutos sobre los problemas de la institucin, en trminos cuantitativos, como por ejemplo la calidad de las actividades de aula o la medicin del aprendizaje por parte de los estudiantes, la efectividad de los docentes o el impacto de los investigadores. En el caso del sistema de educacin superior venezolano, para dar un ejemplo sencillo de entender, nadie sabe cunto cuesta la hora-aula del docente y cunto para el estudiante. Sin estos anlisis de costos no es posible planificar y regular. Pero es que el tema costo no tiene ni significado ni sentido, en sociedades en donde el modelo es el rent-seeking economy, un rea de subsidio interminable sin contrapartida en el trabajo productivo. La retrica, en verdad, no tiene lmites. No se trata de mala fe, debo decirlo, sino de un estilo de pensamiento que al parecer caracteriza nuestra manera
7

Vase por Ugur Muldur su articulo La politique americaine de science et technologie, en Futuribles. 1997. No. 220. Claro est, la fase dos de Muldur supone, necesariamente, la existencia de un aparato productivo industrial que absorba conocimiento sus productos, y evalu segn impacto. Por ello nuestros resultados son estrictamente burocrticos, no hay impacto alguno, ni siquiera en la propia comunidad acadmica, de unos cuatro o cinco mil personas, del total potencial de unos sesenta o setenta mil personas.

6
latinoamericana de organizar ideas. Es el delirio del deber ser, en contra de la supuesta necesidad del es. Uno de los ejemplos mas extremos de este tipo de pensamiento lo he hallado aqu mismo en Venezuela, pero inspirado por uno de los grandes hoax de nuestro tiempo, el inefable Edgar Morin. He intentado seguir el pensamiento de Morin y hallo solo huellas de un engao intelectual, lo que el propio RAE llama dar un petardo. No tengo inters en repetir mis argumentos acerca del pensamiento de Morin, publicados en otro sitio8 , pero si llamar la atencin sobre este paroxismo del deber ser que apoyado en Morin obvia todo anlisis cuantitativo. Los dos libros del intelectual francs son bien conocidos, aceptacin que juzgo comprensible, porque son libros de alta divulgacin, pues forman parte de una especie de literatura graciosa, blanda, de autores como el espaol Savater, el mexicano Monsivais y este eminente francs Morin, que hablar de temas serios enfocados con amabilidad, a veces oscuridad rebuscada, pero siempre relativamente fciles de leer, mas fciles aun par comentar y recordar. Es pensamiento retrico, en donde nunca hay un dato cuantitativo, nunca un asomo de crtica a los problemas profundos en este caso de la educacin superior, sino un discurso que hallo banal, generalizando situaciones que escapan precisamente a generalizaciones efectistas. No obstante, reitero que es una literatura muy popular y apreciada en crculos acadmicos de cierta estima 9 . De hecho no es un pensamiento casual, sino que sido organizado alrededor de una serie de propuestas acerca de la reforma universitaria, apoyados en la necesidad de pensar la reforma de la universidad. Este es precisamente el discurso tradicional, que propone el deber ser, sin antes elaborar una base de datos que sustente la reflexin. Este pensamiento citado se apoya, ya se dijo, en el pensamiento del francs Edgard Morin, sobre todo en dos de sus libros, Los siete saberes necesarios a la educacin del futuro y La cabeza bien puesta 10 . El dossier preparado por esta organizacin, contiene el tipo de reflexin preposicional, el deber ser manejado como discurso retrico. Por ejemplo, sin entrar en mayores anlisis, observemos una de esas propuestas, que juzgo tpicas: Existe una relacin de convivencia con el dilogo, con lo diverso, con lo otro. Y si hay un relacionamiento con el otro, ese otro o alter no debe ser visto solo en el sentido de otra persona, sino tambin comprendido como alteridad socio epistemolgica y pedaggica?; La tica de la incertidumbre y el pensamiento mestizo deben ir al encuentro de una omnicomercializacion de la universidad (la investigacin como las otras misiones) siempre ms sometida a su viabilidad financiera, econmica y tecnocientifica. Entre otros indicadores, asistimos a un cambio profundo de l concepcin idealista de la creacin, de la difusin y de la a aplicacin de los saberes (CIPOST, 2002: 13) La enseanza superior forma parte del conjunto educativo y en particular debe estar en interaccin con la enseanza secundaria y articular formaci n inicial y formacin permanente (CIPOST, 2002: 15)

8 9

Vase mi articulo sobre Morin en El Nacional, mayo 12, 2002 En modo alguno mi comentario descalifica a autores excelentes, de buena factura. Savater escribe fcil y correcto, Monsivais es francamente gracioso y creativo, Morin es ms bien aburrido, pero en todo caso no est en mi animo descalificar sino caracterizar. 10 El primero de UNESCO, FACES, CIPOST, Caracas (2000) El segundo de Nueva Visin (1999) Buenos Aires. Adase el documento por Morin titulado Les defis de luniversite du futur, Association pour la pensee complexe. Este documento fue publicado en vinculacin con la Asociacin Internacional de Universidades y la Fundacin Charles Meyer para el progreso de la humanidad.

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Este tipo de propuesta puede ser elaborada hasta el infinito, sobre todo esos lugares comunes segn los cuales la enseanza superior forma parte del conjunto educativo, dichas y repetidas hasta el cansancio. A menudo pienso que en el discurso universitario deberamos colocar un slogan: prohibido proponer, anlogo a aquel del mayo francs prohibido prohibir, ya que por esta va de las propuestas se llega al absurdo. Lo que requerimos en la Regin son datos, investigaciones, arqueos cuantitativos, aproximaciones posibles dentro de planificacin estratgica y la incorporacin de la educacin superior de la Regin a los parmetros internacionales a fin de evitar la exclusin institucional. La reflexin es absolutamente indispensable, pero se convierte en un obstculo cuando se la toma como un detour para la necedad.

El caso latinoamericano: la permanencia de la esperanza Suele decirse, generalmente en Europa, que pases con enormes recursos, como Argentina, Brasil y Mxico, estn permanentemente al borde del desarrollo, son los casi desarrollados, a punto de arranque (Rostow) Pero ocurre que, a pesar de toda esperanza, estos pases, de un enorme potencial, no terminan de articular su educacin superior a fin de transformarla de aquella al servicio de una visin ya superada, la sociedad del entrenamiento, a la sociedad del futuro, la sociedad del conocimiento. En otras palabras, la Regin sigue creciendo pero no termina de desarrollarse. El punto de este desarrollo es el de la creacin de los complejos cognitivos de los cuales habla Parsons. Ciertamente, si algn pas puede hacerlo es Brasil, en ese esplndido sitio alrededor del rea de Sao Paulo, en donde estn las que son probablemente las dos o tres universidades de la Regin de mayor calidad. Del mismo modo, Brasil posee los mejores niveles de cultura organizativa dedicada a la educacin superior, por historia y tradicin. En parte por la influencia norteamericana en el pas, desde la poca de Dewey y sus discpulos brasileos, que trasladaron al pas suramericano los principios pedaggicos de Dewey y la capacidad organizativa de quienes seguan estudios en Columbia, entre otros sitios. Mxico es el otro pas que tiene el potencial para alcanzar niveles avanzados en educacin superior, pero de una u otra manera no termina de superar le sndrome de la NAFTA, pues USA y Canad ayudan pero entorpecen, de uno u otro modo, el desarrollo de Mxico11 . Ahora bien, los modelos de educacin superior se mantie nen en la Regin, sin observarse muchos cambios. Si ocurren algunos cambios importantes estos tendrn lugar en dos pases de avanzada en la Regin, Brasil y Mxico, como mencionaremos mas adelante. Pero en general se mantendrn los modelos actuales, sin mayores interrupciones12 . Interesante que es

11

Tengo cerca de diez aos trabajando en Mxico, tanto a nivel de consultora en los organismos de planificacin de la educacin superior, esto es, nivel de gobierno, como en actividades de talleres para elevar la calidad acadmica en universidades especificas y en conferencias, as como en empresas privadas, en buena parte de las principales universidades de dicho pas. Puedo dar fe del enorme potencial y de la correcta resolucin de sus problemas, pero quedan aun muchas cosas por resolver en Mxico, no obstante que tal como he dicho repetidamente a la prensa mexicana, estn en la va correcta. 12 Predicciones a largo plazo son insostenibles. Interesante que el lder poltico venezolano de la revolucin venezolana habla de cambios dramticos para el ao 2030, centenario de la muerte de Bolvar. Sugiero la influencia. Vase por Joseph F. Coates, Andy Hines y John B. Mahaffie, 2025 : scenarios of USA and global lectura de un libro de pronsticos en donde ya no Venezuela, sino la Regin no aparece como un factor de society reshaped by science and technology. Akron Ohio Oakhill Press (1997). De hecho en el futuro es bastante probable que la Regin pierda, en vez de ganar posibilidades de to reshape global society. Dentro de la mitologa venezolana cabe la idea obviamente errada que en la primera mitad del siglo XIX Venezuela y sus ejrcitos liberaron el continente. La pica venezolana se ha movido en un escenario modesto, marginal a los acontecimientos histricos que han proporcionado shape al mundo. Somos en la Regin la consecuencia

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relativamente fcil clasificar a los pases de la Regin, al menos algunas de sus reas, por calidad, advirtiendo que en la mayora de los pases hay complejidades que nos refieren a instituciones de primera, segunda y tercera calidad. Cabe comentar como la posibilidad de anlisis comparativos en la Regin debe hacerse con harto cuidado, so pena de incurrir en generalizaciones y exageraciones. Cuando escrib Education and Society in Latin America lo hice desde la perspectiva del latinoamericano que se halla en Europa, en donde la connotacin de latinoamericano se hace desde un enfoque forneo. Fuera del rea somos latinoamericanos y aceptamos ver a la Regin desde afuera, dentro somos de aquella nacionalidad con la cual nos identifiquemos, nacidos o no en esa nacin o pas. En todo caso la propia definicin de la Regin envuelve problemas que son de rigor abordar. Uno de los atractivos de estudiar regiones multi nacionales como Amrica Latina y el Caribe es la discusin acerca de los pasos metodolgicos que nos permitan la comprensin del todo. En la Regin, como se sabe, hablamos con ligereza acerca de sta como un todo. Ello falsifica la realidad, porque las comparaciones son ftiles si no estn apoyadas en criterios metodolgicos rigurosos. Ocurre con las tablas estadsticas que se construyen con datos que carecen de una base comn, por ejemplo. Ocurre con programas legislativos cuyos principios jurdicos son distintos y no pueden agruparse fcilmente y as sucesivamente. En todo caso en la Regin podemos comparar pases, naciones, instituciones y problemas. En mi caso cuando he abordado la nocin de Amrica Latina y el Caribe, en el entendido siempre que es una generalizacin acomodaticia. Es una metfora, casi. La Regin, como quizs toda otra que sea un conjunto de pases y naciones, se define desde afuera de la Regin. Cuando he trabajado en pases africanos, por ejemplo, nunca nadie se me ha identificado como africano, sino como perteneciente a cada uno de los p ases o nacionalidades. En audiencias multinacionales dentro de un solo pas he tenido dificultad para identificar a los estudiantes como pertenecientes a una nacionalidad y no a un pas. En el caso de la educacin superior los anlisis comparativos son sumamente complicados. El expediente ms sencillo es el criterio geogrfico y as se trabaja con las nociones de Amrica del Sur, el Caribe o Amrica Central. Si se elige trabajar anlisis comparativo del Caribe, por ejemplo, surgen enormes complicaciones, p intentar alguna ara generalizacin, pero, por cierto, el pilago acadmico en esa sub-regin es fascinante, porque estn all presentes todos los modelos operativos en el rea, excepto el portugus. Hay muchas opciones metodolgicas para las comparaciones. Se pueden agrupar los pases de mayor productividad, a menor. Se puede elegir el criterio de mercado vis-`a-vis el estado. Se pueden comparar los modelos originarios y cmo han ido evolucionando. Dentro de los pases de mayor envergadura se pueden hacer comparaciones entre las instituciones metropolitanas y aquellas provincianas. Se puede comparar el papel de los actores del sector, estudiantes y miembros del profesorado, por ejemplo. Lo cual quiere decir que no puede hacerse ninguna alusin a la Regin en trminos comparativos si no se especifica adecuadamente la variable elegida y se estandariza la misma a lo largo del todo. Para la Regin quizs la clave metodolgica sea emplear la del grouping. Es la nica manera de atar pases con cierta homogeneidad, bien sea a travs de la simple categorizacin de grandes, medianos y pequeos, porque es intil comparar un pas que llamemos grande con uno chico. Aun as hay que estandarizar la variable a usar, pues de tomarse una u otra, vara la posibilidad del conjunto. Variables tan elsticas como bibliotecas, grupos tnicos, ideologa, pblico y
de uno de esos acontecimientos, la expansin de Europa. Cabe aquella pregunta que e hacan a Guerrero sus l compatriotas, cuando le hallaron en Yucatn: por qu los mayas no descubrieron Europa?

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privado, clase social, lenguaje, planta fsica, aspectos patrimoniales, estilos de gerencia, lderazgo, gobernabilidad, conectividad y as sucesivamente. Afinando ms las mediciones se pueden llegar a analizar el costo por funcin, tarea y producto, pero ello es un nivel ms riguroso, improbables de ejecutar comparativamente en la Regin. Pero, obsrvese que la manera como se utiliza la Regin en trminos comparativos a menudo no va ms all de la ancdota y de la retrica, a veces con alteraciones histricas irresponsables, por generalizables sin fundamento. El mayor objetivo metodolgico al comparar pases es la variacin. Cmo se reduce la misma para hallar patrones y tendencias?13 . Este comentario, que no deseo prolongar en esta ocasin, tiene por objeto revelar solamente lo improbable que es hablar de la Regin, sin especificar la base de la comparacin. El reto del sector privado Probablemente, como ha sealado L evy en su libro sobre el tema, es uno de los aspectos ms importantes surgido en los ltimos veinte aos es el reto del sector privado, al monopolio estatal14 . Esta tendencia es mundial, como ha observado Barblan15 y analizado Altbach16 . En la Tabla No. 1 puede verse el espacio de la educacin superior privada en la Regin y como avanza, en algunos pases, incluyendo Venezuela. Pero, ello no debe desconocer el hecho del papel esencial del Estado en el desarrollo y evolucin de la educacin superior, incluyendo que la misma expresin del sector privado ha permanecido bajo el ala del Estado. Interesante de observar que el papel del Estado avanza en forma rpida en el caso venezolano, si bien hasta el momento de escribir este trabajo no hay ningn ataque al sector privado en si, que espera en forma normal, excepto que la depresin econmica se manifiesta en una aparente reduccin de la matrcula en este sector. Este es un hecho al parecer imprevisible, para el poderoso sector privado venezolano de la educacin superior. El mismo no es homogneo, dicho sea de paso. Observo segmentos distintos, en ese conjunto: universidades de misin, universidades de lucro, ambas legtimas y tiles, dicho sea de paso. Las que atienden al lucro como objetivo pertenecen al fenmeno de los new providers, agentes que estn prestando un servicio social til, no obstante que impere en ellos el principio del lucro, nada negativo en s mismo. Los datos son dramticos, para este sector. Para mediados de 2003 la morosidad en institutos universitarios alcanza el 50 por ciento17 . Esto quiere decir que muchos estudiantes que ahora cursan estudios en instituciones del sector privado buscarn ingresar en las
13

Vase el captulo por Henry Tuene, Comparing countries: lessons learned. En el libro editado por Else Oyen Comparative methodology: theory and practice in international social research. Sage and International Sociological Association, 1990. Sobre esta metodologa vase el libro por Seymour Martin Lipset, de la serie del Comparative Students and University Project, del cual fui mimebro como investigador. Este proyecto se inici en la University of California (Berkeley) y luego en la Harvard University. Este proyecto, ejecutado en los ltimos aos de los sesenta y los primeros de los setenta, ha sido uno de los proyectos comparativos de mayor magnitud en ciencias sociales. En esa ocasin estudiamos la Regin en su totalidad y contribumos para establecer tanto la teora como la metodologa del anlisis comparado. Vase tambin un excelente material: American Sociological Association, 1987 Presidential Address, by Melvin L. Kohn, Cross-national research as an analytical strategy. American Sociological review, 1987. Vol. 52 )December : 713-731). 14 Vase el libro por Daniel C. Levy, La educacin superior y el Estado en Latinoamrica : desafos privados al predominio pblico (1995) El libro por Levy es fundamental para el anlisis del sector privado en la educacin superior de nuestra Regin. 15 Vase por Andris Barblan su conferencia dictada en Dijon, Francia, en la reunin anual de la ACA, 24-26 de mayo de 2002. Marketing as part of the new world order in higher education 16 Vase por Philip G. Altbach (Editor) su libro Private prometehus: private higher education and development in the 21st century. Greenwood Publishing, 1999. 17 El Universal, jueves 3 de julio de 2003, p.2-4. La educacin superior privada tena un nicho comercial de alta rentabilidad, al parecer. La situacin econmica afectar mucho estas instituciones, que vern aumentados sus costos y reducidos sus ingresos. Disminuir asimismo la posibilidad para que este sector entre en las exigencias de la sociedad del conocimiento.

10
instituciones del sector pblico, aadiendo presin matricular a estas ltimas. Otros buscarn afanosos ir a cursar estudios en el exterior. Es probable que el gobierno nacional ofrezca plazas en nuevas instituciones a crearse en el pas, pero las ofertas puede que no sean atractivas para estudiantes de tipo vocacional18 . Tabla 1. Desarrollo de la educacin superior privada en la Regin, 1985-2002* Porcentaje de la matricula del sector privado 75%-40% 40%-30% 30%-20% Brasil Colombia Dom. Republica Chile El Salvador Per Argentina Guatemala Paraguay

Ao 1985

20%-10% Costa Rica Ecuador Honduras Mxico Nicaragua Venezuela Honduras

Menos de 10% Bolivia Panam Uruguay Cuba

2002*

Brasil Colombia Chile Dom. Repblica El Salvador Nicaragua Paraguay Per

Venezuela

Costa Rica Ecuador Argentina Guatemala Mxico

Bolivia Panam Uruguay Cuba

Fuente: Tertiary education in Latin America, trends and prospects (Banco Mundial, 2003) En cuanto al papel de sector privado, un criterio acerca de su importancia radica en dejar establecido en este documnto, que este sector de la educacin superior opera en el nivel de la sociedad del entrenamiento, en su casi totalidad, al menos en el caso venezolano. Esto es, el sector privado opera en el rea de la produccin de recursos humanos, pero no en la produccin de conocimientos. Esta ltima rea es prcticamente un monopolio del sector pblico. De hecho del sector universitario y de ste el sector reducido de las universidades autnomas. Los datos consolidados del SPI venezolano nos permiten ilustrar este aserto. Cabe observar que la produccin de conocimiento y su consiguiente nivel de productividad es relativamente bajo en el pas, en comparacin con los pases de Amrica Latina de alto nivel de P/P (Produccin / productividad) pero en todo caso se halla en niveles intermedios bajos, pero por encima de los pases chicos de la Regin, incluyendo Cuba pero excluyendo Puerto Rico.

18

Me refiero a la oferta de universidades populares, que no satisfacen las expectativas comunes de los estudiantes que desean adquirir una profesin liberal, tradicional.

11
Tabla 2. Volmenes de produccin acadmica en la Regin, por pases Pases de alto nivel Argentina Brasil Mxico Pases de mediano nivel Chile Per Colombia Venezuela Uruguay Paraguay Bolivia Pases de bajo nivel Los pases del Caribe Los pases de Amrica Central

Fuente: Datos del World Science Report (Estimados) El volumen de produccin acadmica en Venezuela es consecuencia del apoyo estatal, pues es este quien ha financiado las instituciones que componen el pequeo pero interesante segmento de la educacin superior que llamo educacin superior de investigacin. Hay una distincin en ingls que no puedo hacer en castellano, pues he estado dividiendo el sistema de educacin superior en higher education y en higher learning19 . En nuestro pas, Venezuela, se puede hacer ya esa distincin, entre instituciones dedicadas exclusivamente a la formacin de recursos humanos y otras dedicadas a la investigacin. En la Tabla 3 puede observarse claramente el volumen de la contribucin del sector privado a la masa crtica de productores de saber. El sector privado aporta cerca del uno por ciento del total. No son, en trminos de Levy, un reto. Observa en la citada Tabla que todo el sector privado equivale al nmero de participantes de una sola universidad del sector pblico, la Universidad Simn Rodrguez (29) contra 27 del sector privado. Por ello, mientras este sector no haga las inversiones correspondientes y se dedique con mayor inters a la produccin e conocimiento (sociedad del conocimiento) seguir como un sector marginal de la vida acadmica del pas. La universidad del sector privado que ms se destaca en el SPI es la Universidad Catlica Andrs Bello (7) si bien es probable q estos hayan sido formados y accedi al SPI en otras ue instituciones. La Catlica del Tchira tiene el mismo nmero (7) estos probablemente formados en esa institucin. En todo caso, las dos universidades catlicas agrupan a ms o menos la mitad del total del sector privado. De los 2.831 investigadores clasificados en 2003 solo 27 laboran en instituciones del actor privado. El crecimiento del SPI, lento pero interesante, es en su caso totalidad la consecuencia del apoyo del Estado en materia acadmica. Si el Estado disminuye este apoyo el nmero citado puede disminuir considerablemente. Tabla 3 Crecimiento interanual del SPI, 1990-2002 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 0,00 24,1025,30 23,6940,4365,33 77,7892,37 107,50126,91 140,29179,00 378,98 747 927 936 924 1049 1235 1328 1437 1550 1695 1795 2084 2831
19

Es una distincin que hago apoyada en un trabajo publicado en 1968 por Earl Hopper, A typology for the classiication of educational systems. Sociology, pp. 29-44. El trabajo de Hopper fue a su vez una respuesta al anlisis del papel de la escolaridad en la movilidad de las clases sociales, material este ltimo que he utilizado en el contexto referencial a teortico de mi investigacin sobre el comportamiento de las lites en la sociedad venezolana. Hopper refut la tesis de Ralph Turner expuesta en su Sponsored and contest mobility and the school system. Fourth World Congress of Sociology. S. M. Lipset y Reinhard Bendix hacen una discusin de estas cuestines en su libro Social mobility in industrial society (1959)

12

Fuente: Fundacin Venezolana de Promocin al Investigador Esta es entonces la oportunidad para destacar el extraordinario papel del Estado en el desarrollo de la infraestructura acadmica del pas. Ese crecimiento no ha sido paralelo en el sector privado. Como veremos en la Tabla siguiente. Tabla 4 Participacin del sector privado en el Programa del SPI

Universidad UCV LUZ ULA USB UC UDO Otras Univ. Privadas Otras Instituciones.

Numero 608 581 495 273 89 108 264 27 386

SPI %
21,48 20,52 17,48 9,64 3,14 3,81 9,33 0,95 13,63

Fuente: Fundacin Venezolana de Promocin al Investigador

En la Tabla 5 se observa la desigual distribucin de la produccin de conocimiento, entre las universidades autnomas y las experimentales y de ambas con relacin al sector privado. En esta Tabla se incluyen las universidades hasta llegar a las dos instituciones catlicas.

Tabla 5 Distribucin del volumen de produccin de las universidades venezolanas (lista parcial, agrupa al 93 % del total), 2003

I N S T I T U CION Universidad Central de Venezuela Universidad del Zulia Universidad de Los Andes Universidad Simn Bolvar Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Cientficas Universidad de Oriente

TOTAL 608 581 495 273 224 108

% 21,48 20,52 17,48 9,64 7,91 3,81

13
Universidad Centro Occidental Lisandro Alvarado Universidad de Carabobo Universidad Pedaggica Experimental Libertador U. N. E. Simn Rodrguez U. N. E. del Tchira U. N. E. Francisco de Miranda U. N. E. Politcnica Antonio Jos de Sucre - UNEXPO U. N. E. de Guayana U. N. E. de los Llanos Ezequiel Zamora U. N. E. Rmulo Gallegos Universidad Catlica Andrs Bello Universidad Catlica del Tchira 89 89 58 29 19 17 13 11 9 8 7 7 3,14 3,14 2,05 1,02 0,67 0,60 0,46 0,39 0,32 0,28 0,25 0,25

Ahora bien, entre la fecha de publicacin del libro al cual se refiere este trabajo, ocurre entonces que en un nivel modesto pero francamente interesante surgi en Venezuela el perfil de una verdadera comunicacin acadmica, productiva, estrictamente meritocrtica. Esto ha sido posible gracias al inters del Estado y de los actores que han imaginado la factibilidad y posibilidad de estas actividades en el pas. Soy de los que cree que el efecto del nuevo rgimen se ver en la estabilidad de esta pequea comunidad acadmica generada en el SPI, porque las instituciones pueden ser intervenidas, como al parecer pretende el gobierno, pero las comunidades acadmicas son sumamente vulnerables, pero su fortaleza est en que precisamente no pueden ser intervenidas. Pero puede ser fcilmente vulneradas, porque esta comunidad depende por una parte, de la propia estabilidad institucional y en segundo lugar si los programas que ha organizado el sistema para estimular a los investigadores son empelados para control poltico pues esta comunidad disminuir rpidamente, advirtiendo que el interesante aumento ocurrido entre el ao 2000 al 2003 puede obedecer a que la comunidad acadmica ha visto en los ingresos que proporcionalmente pertenecen al SPI una fuente importante para aumentar el estipendio acadmico. Es oportuno anotar que las universidades han avanzado histricamente en fases caractersticas: Tabla 6 Fases de la evolucin y desarrollo de la universidad Fase 1 2 3 4 5 Modelo Docente Investigacin Hbrido, multicampus Acercamiento entre universidad e industria Aparicin de la universidad empresa y de la empresa acadmica Representante Newman Humboldt Kerr Parques tecnolgicos Plataforma tecnolgica: Gates/Bernes-Lee

14

La universidad venezolana se halla en la Fase 1, en trminos generales. La Fase 2 se ha iniciado con fuerza en los finales de los aos 80 del siglo pasado. Esto quiere decir que nuestra universidad es transitoria de la Fase 1 a la 2 pero esta no se ha estabilizado propiamente dicho, como podra demostrarse ante el hecho de que los dos elementos de la Fase 2, los institutos y laboratorios de investigacin y los estudios de doctorado no han cobrado en el pas la fortaleza necesaria. Los primeros son a veces instancias burocrticas, los segundos pattica repeticiones de los estudios de Pregrado, esto es, ms de lo mismo. En todo caso, el pas puede dirigirse en dos direcciones obvias, hacia delante o bien hacia atrs. Tengo la impresin, apoyado en las observaciones directas, que el pas ha escogido, por razones plausibles dentro de sus objetivos regresar al pasado, tornar la universidad como un instrumento ideolgico y poltico directo, creando las condiciones para un supuesto contubernio entre universidad y pueblo. Ante la abundancia de fuentes escojo una que juzgo emblemtica, la expresin de una autoridad acadmica venezolana: ...no es el gobierno el que entrara en las universidades, es el pueblo el que conquistar la transformacin de las mismas, para acceder al conocimiento emancipador. Una de las tareas actuales es cerrar el clima de agitacin necesario para escrutar a la universidad por dentro y exigir su adecuacin al proceso de cambios que escogimos la mayora de los venezolanos, que somos quienes con nuestro dinero las mantenemos... esperamos que ninguna deba ser obligada a cambiar o cerrar sus puertas (Soto, 2003:11) Son palabras aterradoras. Dichas en el ao de 2003. Es llevar el populismo a extremos autoritarios ajenos a la bondad de la universidad como bien de libertad, que acta sin obligaciones y sin constreimientos. Pero ese parece ser el discurso del poder y si esta va ms all de la retrica y lo aplica, pues ello querr decir que la Fase 2, retornar a la fase 1, o peor an a una fase previa, sobre todo si se impone la aberracin conceptual de una universidad que es al mismo tiempo popular, lo cual seala de por si que ya no es universidad, porque lo popular o lo elitesco no definen por si mismos el criterio de lo que es una universidad. Cabe indicar que en Venezuela aun no se posee un instituto tecnolgico equivalente a las universidades principales del pas, la autnomas, como del mismo modo la orientacin de las carreras profesionales sigue aun en el rea de servicios y el de las ciencias, como se ve en la matrcula de carreras como comunicacin social es una de las ms buscadas por los estudiantes venezolanos que acceden a la universidad. Cabe decir que la mayora de los sistemas nacionales de educacin superior en la Regin se hallan en las Fases 1 y 2, pues los pases como Brasil y Mxico han avanzado, con lentitud pero con inters, a la Fase 3. Todo este intento de esquematizacin es muy complejo, por supuesto. Pero solo los pases avanzados han entrado en las Fases 4 y 5 del esquema anterior. Adicionalmente, debe verse todo este panorama dentro del contexto precisamente de un sistema de educacin superior financiado casi enteramente por el Estado, un estado que se concibe como un Estado interventor, de la fase anterior de un Estado supervisor, que cre todo lo que el pas posee en la materia, como hemos comentado anteriormente. Segn la resource dependence theory (Teora de la dependencia de los recursos) ...those who provide resources to organizations such as universities have the capability of exercising great power over those organizations (Pfeffer and Salancik, 1978). En ese sentido es de reconocer que el Estado venezolano ha sido prudente en materia de educacin superior y se ha mantenido en su papel de Estado supervisor. Con el nuevo gobierno, que se define como revolucionario, el Estado opta por otro camino, el del Estado interventor y controlador. Esto reduce las opciones de los acadmicos, sobre todo en ciencias sociales y humanidades, que carecen de la flexibilidad del mercado que tiene otras actividades profesionales y

15
acadmicas, sobre todo las reas de la salud. En todo caso, la educacin superior venezolana opera en forma tal que las unidades del sistema son sumamente dependientes de recursos externos y en el caso de las instituciones del sector privado de los propietarios de las mismas, ms que de las posturas ideolgicas en si mismas. Por ello la universidad venezolana tiene un rango de autonoma menor al deseable porque dependen de las decisiones externas. De modo que si un rgimen quiere intervenir lo hace con enorme facilidad. En ese sentido hablar de autonoma es banal; quizs sea ms apropiado decir que lo tangible es la libertad acadmica, pero esta se halla en peligro, sin duda, porque los regmenes autoritarios no permiten ni la autonoma ni la libertad acadmica20 . El mercado como tal, en la sociedad venezolana, absorbe un volumen relativamente pequeo de conocimiento producido en las universidades, pues estas proveen esencialmente recursos humanos, fcilmente sustituibles porque la oferta profesional es mayor que la demanda, en este momento, al menos, del mismo modo que si el rgimen decide optar por una economa de puerto, el conocimiento en si, pierde valor, pues se adquieren los productos elaborados en otros apoyos acadmicos, esto es, en el exterior. Este segmento de nuestro trabajo ilustra la obvia complejidad del anlisis de la educacin superior, tal que desafa las aproximaciones retricas y superficiales. El caso venezolano, la implosin acadmica y el sndrome de la innovacin En sociedades como Venezuela padecemos lo que puede llamarse el sndrome de la innovacin. Creemos que todo lo que hacemos es la primera vez en la historia. Todo lo creemos de innovacin. Pero ocurre, a menudo, que muchas de las cosas que hacemos son de rutina, de hecho a veces atrasadas. Interesante sealar que los objetivos de dos universidades creadas recientemente en Venezuela no son de innovacin, sino que se insertan en modelos ya superados, de la sociedad del entrenamiento. Primero la Universidad Bolivariana, creada el 24 de julio de 2003. La otra una interesante Universidad Panamericana. La Universidad Bolivariana (UBV) es creada como un instrumento ideolgico del rgimen revolucionario. No tiene otras pretensiones. Surge atada a la sociedad del entrenamiento. Es una actividad de aula, cero investigacin. Interesante que el propio Ministro de Educacin Superior declara en la prensa que el cuerpo docente de esta institucin estar formado por profesores jubilados. El mismo diseo curricular fue elaborado por un equipo ad honorem. En gerencia de personal es ms que obvio que los profesores jubilados, si no estn discontinuados, no estn en condiciones de asumir actividades que podemos denominar normales. Del mismo modo, las actividades supuestamente ad honorem no son las que rinden mejores resultados 21 . La Universidad Panamericana es otra institucin que como la anterior nace vieja, anticuada, demod22 .

20

Vase un anlisis a fondo de esta cuestin en mi libro Higher education strategies in Venezuela: higher education changes under a revolutionary government and the threats to academic freedom and institutional integrity (2003) 21 La UCV ha declarado pblicamente, sin ambigedad, su rechazo a la creacin de esta nueva universidad. La UCV argumenta, con razn, que para la creacin de dicha institucin no se han satisfecho las instancias legales, as como que una nueva institucin drenar fondos -ya escaso- para el resto de las instituciones. La UCV (2003) aclara que Es importante destacar que este Cuerpo en ningn momento manifest su desacuerdo con el Proyecto de la Universidad Bolivariana; sin embargo, vista la forma como se presenta su creacin, considera imperativo se cumpla con los requisitos legales que se exigen para la aprobacin de proyectos de esta naturaleza. Es interesante en la UCV no haya elaborado un anlisis tcnico de esta nueva universidad, que segn las informaciones de prensa carece de todos los requerimientos pedag gicos y tcnicos disponibles y actuales, requisitos para que una universidad tenga legitimidad y viabilidad. 22 No se necesita mayor tcnica futurolgica para predecir que estas universidades navegaran ambas en la ambigedad, el corto plazo y el impacto breve. Vase sobre este tema el libro editado por Richard Cooper, Richard Layard y P.R. Layard, What the future holds: insights from social sciences, 2002. La creacin de esta Universidad Panamericana, que se anuncia como de innovacin pero es tcnicamente hablando una antigualla

16

Este tipo de actividad est ocasionando una especie de implosin acadmica. Tomo este concepto de un fsico, Bollnow, ideas que he desarrollado en otro sitio 23 . Implosin es la liquidacin desde dentro del sistema. Es el conjunto de acciones deliberadas para destruir un sistema, en este caso social, en este caso a la educacin superior de un pas. Denomino en este caso acadmico, implosin cuando un sistema es destruido desde dentro. Al mismo tiempo, es necesario aadir que desde fuera las polticas pblicas favorecen dicho proceso. En el primer caso porque la comunidad no ha resuelto su oposicin en forma de conjunto, sino individual. Es decir, cada institucin ha expresado su defensa de la academia en forma tibia y ni siquiera el sector privado, el ms afectado, ha sido enrgico, sino ms bien blando y simplemente tratando de evitar el conflicto. Desde afuera porque el gobierno, al crear instituciones paralelas implosionan al sector acadmico. Debo destacar que este fenmeno de la implosin tiene laterales. Uno de ellos, menos advertido, es como el sistema de educacin superior se atrasa, ya que al privilegiar lo popular se pierde la estima por lo acadmico. La universidad popular es un fracaso. No ha tenido xito en ningn sitio. Engaa al suponer que abre acceso, pero en verdad castiga a quienes son alejados de la competencia y se les hace creer que obtendrn medios e instrumentos que les permitirn acceso al mercado laboral. De hecho, tcnicamente hablando, la universidad popular es un instrumento idneo para viajar al pasado. Por qu una sociedad en los inicios del siglo XXI elige retornar al pasado, envs de aproximarse al futuro? Tengo algunas pistas, pero son irrelevantes. Las estrategias de desarrollo no son neutras, como se sabe, y suponen decisiones ideolgicas, que son decisiones que obedecen a una racionalidad. En el caso venezolano se generan interrogantes esenciales, como, por ejemplo, puede un gobierno surgido de una legitimidad electoral transformarse en un proceso revolucionario que terminar por desconocer precisamente su legitimidad de origen? Ms aun, pueden desarrollarse estrategias de desarrollo autnomas e independientes en una sociedad dependiente prcticamente de un solo ingreso, en este caso el ingreso petrolero, al mismo tiempo que se liquida la industria nacional no petrolera? La estrategia socialista nacional con vocacin internacional sugiere adems la nocin de un modelo de desarrollo endgeno y autosuficiente, que sin embargo financia la exportacin del modelo planteando, la posible unidad latinoamericana, para enfrentar las fuerzas que le dan dinmica a la globalizacin. Es esto posible? Dichas estrategias no parecen ser viables y terminarn por colocar al proceso venezolano a la defensiva, sobre todo porque al no existir una fuerza alterna como la antigua URSS, que hizo de Cuba un pen internacional para su ofensiva tanto en la Regin como en frica, Venezuela no puede sino exportar su revolucin en forma muy modesta, de hecho actuando solo como un apoyo a la difusin de la propia figura de su lder mximo, Chvez, pero sin influir en lo mas mnimo en los pases que se van por otra va, sobre todo Mxico, Argentina y Brasil, que enfatizan ms bien proyectos reformistas de desarrollo, fundamentalmente modelos exgenos de desarrollo 24 . Tengo inters en corregir la definicin del modelo venezolano. Los lderes de la revolucin bolivariana dicen que es un modelo endgeno pero referencias nos sealan que pudiera ser una variante interesante, un modelo exgeno neocolonia, habida cuenta de la extraa como sorprendente relacin de Venezuela con Cuba. Por ejemplo, cuando Venezuela adopta el supuesto mtodo cubano de alfabetizacin no solo importa los supuestos expertos, sino tambin se importan de Cuba 50.000 televisores y se imprimen en la isla todos los materiales del programa sealado. La tecnologa de produccin de televisores es estndar
al nacer, me recuerda al tipo que en la ciudad de Barquisimeto inventoel avin monomotor y ejecuto la hazaa de volar de esa ciudad a la de Maracaibo, hace unos cinco u ocho aos. 23 Vase mi documento The de-creasing importance of knowledge production and circulation in developing countries the implosion of academic life. Paper prepared for the 13th World Conference on Cooperative Education, Towards a Knowledge Society, Integrating Learning and Work. 26-29 August 2003, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. 24 Tengo inters en corregir la definicin del modelo venezolano. Los lderes de la revolucin bolivariana dicen que es un modelo endgeno, pero referencias incidentales nos sealan que pudiera ser una variante interesante, un modelo exgeno neocolonial.

17
y se pueden fabricar en el pas, dem la boina impresa con la industria desarrollada venezolana, mucho ms avanzada que la cubana. Se aumenta el desempleo criollo y se aumenta el empleo cubano, como ocurre con las importaciones de Brasil. Es ese un desarrollo endgeno? No, es exgeno neocolonial. Es un modelo o un vasallaje? Es una nueva versin de la subordinada reaccin de la cual hablaba Memmi? 25 . Lo nico importante es advertir que la nica institucin que en una sociedad moderna nos permite estar conectados con el futuro es la universidad, la institucin acadmica, destinada por oficio a ser el observatorio del conocimiento. An las revistas de divulgacin nos sealan los caminos del futuro, en materia de invenciones e innovaciones. Un estudio del World Economic Forum seala 10 invenciones que se cocinan en lo actuales momentos, que influirn en los prximos aos, a toda la humanidad26 . Parece superfluo decir que ninguna se ha generado en Venezuela. En la Regin27 solamente en el caso de Brasil28 . Estamos en materia de invenciones e innovaciones, ubicados en el rea de la marginalidad. No somos actores, sino espectadores. Pero es que el mundo es un espectador y un consumidor de los avances cientficos y tecnolgicos que se hace en lugares privilegiados del mundo, tanto en las reas duras como en las blandas. Pareciera, entonces, que pases chicos y atrasados como el nuestro deberamos de aproximarnos a esa punta del saber, porque de otro modo nos atrasamos aun ms, esto es, se produce el efecto bolnow, de implosin en este caso acadmica, como la llamo. No deja de ser un dramtico indicador el nfasis que se hace, de pronto, en una campaa de alfabetizacin, con obvios propsitos ideolgicos, pero que al mismo tiempo revela nuestra condicin de pas atrasado, en penuria educativa. Por supuesto, como bien sabemos los expertos en el rea esta campaa apenas araa problemas ms profundos del nivel educativo de la sociedad venezolana. En todo caso el proyecto de una universidad popular tiende al atraso, porque su objetivo es la homogenizacin ideolgica y de hecho ello elimina la competitiva, y la capacidad de innovacin y de hecho la capacidad creativa. Elimina al individuo e impone la nocin de colectivo. Como seala Sterling, Inventors persist because bureaucracies create their own weaknesses29 . Es lo que ocurre con esta nocin de universidad popular, bolivariana. Esto es, que es un paso burocrtico, que crea inercia en el proceso de innovacin, si bien fortalece, al menos en apariencia, el proceso ideolgico revolucionario venezolano. De hecho se origina un discurso fundamentalista que niega de raz disenso y crtica. Cuando el futuro se desarrolla a partir de las ideas de alguien que vivi hace caso doscientos aos es poco probable que se tenga xito. Si tal como ocurre el mundo ha evolucionado ms desde 1945 hasta 2003 que en el resto de la historia de la humanidad30 , pues lo que aconteci
25

Vase por Albert Memmi su libro The colonizer and the colonized (1965). Esta edicin tine un extraordinario prlogo escrito por Jean-Paul Sartre, quien expresa en algn momento que A peoples misfortune will become its courage; it will make, of its endless rejection by colonialism, the absolute rejection of colonization 26 Vase los datos del World Economic Forum. 27 Por ejemplo, el fascinante nivel de invencin de la ciencia de la alimentacin nos permitir consumir en pocos aos todas nuestros azcares sin caloras. Eso se hace en un laboratorio de la universidad de Rutgers. La sensacin tactil de tela de alto costo, por ejemplo, se desarrolla en el politcnico de Zurich. 28 Vase la edicin de Newsweek, july 7, (2003) sobre Inventions that will change the world. 29 Vase el libro por Bruce Sterling Tomorrow now: envisioning the next fifty years. Random House. New York (2002) 30 De hecho la mayor parte de lo que usamos en 2003 ha sido inventado en los ltimos 25 aos, instrumentos vitales tales como el computador y el telfono celular. Incluso, la mayor parte de los iconos histricos y virtuales que manejan las nuevas generaciones han sido ideados, unos y otros, en los ltimos 20 o 30 aos. Los hroes del pasado, Napolen, Bolvar, Carlomagno, son smbolos remotos, que no dicen nada a las nuevas generaciones. De no ser por el afn artificial de los gobernantes venezolanos Bolvar no fuese sino una

18
hace doscientos aos es materia de arqueologa tiene solo un valor esttico o fundamentalista, equiparable al pensamiento religioso que busca en las doctrinas bsicas del pasado, la revelacin acerca del futuro. Parece sacrilegio decirlo, pero en el mundo interesa ms lo que diga y haga Bill Gates o Berners-Lee que lo que haya dicho, escrito o realizado Bolvar o Zamora sobre todo este ltimo, un brbaro de quien no se conoce sino una infeliz proclama militar. Pero a menudo se impone en los pases atrasados estas visiones anacrnicas, asincrnicas y desfasadas de la realidad31 . Basar una estrategia en ideas de hace doscientos aos es simplemente una fantasa. La unin de Amrica latina y el Caribe es un ideal inalcanzable. Lo real y efectivo es el refuerzo del estado nacin y el progreso de la Regin tiene que depender de la pluralidad de naciones y no de la hiptesis de que juntos progresaran ms. La existencia de un sper estado que pudiese entrar a la par con los grandes poderes mundiales es ya no solo una fantasa sino un trgico error. Por supuesto, la Regin es poderosa, pero como mercado, no tanto como exportador de un modelo. La Regin nunca ha impuesto al mundo un modelo de desarrollo. La estrategia adecuada, entonces, es competir, negociar y comprender las limitaciones. La educacin superior, en esas condiciones, tiene que ser un modelo adaptativo e innovativo al nivel de sus pares del primer mundo. Pero bajo el entendido de que nuestras universidades carecen de los recursos para instalar la infraestructura propicia para invenciones e innovaciones en masa. Por ello la urgencia de pasar de la universidad de la era del entrenamiento a la sociedad de la era del conocimiento. Pero ello requiere fondos que, precisamente, son escasos, y el podero de un aparato industrial que prcticamente solo poseen en la Regin Brasil y Mxico32 . Entendmonos, sin un aparato industrial y una masa de consumo, las demandas por los resultados y aplicaciones del conocimiento no pueden ser formuladas. Por ello, lamentablemente, la educacin superior en pases pequeos de la Regin, Venezuela uno de ellos, pero otros del mismo modo, como los pases del Caribe y de Amrica Central, que son los ms dbiles de la Regin, se deslizan hacia modelos burocrticos, del modelo docente, no hacia el modelo de entrepreneurs y el modelo e investigacin. As de sencillo, para decirlo con un horrible lugar comn de origen sajn.

vaga memoria. Personalmente he vivido mi existencia escuchando este entusiasmo, a menudo nostlgico y siempre cursi, a Bolvar, desde las organizaciones bolivarianas organizadas por el gobierno de Lpez Contreras hasta este delirio de Bolvar en los tiempos de Chvez. 31 Este artculo est escrito para una revista venezolana, de modo que no necesito ilustrar a mis compatriotas acerca del carcter fundamentalista y atraso del pensamiento revolucionario que en este momento sirve de gua para nuestro desarrollo. Hace poco y mientras escriba este trabajo (sabado 28 de junio de 2003, televisora nacional, hora 7:45 pm, el lder mximo de nuestra revolucin alertaba a que en el ao 2030 se cumplirn 200 aos de la muerte del Libertador y que esta fecha sera el lmite para que se lograse la unidad latinoamericana. Quinquera que se proponga esa bastraccion de la unidad latinoamericana fracasar en su intento, como fracaso Bolivar, quien murio desplazado del poder, simplemente y no asesinado por la oligaquia. Por qu no dejamos a Bolivar bien muerto y nos couamos los vivos de ralizar nuestro sueo y no tratar inuitlemnet de realizar el semo de otros? Pero es que, parafraseando a Ortega, el torero, Bolvar da para todo, expresion dicha en andaluz. En todo caso, basar una estrategia en ideas de hace doscientos aos es simplemente una fantasa. 32 Hallo interesante, por ejemplo, observar como el lderazgo poltico de la Regin lo va a tener siempre el Brasil y no los lderes de pases ms chicos. Ergo, el venezolano estar siempre a la sombra de lderes como Cardozo o ahora Da Silva. El lder obvio de una estrategia de reacomodo entre la Regin y el mundo externo es Lula, que tiene la posibilidad de origen de ser un lder mundial, porque Brasil tiene ese potencial. Un lder en quin se confa en su pas, que puede negociar con el mundo de las multinacionales y de la globalizacin como demostr en la reunin de Davos y con el Presidente Bush, al mismo tiempo que presenta un dossier impecable como lder de la izquierda, cada vez ms moderada. Hay que ser francamente ignorante de la historia de la Regin y de sus ndices de fortaleza para omitir el hecho de que en esta Regin hay hoy por hoy solo dos pases capaces de tener sistemas de educacin superior de avanzada, Brasil y Mxico, que junto a India, Australia, China, Canad y Nueva Zelanda se incorporan a la lite acadmica internacional. Todos ellos pases de gobiernos reformistas y anclados en el desarrollo capitalista.

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La revolucin bolivariana aos perdidos para la educacin superior en Venezuela o una oportunidad nica para el mejoramiento acadmico?
Se observa una situacin crtica en Venezuela, durante los aos de la nueva revolucin, en este caso la bolivariana, otro adjetivo para nuestra vocacin revolucionaria. Habiendo nacido en 1932 viv en toda su intensidad la famosa Revolucin de Octubre, cuando tena 13 aos de edad. Era la poca de Rmulo Betancourt, el fogoso lder civil, y del general de turno, Marcos Prez Jimnez, el smbolo de la opresin, para los miembros de mi generacin. Ahora, cuando tengo 71 aos de edad, veo la repeticin de esa vocacin revolucionaria. Ahora es la bolivariana, el lder militar es esta vez al igual que entonces el tpico lder que conspira con la constitucin y las leyes, para alzarse en armas, como los caudillos del siglo XIX. Pero no quiero elaborar en este punto, excepto sealar que hallo en palabras de V. S. Naipaul mucho de lo que explica el sentido de la revolucin de esto das. Al referirse a un personaje su fascinante novela Among the believers, an islamic journey (1981) escribi lo que pudiera decirse de buena parte del espritu de esta revolucin bolivariana, hecha por quienes, en singular, deca Naipual: He was the kind of man who, without political doctrine, only with resentments, has made the Iranian revolution. En efecto, se halla poca doctrina y mucho resentimiento en esta revolucin actual. Sumamente anti-intelectual, llama a los intelectuales estpidos ilustrados no me siento aludido, dicho sea de paso, soy intelectual, pero no estpido. Un Ministro llama a los acadmicos acadmicos perfumados tampoco me siento aludido, soy acadmico, pero no me perfumo, si es a esto que se refera el ciudadano Ministro. En general se hace burla de quienes hemos obtenido ttulos acadmicos en el exterior ello, curiosamente, por quienes hicieron lo propio, esto es, obtener ttulos en el exterior, en universidades de prestigio, con ayuda oficial, como fue mi caso, con beca de la UVC. En todo caso, se observa un enorme resentimiento hacia la educacin superior, hacia la academia 33 . En este sentido me permito repetir que el apoyo de los gobiernos y del Estado es absolutamente esencial para el progreso de la educacin superior, de la ciencia, de la tecnologa, de la cultura. Sera largo enumerar todos los ejemplos de cmo el Estado ha impulsado el progreso, desde los esfuerzos de Napolen hasta los efectuados en USA, sobre todo por Roosevelt y por Kennedy. Todos los pases europeos exhiben el poderoso y fundamental papel del Estado. Pero la falta del mismo frustra esperanzas y posibilidades. En el caso venezolano el apoyo del Estado ha sido sostenido y permanente. En el lapso de 1958-1998 permiti la expansin formidable del sector, incluyendo la proteccin que se ha otorgado al sector privado, abierto en el pas en circunstancia de estar el pas bajo rgimen militar (1954) Pero desde el inicio de la revolucin actual se ha privado a la educacin superior de ayuda y de apoyo. Tengo una interpretacin que explica a mi juicio el porqu de esta situacin. En primer lugar el actual gobierno es un gobierno militar. Estos gobiernos tienden a ser sumamente anti intelectuales, como entiendo es el lder de la revolucin actual. En segundo lugar, se trata de un gobierno popular, que desconfa de la s elucubraciones propias de los acadmicos y de los tecncratas. Tercero, es un rgimen que quiere montar su propio aparato institucional, caso en el cual desmonta el aparato institucional anterior y a partir de cero monta el suyo, esto es, crea sus propias instituciones, en este caso la Universidad Bolivariana, como es natural ensayar sobre todo porque algn gobernante de antigua ralea le quito a la actual revolucin el placer de crear una Universidad Simn Rodrguez (1974) o una Universidad Ezequie l Zamora (1975) Pero, a mi juicio, muy importante, retornando para ello a mis anlisis del movimiento estudiantil, porque la revolucin no poda dejar de apreciar el enorme potencial de movilizacin que
33

El propio Presidente de la Repblica hace alusin frecuente a Esos engredos que tienen ttulos de Ph. D. De no s que universidad en el exterior. Interpreto que es un ataque anti-intelectual a la academia pues esta se rige segn principios meritocrticos, uno de los anatemas del Sr. Presidente venezolano, militar de profesion y segn confesion propia soldado de vocacion.

20
significa la poblacin estudiantil. Por ello, simplemente, en vez aupar a la universidad acadmica, a los tecncratas y tecnlogos, a lo que no entienden, promueven movilizacin estudiantil. Por ello crean organizaciones estudiantiles oficiales, cuyos lderes son activistas polticos e ideolgicos. Esto ultimo, el fin supremo de toda revolucin, la ideologizacin. La revolucin de octubre ideologizaba en funcin de la democracia y la estabilidad poltica, la actual lo hace en funcin de un modelo socialista, anti-imperialista anti-globalizador, y apuesta a la inestabilidad poltica. Por supuesto, cuando el estado va en contra de sus instituciones de educacin superior ocurren cosas trgicas, como es el caso de la Revolucin Cultural China, que liquid toda una generacin de universitarios, o como ha ocurrido en cualquiera de las dictaduras de la Regin, a lo largo del siglo XIX y XX. Se supone que los pases aprenden de los errores. La experiencia, se supone, provee a los hombres y sus sociedades con instrumentos que permitan evitar los errores cometidos, e el pasado. Este n trabajo tiene como objetivo sealar como los errores cometidos al elaborarse polticas y estrategias de la educacin superior ponen de manifiesto que no se ha aprendido de la experiencia y que muchos de los errores se van a repetir, probablemente con trgicas consecuencias para la educacin superior. Voy a argumentar en este documento que cuando se produjo la reforma ms importante hasta entonces ocurrida en la educacin superior venezolana, en 1958, se produjeron cambios notables, pero se cometi, del mismo modo un costoso error de origen, que es un lastre importante en el actual funcionamiento del sistema. Por otra parte, al iniciarse la revolucin bolivariana se estn cometiendo lo que me permito llamar errores de proceso. Ello va a suponer que as como los 80 fueron la dcada perdida, los aos de la revolucin bolivariana venezolana sern aos perdidos, porque las polticas y estrategias en la materia parece que cierran en vez de abrir las posibilidades de mejoramiento de la variable esencial que mide el rendimiento institucional en educacin superior, la calidad Los aos de 1980 sern recordados en Amrica Latina como la dcada perdida (Schwartzman, 1993) .Adelantamos, por supuesto, lo obvio, que el rgimen revolucionario ha escogido otra variable, perfectamente defendible, ciertamente. La equidad. La cuestin es obvia: es posible un trade-off entre equidad y calidad? En todo caso las lecciones de la experiencia parecen no ser tomadas en cuenta. Al analizar las causa de la dcada prdida Scharzman ha argumentado que si la Regin aprendiese ciertas lecciones de la experiencia de aquella dcada no se habra perdido completamente. Segn el socilogo brasileo cinco serian las lecciones que serviran de experiencia: 1. la primera leccin es que ningn modelo de educacin superior, por si solo, puede ser una respuesta adecuada a las complejidades de la demanda 2. los gobiernos sern cada vez menos competentes para mantener, supervisar y responder por la calidad en educacin superior 3. la tercera lecciones que sera ingenuo esperar que en la Regin las instituciones de educacin superior hagan cambios por si mismas, pero sera aun peor pretende que estos cambios puedan ser introducidos a travs de imposiciones gubernamentales o remiendos de gerencia acadmica 4. La cuarta leccin es que el patrimonio cientfico tecnolgico y las competencias acadmicas que existen en la Regin, son un logro valioso que no debe ser debilitado en el nombre de intereses pragmticos, limitados y buscando el igualitarismo como el principio rector. 5. en quinto lugar es que se debe rechazar el anti-intelectualismo y las actitudes banales que han acompaado a menudo las frustradas reformas y propuesta de reforma elaboradas en estos aos

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Hay otros documentos que hablan de las le cciones de la experiencia (World Bank, 1994), pero en todos los casos la experiencia seala que la Regin tiene un camino interesante, reforzar la parte acadmica de las universidades. Es lo que han hecho pases como Chile, Brasil y Mxico, que son los pases ms avanzados de la Regin, en este momento. Este esfuerzo se ha hecho gracias a dos criterios, elevada inversin y respetar que sea la academia la que verifique sus patrones de comportamiento. Todo dicho esfuerzo orientado hacia el mejoramiento de la calidad, sobre todo aplicando procedimientos gerenciales como el knowledge management y las knowledge communities, que permitan elevar los niveles de calidad, en forma progresiva y constante (Albornoz, 1990) En todo caso hablo de dos errores histricos, el error de origen y el error de proceso. Ello exige una breve explicacin. La educacin superior, error de origen y error de proceso: la politizacin e ideologizacin de un sistema escolar, Venezuela 1948-2003. En verdad es justo reconocer que el sistema de educacin superior venezolano es de breve creacin, apenas medio siglo. Antes de 1958 lo que exista era minsculo. La gran expansin se produjo como consecuencia de los gobiernos democrticos, en ese largo lapso entre 1958 y 1998. Es un logro excepcional el de esos aos. Se abrieron instrucciones se expandi la matrcula, se ampli el empleo en el mbito de profesores, empleados y obreros. Se protegi la ciencia y la tecnologa, se abrieron y ampliaron posibilidades inditas en la formacin de recursos humanos en el exterior. De hecho todo el personal profesional activo en y dentro de los cuadros revolucionarios actuales fue entrenado en el exterior, con proteccin oficial. Pero se cometi lo que llamo error de origen. Por una parte se politiz en exceso el procedimiento de expansin, pues se dej abierto el control y supervisin estatal a los gobiernos, cada uno de los cuales protegi a sus cuadros, con detrimento de opciones que debieron ser atendidas. Si se hace una historia objetiva de cada institucin creada se observa como existi un manejo personal del procedimiento, si entiendo que esta es una manera elegante de decirlo. Un ejemplo interesante es el caso de la Universidad Simn Bolvar, creada bajo la imagen y semejanza de su fundador, o el de la Universidad Simn Rodrguez, universidad Adeca o el del Colegio Francisco de Miranda, una institucin bajo el control del partido social cristiano. De hecho muchas instituciones sern creadas con adjetivos polticos. En segundo lugar, con el buen nimo de proteger a los actores institucionales se crearon programas de bienestar que justificados en su momento han generado un lastre improbable de poder sostener. Ello se ha convertido en un impedimento formidable. Naturalmente, la solucin est a la mano, cual es aplicar programas de ajuste estructural, pero ellos estn negados, absolutamente, en gobierno populista, como el revolucionario actual, idntico, dicho sea de paso, al populismo de la revolucin de octubre34 . Cada gobierno tiene un lapso perentorio para innovar, en decisiones estratgicas. Cada nuevo gobierno es una oportunidad, para reafirmar. En el caso de la educacin superior venezolana podra decirse que el arribo al gobierno de un presidente elegido con una amplia mayora era una ocasin irrepetible, probablemente, para tratar de hacer un necesario over-haul en un sistema de escolaridad que, al menos, presentaba signos de fatiga, para 1998. Fatiga esta simbolizada en un rgimen de privilegios, de los diversos estamentos que operan al interno de las instituciones, que lesionan las posibilidades de desarrollo, pero en vez de eliminar estos privilegios han sido reforzados y de hecho ampliados. Pero, contrario al sentido comn, se ha elegido una drstica poltica de abandono
34

Hallo fascinante las mltiples analogas entre ambas revoluciones. En aquella oportunidad era facil observar el ascenso de nuevos grupos socilaes, que se movan verticalmente, gracias al poder poltico. Del mismo modo es interesante la mencion en uno y otro caso del tema tnico. Los adecos de 1945 eran para los blancos de la epoca del ascenso de los negros. En la actual revolucin el propio lder principal se vanagloria de ser zambo y el propio Canciller venezolano introduce el tema en una reunin internacional, aludiendo tambin al tema religioso, temas ambos, entonces, el tnico y el religioso, ingredientes de las disputas ideolgicas en Venezuela.

22
acadmico, si bien, debe decirse, el gobierno solvent deudas de los profesores atrasadas desde hacia varios aos. Pero los rasgos autoritarios y anti-intelectuales del rgimen actual estn creando condiciones que atentan contra la necesaria modernizacin. En efecto, el gobierno ha decido acelerar el frente populista, en vez de alimentar las necesidades acadmicas. Naturalmente, no se esperaba un ajuste estructural en un gobierno como el de la revolucin bolivariana, pero tampoco el haber negado avances indispensables que estn siendo obviados. El smbolo de esta nueva poltica de educacin superior es la creacin de la universidad popular, un contrasentido histrico, porque dicho modelo no satisface necesidades perentorias del aparato productivo. La UCV, la principal universidad del pas, sin duda, ha expresado su preocupacin sobre esta cuestin. Un documento presentado al Consejo Universitario, por los decanos de dicha institucin, pone de manifiesto las necesidades imperiosas de este sector 35 . No se trata solamente de las insuficie ncias presupuestarias comunes, sino de nuevos sntomas de un deterioro y estancamiento, que se anticipa prolongado. Mi interpretacin para que esto acontezca es que el rgimen actual no necesita a la educacin superior del pas. Como no necesita al aparato productivo nacional. Lentamente ha ido debilitando ambos estamentos. En materia del intenso proceso de des-industrializacin ha apelado a la tcnica de la importacin de los rubros bsicos de la alimentacin: pollo, carne de vacuno, arroz, harinas, azcar y as sucesivamente. En cuanto a la educacin superior existe poco aprecio por la misma. De hecho hay una sobre apreciacin del estamento militar, con detrimento del acadmico. Ello coloca a la sociedad venezolana en una encrucijada, pues en vez de avanzar nos hace retroceder, en un intento deliberado por parte de un gobierno, un hecho inslito y verdaderamente indito. Esto es, un gobierno que ejecuta una tcnica destinada a cambiar el Estado, la sociedad y las formas de expresin del poder, todo ello con el visible propsito, difcil de comprender, de atrasar el precario nivel de desarrollo del pas para concentrar el poder en pocas manos, de hechos en la persona y figura del lder mximo de la revolucin bolivariana, que como todo otro poder personal terminar manejando una sociedad segn su arbitrio y discrecin. La periodizacin ideolgica de la educacin superior venezolana 1. Se distinguen varias etapas en la evolucin de la educacin superior venezolana. Depende el criterio que se use para la periodizacin. Dos etapas distingo en el desarrollo y evolucin de la educacin en Venezuela. Antes de 1948 es improbable hablar de educacin superior, sino de un reducido nmero de instituciones. Es entre los aos de 1945-48 que comienza a tejerse en nuestra sociedad el aparato institucional de una sociedad moderna, incluida la educacin superior. Entre 1848-1958 aparece una dictadura militar, que instala un manejo de la represin poltica, pues persegua a sus enemigos, entre ellos los miembros de Accin Democrtica, el partido de gobierno depuesto en noviembre de 1948. En esa dcada se impone un proceso de persecucin y vigilancia, por parte del rgimen y las universidades fueron reducidas a su mnima expresin. En esa dcada (1953) ocurre un hecho interesante, la apertura del sector privado. 2. Entre 1958-1998 ocurre el largo proceso de modernizacin de la educacin superior, caracterizado por expansin, en todos los renglones, libertad acadmica e institucional, pugnas por el control que derivaron en acciones tales como la renovacin de 1970 y as sucesivamente. Se moderniz el sistema en una palabra y se cre la incipiente y modesta, como consolidada, fuerza acadmica propia de un pas moderno, la comunidad acadmica.
35

El Nacional, 5 de Julio de 2003, p. B-13. Aluden en ese documento a dos cuestiones bsicas: 1. la descapitalizacin de personal acadmico, tcnico y de servicio. 2. la drstica reduccin presupuestaria. Ambas cosas sealan un evidente atraso en el desarrollo institucional.

23

Distingo, del mismo modo, tres modelos bsicos, ideolgicamente hablando. En el sentido tcnico de la palabra modelo hemos tenido solo uno, el hispnico, con influencia breves de ndole francesa y marcada de ndole norteamericana, pero en todos los casos en la esfera docente, porque el rea de investigacin y la formacin de la comunidad acadmica proviene de Mxico, pero esa es otra historia 36 . Durante el rgimen militar encabezado pblicamente, al menos, por Prez Jimnez, la universidad fue intervenida pero no suprimida, era una persecucin poltica. Interpreto que el rgimen encabezado por otro militar, Chvez, tiene un proyecto de intervencin y control de la universidad. Si hay alguna persecucin esta no ser poltica, sino ideolgica. Es decir, ya no se trata de estar a favor o en contra de un partido poltico, sino a favor o en contra de un proceso. Entre 1958-98 gobern una nocin de democracia plural, cuyo error de origen fue la politizacin, bajo dicho criterio se repartieron los cargos y los beneficios de la educacin superior, de modo tal que cada gobierno manejaba parcelas de poder en esta rea, incluyendo a los del partido social demcrata, el partido social cristino y la izquierda del Movimiento al Socialismo. En el 1999-2003 es la ideologizacin, control estatal, la depuracin, la universidad popular, la universidad bolivariana. En este caso estamos hablando de los lapsos de gobiernos civiles y militares. A partir de 1948 tenemos los venezolanos un gobierno militar, entre 1958 y 1998 cuatro dcadas de gobierno civil y desde entonces un gobierno militar, constitucional, debe aadirse. En cuanto a los modelos ideolgicos que sustentan a la sociedad venezolana podramos hablar grosso modo de tres modelos: Tabla 7. Modelo Educativo Ideolgico Modelo educativo ideolgico elitista liberal populista

Caractersticas el modelo proveniente de la sociedad tradicional que permanece inclume hasta la ruptura producida en el trieno 1945-48 y que retorna en la dcada entre 1948-1958 El modelo apoyado por los gobiernos democrticos que gobernaron el pas entre 1958-1998, un moldeo hbrido entre excelencia y populismo El modelo a partir de 199837 .

Ello no quiere decir que esencialmente el populismo y clientelismo no haya surgido en la poca liberal, pero en esta poca haba flexibilidad, oportunidades diversas, bien aprovechadas por algunos grupos sociales mas que por otros. Interesante decir que toda la lite dirigente actual fue formada en esas cuatro dcadas, incluyendo por supuesto a los lderes militares. Por modelo elitista queremos decir un proyecto en el cual se acepta como una premisa que el volumen individual que cada persona recibir del proceso escolar est directamente asociado a la capacidad de dicho individuo para contribuir a la productividad del sistema econmico de la sociedad en cuestin. Este rgimen acepta la premisa de la early separation of people, unos para ser miembros de la lite, otros
36

El SPI se origina en la influencia le modelo mexicano, organizado por Jos Sarukan y Salvador Malo en la UNAM. 37 De entre los numerosos documentos que explican la interpretacin ideolgica del modelo populista de la revolucin bolivariana alo que uno de los ms ntidos es Aportes para la reflexin en torno a la discusin curricular, MECD, septiembre de 2002.

24
de la masa. Es el principio rector del eleven plus britnico, o el mismo principio aplicado en la URSS, a partir del examen de seleccin, si bien los fundamento son criterios eran distintos en cada caso. Es en esencia la teora de los recursos humanos y el modelo de la sociedad del entrenamiento. El modelo ideolgico populista es lo contrario, acuerda que cada cual tiene el derecho de recibir el mximo volumen de escolaridad, independientemente del valor agregado de dicho volumen en el proceso de produccin y productividad. Este modelo se afirma en sociedades del tipo de la rentseeking economy, mientras que el primer modelo es altamente productivo, altamente competitivo. Entre ambos aparece un hbrido, que fue el que hemos unido en Venezuela, populismo, elitismo, seleccin por clase social, desigualdad de oportunidades, apertura de las mismas. Hemos tenido un sistema que ha obedecido al principio de Gambetta, Were they pushed or did they jump? (1987). Algunos fueron empujados, otros halados, otros brincaron, pero se ha mantenido una relativa amplia capacidad de movilizacin social a travs de la movilizacin escolar. Ello ha resultado en el caso venezolano en una sociedad ms abierta que muchas de sus contrapartes en la Regin, incluyendo el caso de la sociedad cubana, supuestamente abierta, pero ms bien rgida segn las normas de la nomenclatura pero sobre todo mucho ms abierta en sociedades como la colombiana o la peruana o la mexicana y as sucesivamente. De hecho esta sociedad abierta como principio ha sido a mi juicio el logro ms importante del proceso histrico de la sociedad venezolana, desde que Pez en 1830 desplaz a la oligarqua caraquea encarada en el lder Simn Bolvar, hoy en da un supuesto lder popular, como consecuencia de la alquimia de los intereses creados. El error de proceso se refiere a como un procesos ideolgico quiere eliminar la universidad. Esto es, en vez de mejorar el existente se pretende cambiarlo, siguiendo el sndrome del ao cero. Por supuesto, esto tendr efectos acumulativos, pues al error de origen simplemente se aadir el error de proceso. Merton concepto of retreatism es el sndrome criollo o chavista de retornar a un supuesto origen y recomenzar la historia. Ello no es posible, si bien es plausible. La dinmica de los sistemas sociales as lo impide. Los sistemas sociales y sus instituciones sufren de fatiga. La academia venezolana padece dicha fatiga y ello como consecuencia de un error de origen sumamente interesante de analizar. Esta patologa social se expresa a travs del bajo rendimiento venezolano en varios indicadores empleados para medir la eficiencia institucional. Esto es, el sistema venezolano de educacin superior y sus distintas expresiones a travs de los otros niveles de la escolaridad, el aparado cultural y la actividad en ciencia y tecnologa. Me he propuesto en este trabajo argumentar que la educacin superior en Venezuela padece de dos errores esenciales, que entorpecen su crecimiento y desarrollo, error de origen y error de proceso.

De la sociedad del entrenamiento a la sociedad del conocimiento

Venezuela ha sido sumamente exitosa para responder a los retos y necesidades de la sociedad del entrenamiento. Los gobiernos que hemos tenido en el pas, entre 1958 y 1998 acometieron con xito esa responsabilidad. Tanta, dicho sea de paso, que todos los que hoy dirigen a la educacin superior del pas, en la OPSU, en el MES, en el MCT, fueron entrenados en ese largo y fructfero perodo. El error de origen sealado no impidi, entonces, que la visin ideolgica de la democracia favoreciese una dinmica que moviliz acceso y oportunidades. La expansin del sistema de educacin superior es un hecho formidable. Lo hizo el Estado, pero tambin el sector privado, que ha venido creciendo en forma vigorosa, si bien a menudo en forma anrquica y siguiendo intereses dirigidos hacia objetivos mercantiles ms que acadmicos, pero han prestado un servicio invalorable al progreso del pas. Pero no hemos tenido xito en desarrollar los fundamentos de una sociedad del conocimiento estable y prometedora. Todo lo contrario, la mentalidad del actual gobierno es regresar a las etapas

25
iniciales de la sociedad del entrenamiento. Quien piensa en estos trminos cree que entrenamiento es control. Obsrvese que en estos das un funcionario deca que haba que alfabetizar a corto plazo. Del mismo modo acontece que se quiere sustituir a la universidad acadmica por la universidad popular, una aberracin. Un esquema sencillo nos permite ver, en forma resumida, dos visiones de la universidad, con referentes que son excluyentes, la institucin acadmica y la mencionada popular, un ardid populista costoso e inefectivo: Tabla 8 Universidad Acadmica y Universidad Popular

Universidad acadmica Es un espacio de vnculo internacional. Es competitiva en esa rea y los referentes son los pares de la comunidad internacional Es una institucin de invencin, innovacin y vanguardia. Es democrtica porque premia mritos y no adscripciones

Universidad popular

Es una interpretacin nacional, de hecho local y provinciano, sin referentes, ni siquiera con el sistema nacional de educacin superior Planteamiento: conservador, clasista y racista. Es adscriptiva, afectiva y subjetiva. A pesar de que se propone incluir terminar por excluir, una paradoja interesante Innovacin y progreso Trabaja con tcnicas de rutina, conceptualmente hablando, sobre todo dedicada exclusivamente al modelo docente Abre oportunidades y consolida movilidad Abre acceso, pero al no poseer mecanismos de vertical obligacin el acceso es informal y por ende el entrenamiento suele ser deficiente Es de nivel de excelencia, de rigor, de severidad Procesos obsoletos del conocimiento Acceso al conocimiento de punta No tiene referentes en cuanto a la innovacin del conocimiento Principios acadmicos contrastables, evaluacin Principios coyunturales, de conveniencia, estandarizada evaluacin doctrinaria Sociedad del conocimiento (NTIC) Entrenamiento / Universidad del aula (tiza y borrador) Tiene una fundamentacin epistemolgica, Tiene una fundamentacin doctrinaria , cuya cientfica y tecnolgica, mediante la cual abarca epistemologa es estrictamente ideolgica, si as el universo del saber puede decirse, que abarca solamente posturas pragmticas frente al saber Es duradera en el tiempo y en el espacio, es Es circunstancial, generalmente limitada en el miembro activo de la comunidad internacional tiempo y el espacio. De hecho se inicia atada a un gobierno, si este proyecto termina desaparece la institucin. Rescato de este esquema la infeliz frase dicha el Ministro de Educacin Superior, segn la cual en Venezuela tendramos que regresar a la poca de la tiza y el borrador. Digo infeliz (la frase, no el Ministro) porque en efecto revela que quienes nos dirigen en esta materia no se han percatado de los avances tecnolgicos en la materia educativa. Los manejan, ciertamente, pero no han valorizado su papel cultural. Por ello nos estamos quedando atrs en esta materia. Tiza y borrador en la poca de las nuevas y avanzadas tecnologas de la informacin? ms aun, podremos entonces adquirir en el pas las nuevas y avanzadas tecnologas de l informacin, como el Wi-Fi (Wireless Fidelity a Alliance) y poder adquirir las bases de datos y los materiales educativos disponibles cuya adquisicin forma parte de otra visin, mas all de la tiza y el borrador? Por cierto, dichas

26
tecnologas no solucionan los problemas del desarrollo acadmico, sino que de hecho hacen ms difciles las tareas acadmicas. Pero el error de proceso esencial sera el trade-off y creer que la calidad puede mejorarse aumentando la equidad, una fantasa, como puede demostrarse, porque abrir el acceso no garantiza sino que la escolaridad superior se convertir rpidamente en un mecanismo de ascenso vertical hacia nuevas clases sociales y si se quiere hacia grados distintos de conciencia de clase, en este caso la clase privilegiada de los educados en el nivel superior, que rpidamente reclaman los privilegios estandarizados para este segmento social. Qu hacer? Es elemental que para hacer hay que saber. Quizs preocupe que exista un bajo nivel de experiencia tcnica en los organismos dedicados a formular polticas en educacin superior. Sin menoscabar el inters y entusiasmo que ponen en sus tareas ese bajo nivel, comprobable fcilmente, si se estudian las credenciales acadmicas de quin dirigen el asunto, se comprueba que son personas, muchos de ellos jvenes, otro no tanto, llenos de rigor revolucionario pero sin capacidades tcnicas adecuadas. Ello va a hacer difcil encarar que hacer con criterios solventes y mas bien se dirigirn a cuestiones doctrinarias y cargadas de exceso hacia la orientacin doctrinaria. Como especialista en el rea me preocupa el proceso de aislamiento al cual nos estamos dirigiendo en el pas, en materia acadmica. Pases pequeos en el rea estn en la imperiosa obligacin de mantener una fluida relacin con los pases metropolitanos. Tenemos que estar abiertos a las invenciones e innovaciones tcnicas y tecnolgicas que se generan en los diversos centros de la vida acadmica internacional. Nuestro pas es microscpico en esta materia y si nos empesemos en aislarnos pues simplemente desaparecemos. La fibra revolucionaria no llega muy lejos en esta materia. Ms aun, muchos venezolanos recibieron con alegra la posibilidad de una revolucin, pero se equivocaron de gnero, pues pensaban en revolucin cie ntfico tcnica moderna y se topan con una revolucin que mira hacia delante mirando por el retrovisor, segn una feliz descripcin. Por simple respeto intelectual rehus dar ejemplos en esta materia, pero supongo que me hago entender si se pensase que nuestro glorioso ejrcito fuese armado con arcabuces. Pues en materia acadmica estamos retornando al arcabuz. Estamos hablando del aula, cuando nos hallamos en la sociedad virtual. Por ello tenemos que ver que se hace en pases como Australia, Canad, Brasil, Holanda, Gran Bretaa y as sucesivamente, para entender que, probablemente, quizs, a lo mejor, estamos reduciendo nuestras opciones, alimentando atraso y subdesarrollo en vez de abrirnos al porvenir. No tenemos nada que buscar entre nuestros iguales o entre aquellos de menor calidad acadmica. Tenemos que empinarnos en los hombros de los gigantes, dijo el maestro de maestros de la sociologa contempornea. Por ello el esfuerzo plausible es confrontarnos en niveles en donde se administre un esfuerzo y por ello un mejoramiento. Confrontarse con nuestros iguales conforta, pero no ayuda. El futuro, intervencin y control En sociologa se denomina correspondencia institucional el hecho de que las instituciones operan al interno de los sistemas sociales comportndose de modo anlogo. Ciertamente en sociedades plurales cada institucin tiene su propia dinmica, pero en sociedades regimentadas las instituciones obedecen a un solo criterio. El gobierno actual aspira intervenir y controlar a todas las instituciones, porque tiene un proyecto mediante el cual siente la necesidad de controlar al Estado y de crear una nueva sociedad. Por ello es inevitable que aspire controlar a la educacin superior. Ello no le ser fcil, pero es posible. Es interesante observar el estado de pasividad frente a decisiones gubernamentales que pens iban a generar airadas protestas, como la designacin de un capitn patriota y revolucionario para dirigir el INCE o traer al pas a tcnicos alfabetizadores cubanos, cuando alfabetizar es un proceso cultural propio y al mismo tiempo cargado de posibilidades ideolgicas enormes, caso en el cual Venezuela pareciera querer convocar a una fuerza de ocupacin, pues entregar la alfabetizacin a un tercer pas es renunciar a la soberana cultural.

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Entregar la formacin tcnica a un militar equivale a encargar a un civil para que entrene a una tropa. Invitar a tcnicos cubanos a asesorar a nuestros expertos es un insulto a la inteligencia de nuestros expertos, si la incorporacin de los mismos al trabajo en el pas no fuese una fragrante intervencin en los asuntos internos del pas, avalada dicha intervencin en la ya larga como intil participacin de los cubanos en otros pases. Resulta inslito que un pas acuda a otro, menos desarrollado, para que inspire su proceso poltico, fracasado38 . Quizs parte de la explicacin podamos hallarla en los argumentos de Davis y su concepto de frog-pond-effect, que en criollo seria algo as como animales del mismo pelo. En efecto, es cmodo estar con nuestros iguales, un efecto psicolgico y cultural bien comprensible 39 . Quienes por una u otra razn tienen la oportunidad de hacer estudios de graduado en pases en donde se habla otro idioma, hay un clima diferente al nuestro y los niveles de exigencia son mayores, pues el resultado suele ser plausible en trminos de competitividad internacional, pero cuando acontece lo contrario el producto es de contribucin menor. Ello ocurre cuando se comparan los egresados de universidades espaolas, con aquellos que lo hacen de universidades europeas o norteamericanas de mayor nivel.

Cmo superar el error de origen

Hay varias maneras de hacerlo, no obstante que la primera precondicin es efectivamente tratar de corregirlo. Pero, ese no es un propsito u objetivo que se define tanto al interno de la institucin de educacin superior o del propio sistema, como de las diversas fuentes que permiten formular polticas en este sector. Estas polticas son formuladas segn un itinerario que ha ido cambiando con los aos. En primera instancia se hallan los organismos internacionales, en segundo lugar los procesos de integracin por regiones, en tercer lugar los propios gobiernos, y en cuatro lugar la propia comunidad acadmica, que hace crticas, formula criterios y establece posibilidades de factibilidad y viabilidad de las polticas. En el caso venezolano puede decirse con solvencia que el principal agente ha sido el propio estado, a travs de sus diversos gobiernos, que han estado abierto a las influencias internacionales, va los organismos del rea, como la UNESCO, sobre todo, as como el impacto de los acadmicos que han estudiado en el exterior. Personalmente pienso que la manera de reparar este error de origen es a travs de pasos tales como:

1. A travs de una agresiva apertura internacional en materia acadmica. Es necesario mantener los programas de becas en el exterior as como proteger la generacin de relevo

38

El da domingo 6 de julio de 2003, en su programa de radio y televisin el Presidente de el Republica concedi espacio a un joven mdico cubano, quien en forma lgica y natural defenda la participacin de su grupo en el pas, en un programa llamado barrio adentro. Casi hace gracia que se permiti llamar la atencin de los medios de comunicacin para que publicasen la verdad. Digo interesante porque en su propio pas no pudiera hacer el mismo reclamo, porque no hay prensa ni medio que opere con discrecin, excepto la que impone el cerrado rgimen de Fidel Castro. Cebe decir que los venezolanos de nuestro tiempo difcilmente podemos abordar asuntos internos de nuestra sociedad sin expresar opinin y criterio acerca de los asuntos del pas. En mi caso me niego a evadir afirmar como buena parte de la crisis de la educacin superior del pas es parte de una crisis inducida. Esto es, una crisis manufacturada, artificial, porque la desidia es parte de una poltica, desidia para no actuar, reformar lo que es menester y desidia provocada para disminuir el valor de las instituciones del pas, caso en el cual la presencia de mdicos cubanos en el pas, al margen de la ley acadmica, debilita a nuestra educacin superior, porque la desprotege. Uno de los fundamentos de la participacin de los mdicos cubanos en el pas se sostiene en una increble premisa segn la cual los venezolanos no aceptan trabajar en los barrios populares. La descalificacin de los mdicos venezolanos por parte de su propio gobierno no halla comparacin, que sepa. 39 Vase el artculo por James A. Davis The campus as a frog pond (1966)

28
en la educacin superior, a fin de incorporar jvenes de talento a las tareas de docencia y de investigacin 2. Es indispensable aplicar las tcnicas de gerencia del conocimiento, que permiten elevar cuatro factores que empleo en mi esquema, que vengo aplicando en varios pases en la ltima dcada. Son crticos para poder elevar la calidad acadmica en instituciones de educacin superior, esquema que elaboro en tres planos, individual, de grupos o equipos de trabajo y en las propias instituciones. Tabla 9 Actividad Produccin Definicin Volumen total de los bienes y servicios producidos en una institucin a lo largo de un lapso calendario. La produccin es mensurable, a nivel de cada uno de los planes, individual, de grupos o equipos de investigacin y de las instituciones, del mismo modo que produccin en este caso se refiere tanto a la docencia como a la investigacin. Relacin entre el volumen producido y los recurso empleados para ello, como tiempo, recursos financieros y otros. La medicin de la productividad es esencial para auscultar el costo de la unidad de produccin. Nuestro sistema de educacin superior mide todava ms bien produccin, que productividad, ya que la produccin es un valor bruto, mientras que la productividad incluye difusin e impacto. Mecanismos que permitan hacer llegar la informacin del bien acadmico producido en diversos segmentos de la poblacin. Esto es crtico, en una sociedad en donde prevalece la cultura oral. En nuestro pas es improbable difundir material acadmico, porque los niveles de demanda de los mismos son relativamente bajos. Efecto del bien acadmico producido cuya difusin haya generado impacto, medido en citas acadmicas, en produccin de patente, son servicios derivados o en cambios perceptibles, en el propio espacio acadmico y en la sociedad abierta. Impacto sugiere efecto en trminos de cambio. La mayor parte de lo que se produce en el pas carece de impacto y es lo que se denomina produccin burocrtica, que no sale de los anaqueles de los archivos acadmicos.

Productividad

Difusin

Impacto

3. Hay que reducir el macro sistema que tenemos actualmente, aplicando programas de ajuste que permitan la real y efectiva participacin de los miembros de la comunidad acadmica en la dinmica de la misma. Proseguir la elevada dosis de populismo acadmico que hallamos en el pas desde el error de origen de 1958 es limitar las opciones futuras. El Estado subsidio fue bueno, pero ya es intil. Dicho en trmino tcnico de lenguaje internacional, el actual gobierno sigue manteniendo una visin del rent-seeking economy, pero ello ya no es posible. Proseguir con esa mentalidad es mantenernos en el auto engao, daino y perjudicial de creer que todos deben recibir todo sin participar en forma protagnica en la dinmica de produccin social de bienes y servicios.

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4. Es indispensable estimular al sector privado de la educacin superior. Desde hace aos formo parte de quienes criticamos duramente el comportamiento de ciertas instituciones de este sector, pero el sistema no puede operar sin esta contribucin. Hay all una enorme inversin y un enorme potencial, que un gobierno con visin de futuro debe rescatar y ponerlo al servicio del pas adecuando los objetivos del mismo, pero ello no se logra penalizndolo. 5. Tenemos que manejar una cultura de la exigencia acadmica y ello supone, quirase que no, seleccin y excelencia, sin exclusin alguna 6. Innecesario debera poder decir que es indispensable hacer investigacin cientfica emprica para poder estimar en trminos cuantitativos el efecto de toda la enorme inversin que se hace en esta rea de la escolaridad. Lamento reportar que es necesario recuperar instituciones como INTEVEP y el CIED. Estas dos instituciones pueden y de hecho han sido criticadas, pero castigarlas por cero en conducta es estpido. Ceder el rea de ciencia y tecnologa a doctrinarios es, junto con lo anterior, descerebrar a la sociedad, esto es, disminuir su capacidad crtica. La tecnocracia es negativa en sus excesos, ciertamente, pero el populismo es simplemente criminal. Realfabetizar nuestra fuerza acadmica laboral nacional nos tomara aos, en el futuro, porque el dao que actualmente se hace al desconocer la calidad y valor agregado de nuestra acadmica es nocivo. En este sentido me preocupa, como a muchos, que nos estemos saciando con modelos acadmicos obsoletos, en vez de abrirnos a la competencia internacional, a la punta del saber. Personalmente entristece que el pas que iba en ascenso en materia acadmica, por sus logros comprobados, haya descendido al nivel de pases del cuarto mundo, en esa materia. En una oportunidad, en Viet-Nam, hace unos seis aos, en tareas de experticia tcnica en educacin superior, escuchaba interesado como quienes haban salido de una guerra terrible, de dcadas, no aspiraban otra cosa que salir del atraso y del subdesarrollo, para lo cual se diseo en aquella poca un arco de vnculos, en un eje entre Australia y Japn, dejando de lado opciones poco tiles. Es lo que pienso cuando veo que Venezuela se asocia en educacin superior con el llamado modelo cubano, que no es otro que el modelo implantado en esa Isla del Caribe por la antigua Unin Sovitica, lastre del cual aun no se liberan. La asociacin con Cuba es ms fcil, que la que puede establecerse en otros pases: es el mismo idioma, es en cierto modo la misma cultura, tenemos los mismos niveles de exigencia y nos tendemos como pares. Debo reportar que, de momento, los cubanos no han intervenido en educacin superior, sino en forma tangencial. Lo han hecho en muchas otras actividades si, pero no en esta.

Cul es el futuro que nos espera en educacin superior?

Pero tengo pocos motivos de esperanza. La lectura cuidadosa de los documentos oficiales que circulan me permiten creer que se est ensayando una visin social, plausible pero inoperante, en vez de una visin acadmica, exigente. Nuestro sistema es de bajo rendimiento, es costoso e ineficiente. Nadie considera necesario el uso efectivo de los recursos perecibles, como el tiempo y los recursos financieros. Incluso, observo que se quiere trasladar la ecuacin de la dinmica academia a los estudiantes, a quienes se les pide que vayan por todo el pas a defender la revolucin. Los estudiantes son el factor menos importante de la academia. Estn destinados a ser transitorios, entran y salen. La academia la formamos los m iembros del personal docente y de investigacin. Por ello es que tenemos que aplicar nuevos mecanismos de gerencia acadmica, activando out-sourcing para el caso de los empleados y obreros, personal que puede reducirse dramticamente en volumen, as como los servicios tales como transporte, comedor y libreras. Pero, obsrvese que quienes dirigen el pas insisten en ver a la academia como anloga a la forma y manera como se distribuye el poder en el espacio nacional. Si prosiguen mirando a la academia

30
como una fuerza de movilizacin poltica e ideolgica los acadmicos somos inservibles, y deben concentrase en abrir acceso, en nombre de una falsa equidad, para aumentar el volumen de esta tentadora fuerza poltica, los estudiantes. Dudo mucho que los estudiantes que se entrenan en el sector privado atiendan este tipo de llamado, porque son esencialmente estudiantes vocacionales, que financian sus estudios y que tienen otra visin, distinta al estudiante profesional que a menudo languidece en el sector pblic o, amparado en mecanismos viciosos. La demagogia es psima consejera, en materia acadmica. Trato de ser objetivo, en mis anlisis, para hablar en primera persona, pero ciertamente estoy viciado, en mis juicios, porque parto de anlisis de educacin superior comparada y la experiencia demuestra en forma fehaciente que los venezolanos pareciera que escogemos siempre los caminos ms fciles, pero menos rendidores. En todo caso el discurso poltico e ideolgico oficial no parece descansar en el saber sino en el poder. De all comprensible el slogan del actual gobierno, elogiando en todo momento a la fuera del poder concreto, la fuerza armada, y la fuerza del poder abstracto, el pueblo. El actual Presidente de la Republica y al mismo tiempo lder mximo de la revolucin insiste una y otra vez en un predicamento absolutamente irrelevante, pero sumamente efectivo: esta, la revolucin bolivariana, es una revolucin armada. Interesante observar que las armas suelen ser tiles para reprimir a una sociedad, pero no para solventar sus problemas, para los cuales la nica y axiomtica posibilidad es la ciencia y la tecnologa. Mas aun, esas armas que se dice son de la revolucin son ciencia y tecnologa elaborada extra muros del pas, caso en el cual lo que hacemos es amentar nuestra dependencia en ciencia y tecnologa.

Poder y saber en Venezuela

Un cientfico norteamericano, David McCleland, ya fallecido, que fue mi decano en la Universidad de Harvard, cuando trabaje en aquella institucin, una de las joyas acadmicas d planeta, sola el hacerme bromas amistosas acerca de nuestra vocacin por el poder, en nuestra sociedad, as como nuestra baja orientacin hacia lo que l llamaba logro. Como me he tomado en serio la vida seriamente le responda, no somos todos, my dear friend. En efecto, tengo una enorme fe en el talento de mis compatriotas. Casi medio siglo en las aulas y trabajo de campo de nuestra academia me han convencido de un vigor extraordinario. Pero la bsqueda por el poder aniquila muchas de nuestras capacidades. Aquel travieso y severo Juan Nuo tradujo alguna vez un excepcional libro escrito por Jean-Francois Revel, Para qu filsofos? Viendo lo que acontece en nuestro pas me pregunto a menudo, para qu poder? Debo admitir que a veces quedo alelado y lleno de admiracin, escuchando a un lder poltico hablar durante horas a miembros de su gabinete y de su entorno, quienes igualmente alelados siguen el ritmo del poder, sonriendo y a veces carcajeando, otras escondiendo bostezos, pero, me pregunto, para eso el poder? Para el show de radio y televisin, banal e irresponsable? Prefiero acogerme a las volutas del saber que a lo concreto del poder, porque, en todos los casos, la bsqueda del poder distribuye pero no crea, mientras que el saber es la nica esperanza del ser humano y de sus sociedades como deca Rodolfo Quintero, con aire acadmico. Por ello ojal que el poder nuestro vea en el saber una posibilidad y una esperanza y que permita que fluya libre, sin aprisionarlo, concediendo que en el saber, paradoja del destino, sta el nico poder legitimo, el poder con razn, que sin saber es el poder un instrumento bruto y primitivo que escalda la existencia.

Entre el Estado y el mercado

Los excesos son negativos. Cuando Pinochet trato de imponer el modelo de la educacin superior del mercado contribuy a mejorar pero termin ahogando al sistema, al rescate de lo cual vino en buen momento en Chile el Estado, a la cada de la dictadura. En Venezuela comenzamos a tener demasiado Estado. Lo dice quien en materia d papel del Estado ha definido el estado docente. el Pero en educacin superior exceso de estado es poca academia. En nuestra Regin queda solo Cuba

31
y ahora Venezuela manteniendo el Estado como nico controlador del sistema. Nos hace falta un poco de mercado o terminaremos por ahogar el sistema. Ciertamente en la mayora de los pases de Europa el Estado tiene un papel preponderante, pero se trata del estado liberal y aun en Francia y Gran Bretaa, en donde el sector privado carece de espacio, prcticamente, el Estado se manejan con criterio empresarial. Facilita sin constreir. Por ello en el mundo han surgido las universidades corporativas y las universidades abiertas, como enlaces interesantes y tiles de la universidad acadmica, pero esta mantiene el privilegio de la investigacin en ciencia pura. En cada sociedad la organizacin de la misma debe respetar los parmetros en donde se mueve la educacin superior. En el caso venezolano debemos buscar el equilibro entre el mercado y el Estado, aquel capaz de adelantar iniciativas que la relativa inamovilidad del sector pblico impide, y este desarrollar actividades de investigacin que el sector privado no esta en condiciones de financiar o que en todo caso no tiene ello entre sus obejtivos. Finalmente, favorezco los criterios de mejoramiento, a los de cambio. El primero es lento, persuasivo, equilibrado y a largo plazo. El cambio suele ser a corto plazo, a menudo buscando objetivos instantneos. Pero la academia tiene su propio tempo, su propia manera de ver las cosas. Es lo que uno de mis inspiradores, el sabio suizo Walter Regg llama el ocio creativo, ese espacio de permanente reflexin que a los legos suele parecer una prdida de tiempo. Pero cuando gobierna el extremo del mercado o el extremo del Estado no hay tiempo para la reflexin ni para el ocio, el primero porque entra en los terribles pasillos del productivismo, el segundo porque exige y demanda obediencia y sumisin. Por ello, como deca aquel inolvidable lder poltico de reciente data, ni lo uno ni lo otro, sino todo lo contrario. Por ello en la academia debemos acoger tanto mercado como sea posible y tanto Estado como sea necesario. Es una ecuacin sencilla. Si la misma elige un solo factor se rompe el necesario equilibrio y en vez de solventar nuestro error de origen haremos lo que ha acontecido a menudo en nuestra historia patria, al error de origen le sumamos error de proceso.

Porqu no pueden las universidades ser como las empresas?

La reflexin acerca de la educacin superior en pases como Venezuela conduce a muchas preguntas y a ms respuestas. Por qu, por ejemplo, no pueden las universidades ser ms eficientes? En este sentido, por qu no pueden las universidades ser como las empresas? Esto me recuerda la pregunta que en medio de la perplejidad del cas,o se haca Henry Higgins, el protagonista de Pygmalion, de Bernard Shaw (1916), cuando se preguntaba: Why cannot a woman be like a man? A menudo me he preguntado, porque no pueden las universidades ser como empresas? Por la misma razn por las cuales una mujer no puede ser como un hombre. En ambos casos porque su naturaleza se lo impide. Sin embargo, gracias a las plataformas tecnolgicas disponibles las empresas son cada vez ms como son las universidades y estas como las empresas. Me propongo examinar en esta parte del trabajo como son las universidades, sin intentar compararlas directamente con las empresas. Muchos factores distinguen a las universidades de las empresas. Uno de ellos es el factor entrenamiento permanente que tienen las empresas. Por ejemplo, en la lista de las 100 mejores empresas norteamericanas, en cuanto a las condiciones favorables para trabajar en ellas, apareca en primer lugar, entre 100 de ellas, Edward Jones, una empresa financiera de St. Louis, que tiene 7.786 empleados, ao 2000 (La UCV tena, para el mismo ao, 4.774 miembros del personal docente y de investigacin) 40 . Esta empresa destina el 3.8 por ciento de su presupuesto anual a actividades de
40

Vase Fortune, January 20, 2003. 100 best companies t work for by Robert Levering y Milton Moskowitz. Pp. 127-152. En esta lista Microsoft, por ejemplo, esta en el lugar 20. Fedex en el lugar 72. El New York Times se halla en el lugar 93. No hay una lista comparable para las universidades norteamericanas,

32
entrenamiento de personal, con un promedio individual de unas 146 horas anuales de entrenamiento. Si la UCV empleara el mismo porcentaje ello equivaldra a unos 27 millones anuales por miembro del staff segn el presupuesto asignado a enseanza (OPSU, 1998: 712). La UCV no dispone de inversin en entrenamiento de su personal. Este es el primer indicador de una serie que deseo comentar y que aluden a las variables comunes del comportamiento de las instituciones de educacin superior. No existen fuentes para sustentar estos sealamientos y se hacen de la misma manera que cualquier miembro de una universidad venezolana pudiera hacerlo, pero entendiendo que, por ejemplo, la fase de induccin a un nuevo miembro del personal no se hace en la educacin superior venezolana. En muchas ocasiones al recin llegado se le seala simplemente el aula en donde se supone que va a trabajar como docente. Entrenamiento: el personal ingresa a la UCV, en teora, segn concursos, pero en la prctica los tipos ya son profesores pero no hay ni induccin en la organizacin, ni entrenamiento durante su carrera, no hay supervisin, ni induccin en el momento de la jubilacin. La UCV, siguiendo los parmetros de una empresa como la citada tendra que invertir en entrenamiento un monto aproximado de Bs. 1.236.117 por profesor al ao, con un promedio de unas 16 horas mensuales. Cada miembro del staff promedio recibe unos 9.401.964 bolvares al ao. Criterios anti empresariales: mi experiencia trabajando en el rea de elevar la calidad en instituciones de educacin superior me permite observar que existe en las universidades un sentimiento anti empresarial bien arraigado. En Mxico, por ejemplo, en la Universidad Autnoma de Yucatn, para mencionar un caso, un grupo de profesores se resisti a imponer criterios modernos de gerencia a la universidad, aduciendo que estos procedimientos eran propios de la empresa y no de la universidad. Satisfaccin en el trabajo: Segn mis datos en la UCV el 86 por ciento de los miembros del staff esperan permanecer en la institucin hasta su jubilacin. Pero solo el 43 por ciento estaba satisfecho del trabajo que hacan, lo cual quiere decir que la mitad de la poblacin acadmica se halla satisfecha pero descontenta. Esto parece una paradoja, pero no lo es. Satisfecho quiere decir que aspiran mantenerse en el empleo acadmico, descontentos porque los beneficios imperiales que reciben parecen escasos, frente a la elevacin de los gastos de vida y la disminucin relativa de los sueldos y salarios. Es un empleo ms que un trabajo: ello explicara la tasa relativamente muy baja en produccin/productividad/difusin/impacto de la academia venezolana. La inteligencia organizacional: una empresa moderna tiene que manejar una organizacin inteligente, entendiendo por ello una organizacin que tiene un cerebro integrado capaz de disponer de toda la informacin necesaria en todo momento y para todos los actores miembros de la organizacin. En el caso de una empresa todos los datos del personal, que permitan evaluaciones rpidas y bien sustentadas. En el caso de una universidad inteligente un cerebro capaz de movilizar personal segn las necesidades, poder promover a unos y no a otros, aplicar gestiones de entrenamiento en forma expedita y,
pero en general las grandes universidades se hallan alto en la escala, asi como aquellas de prestigio, como las de la Ivy League. En Venezuela con certeza las grandes universidades oficiales se hallan alto, con las privadas en el lugares ms bajo, en ambos casos en niveles de satisfaccion; en el primer caso por el analisis del resto de los indicadores discutidos en este trabajo. Satisfaccin que deriva del hecho de que en estos casos la actividad laboral es un empleo ms que un trabajo, un empleo perfecto porque carece de supervisin y la mayor parte de las actividades son cuasi voluntarias o de bajo nivel de obligacin y exigencia. El trabajo por Robert Levering y Milton Moskowitz se basa en datos construidos por The great places to work trust index, elaborado por el Great Places to Work Institute, San Francisco. 100best@gratplacetowork.com Al parecer el mejor sitio para trabajar, en el area universitaria, es en aquellos lugares en donde se organzan cognitive complex (Parsons) Uno de ellos es el que se halla ubicado en North Carolina, en donde operan tres grandes universidades de investigacion: The university of North Carolina, en Chapel Hill, North Carolina State University in Raleigh y Duke University en Druham. Hace 40 aos alli se cre el Research Triangle Park (RTP), con estas tres instituciones, algo as como s en Caracas se asociaran la UCV, la USB y la UNIMET, dos instituciones del sector oficial y una del sector privado.

33
finalmente, poder crear comunidades de conocimiento bajo mecanismos de gerencia del conocimiento. La universidad venezolana no es una organizacin inteligente, efectivamente. Funciona con criterios descerebrados o en todo caso con un cerebro apropiado a la disfuncin y a la dispersin de los recursos, sobre todo del tiempo. La universidad venezolana se maneja de acuerdo a las exigencias de la era pre-organizacin inteligente. En muchos casos de hecho ni siquiera han arribado a la poca del telfono y la central telefnica o de los mensajes grabados. Dos detalles: la informacin que tiene una universidad venezolana impide acceder al telfono personal del profesor y las paginas web no permiten este acceso, niether. Esto es, los niveles de conectividad son bajos, en comparacin con los parmetros internacionales. La Universidad de Singapore por ejemplo est conectada al 100 por ciento. En el caso de la UCV es probable que no llegue al 30 por ciento. Una universidad venezolana de las grandes es una federacin de unidades acadmicas sin un cerebro en donde se halle depositada toda la informacin. Una organizacin inteligente enfoca sus objetivos en dos nociones, eficiencia y reduccin de costos, cuestiones ambas que forman parte de la toma de decisiones en organizaciones no-inteligentes. Privilegios de por vida. Sin castigo Empleo de por vida y ms all... Inscripcin de nuestros hijos. Ttulos acadmicos de por vida. Se gobiernan ellos mismos sin presencia de la comunidad, no hay una representacin de los diversos intereses de la sociedad. Eligen sus autoridades en elecciones directas, sin control de la sociedad, caso en el cual aparace un clientelismo precisamente incontrolado. En suma, un conjunto de privilegios que obstaculizan la necesidad flexibilidad para disponer de una organizacin eficiente, en los trminos que fuere, financiera o de solidaridad, si bien ambos conceptos no son excluyentes, por supuesto. Qu quiere decir lo anterior? Simplemente que la cultura organizacional en la educacin superior venezolana no opera con una racionalidad tal de ndole empresarial, sino que tiene sus propia cultura, no entendible por alguien que provenga de una organizacin empresarial. Destaco el uso del tiempo como una variable importante. El uso del tiempo en la educacin superior venezolana desafa toda racionalidad. La lectura de nuestra organizacin acadmic a sugiere un mecanismos que opera con bajos o ningunos niveles de eficiencia. El anlisis de Blau (1973) elaborado para la universidad norteamericana no tiene analoga emprica nuestro pas, pero en funcin de la experiencia podra decirse que, a travs de numerosos indicadores, el sistema es abiertamente ineficaz e ineficiente. El tiempo no existe, como valor, como tampoco es valor, por ejemplo, la ubicacin del profesor en un sitio del pas en funcin del costo de vida, ya que a los profesores se les cancela segn rasgos la misma cantidad, sin discriminar valor de mercado, de modo que igual devenga cada cual independientemente de los niveles de performance. Un profesor titular en una universidad que exija ttulos de doctor devenga el mismo sueldo y salario de un profesor que accede a la categora de titular en una institucin de baja calidad, que no exige ttulos avanzados para acceder a un rango. Igual se paga a un profesor en el rea de una escuela de comunicacin social, probablemente una de las esas de menos exigencia acadmica, que si se desempea en una escuela en donde maneja fsica atmica, supuestamente de alta exigencia. Igual es pagado un profesor en Caracas que en San Fernando de Apure, para enunciar dos extremos. Eso es lo que llamo error de origen, ya que se uniform lo que opera en forma desigual. Desde el inicio se elimin la competitividad. A lo anterior se aade el error de proceso, el creer que la educacin superior es abierta, sin controles ni exigencias excepto los del poder y que la posesin o no de un paquete doctrinario califica para acceder a las oposiciones de poder y lderazgo en las instituciones de la educacin superior. Pareciera que el poder es prevalente en nuestra acadmica, porque, segn Blau (1973), el peso de la misma en nuestra sociedad se dirige hacia lo burocrtico y no hacia el trabajo acadmico, que, en mi visin, es caso trabajo voluntario, mas que parte de una demanda organizacional.

34 Conclusin, la mitologa de la reforma y de la revolucin

Es apropiado examinar una proposicin comnmente aceptada, que los socilogos si solemos rebatir. Esto es, suele creerse que los llamados problemas sociales se pueden solucionar41 . Dos de ellos forman parte del folklore de los reformistas y de los revolucionarios, la pobreza y el analfabetismo. Estos son de los problemes llamados estructurales. Se pueden eliminar pero siempre a un costo. Suele citarse el caso de Cuba, Trinidad & Tobago y de Singapore, como sitios de xito escolar. Cabe apuntar que son territorios reducios y que al menos en los casos de Singapore y Cuba se trata de gobiernos regimentados que han hecho de la cuestin escolar un punto de honor. En otras islas la situacin es distinta, caso en el cual las explicaciones proceden de otras fuentes, ya que Puerto Rico tiene una muy baja tasa de analfabetismo y prosperidad pero debida a su dependencia de USA, pero Hait es tambin una isla y es la ms atrasada y pobre de la Regin. La conjetura sin refutacin es que los problemas estructurales son tercos. Basta mirar situaciones como el rgimen de castas en India, que en esa sociedad son impermeables o las relaciones raciales en Brasil o en Cuba, tan permanentes como el clima. Factores estructurales son por ejemplo la distribucin del ingreso y de los factores psico sociales del inters, el talento, la motivacin y la ambicin, el logro y otros. Las viviendas de construccin informal, el empleo-desempleo- esas cosas no van a cambiar en Amrica Latina y el Caribe. Hay ejemplos dramticos. Cuba es uno. Casi medio siglo despus de la revolucin existen condiciones interesantes en dicha Isla, atvicas como la prostitucin, el desempleo, las tasas de divorcio y de suicidios, el consumo de ron, tabaco, la salsa, culturales y estructurales. Per es otro. La violencia en Colombia, la extrema pobreza del nordeste de Brasil, que el reformismo brasilero de Cardoso y de Da Silva apenas puede tocar. La lucha poltica, despus de todo, en forma inesperada, es superficial y dramticamente ineficaz, como lo prueba el fracaso de casi medio siglo de rgimen desptico y totalitario de Castro en Cuba para retornar el punto de inicio. Las revoluciones, despus de todo, parecen ser crculos viciosos, que describen parbolas y el pas, en su proceso, para retornar siempre al lugar de origen... hasta la prxima revolucin. Mientras tanto, como expresaba Cioran acerca de Espaa, quizs la revolucin bolivariana nos plantea residir en la tierra del inactuality. En este sentido, me permito concluir, en esta reflexin acerca de mi libro Educacin ad Society in Latin Amrica, como el dilema de los pases semi industrializados, en vas de desarrollo o en retreatism, para decirlo en la palabra de Merton, es elemental, hacia o en contra de la actualizacin acadmica y est vinculada al bienestar de la poblacin. Nuestra revolucin bolivariana no aprecia a la academia, pero labora en funcin del bienestar de los venezolanos y de los pueblos del mundo, en la propuesta ditirmbica que habla de tiempos y espacios a capricho, sin entender que el bienestar es algo ms que un deseo, es una practica terriblemente compleja, improbable de alcanzar cuando se desconocen las variables que lo afectan. Me cabe terminar este trabajo con una cita de Cioran, quien escribi que:

Existen algunos pases que disfrutan de una especie de bendicin, una especie de gracia: todo lo que realizan en un xito, incluso los problemas, las catstrofes. Pero hay otros que no logran nada, hasta los triunfos se igualan a fracasos. Cuando tratan de afirmarse, de dar un salto hacia adelante, una fatalidad externa interrumpe su impulso y los

41

Ciertamente que los problemas deben poderse solucionar, desde el punto de vista de la moral y de la justicia, pero muchas veces esa va conduce a acrecentar la magnitud de los problemas y hacerlo aun menos probables de resolver.

35 relega al punto de partida (1956: 65)42

Desgraciadamente a veces se regresa a ese punto de partida, despus del gigantesco costo del sufrimiento y de la tragedia. Vale la pena intentar entonces esa ldica fantasa? Amrica Latina y el Caribe es un escenario proclive a creer que el hombre retorna a sus orgenes, pero parte nuevamente en busca de lo inasible, como aquel Aguirre, antecesor y prototipo de todos, en busca frentica de la locura. Aquel Aguirre, Prncipe de la Libertad, instrumento de la Ira de Dios, hecho fbula en el film por Werner Herzog (1972), interpretado en forma genial por Klaus Kinsky, aquel Aguirre de quien Simn Bolvar escribi que haba sido el primer libertario de Amrica. Las palabras de Cioran, escritas en 1956, me permiten entonces esta reflexin final, sobre nuestra Regin, en donde no todo est perdi, pues existen condiciones que anuncian la creacin de los complejos cognitivos que Talcot Parsons 43 juzgaba indispensables para el desarrollo de la educacin superior, en pases como Brasil, Chile y Mxico. Quizs Venezuela vaya hacia lo contrario, hacia la creacin de los complejos no cognitivos, emergiendo en el pas la refutacin absoluta de Daniel Bell44 , ya que en estos aos de la revolucin son la negacin de The end of idoelogy45 . Tanto as que solo, dira, un aberrante paroxismo de la ideologa, decadente y anmica como todo otro fundamentalismo, religioso, poltico o incluso tecnolgico. Como expresan Lauritz B. Holm-Nielsen, Jos Joaqun Brunner, Jorge Balan and Kristian Thorn en su documento, Tertiary Education in Latin America:

La visin propuesta muestra que los pases de Amrica Latina estn relativamente bien sincronizados en cuanto a las tendencias globales en la educacin superior. La Regin parece encontrarse sobre la buena pista, sin embargo, no logra avanzar a la misma velocidad. Los pases de Amrica Latina buscan mejorar su educacin terciaria, al igual que los pases de altos ingresos. Es justamente por esta razn que Amrica Latina no debera tratar de crear oportunidades de aprendizaje siguiendo el mismo modelo de los pases de la OECD. Al contrario, deberan reducir las distancias tratando de alcanzar el nivel que las economas dirigentes lograran en el futuro. Acoger sin miedos este desafo al tratar de utilizar un enfoque creativo e innovador sobre la educacin terciaria,

42

There are countries which enjoy a kind of benediction, a kind of grace: everything succeeds for them, even their misfortunes, even in their catastrophes; and there are others which cannot carry it off, whose very triumphs are equivalent to failures. When they seek to assert themselves, to leap forward, an external fatality intervenes to break their spring and bring them back to their point of departure 43 La obra maestra de Parsons ha tenido escasa o ninguna difusin en nuestra Regin. Vase su libro (con Gerald M. Platt) The American university (1973) Parsons y Platt hablaban de cinco componentes de los complejos cognitivos: conocimiento, racionalidad, aprendizaje, competencia e inteligencia. 44 Vase por Daniel Bell The end of ideology, on the exhaustion of political ideas in the fifties (1960) 45 La tesis de Bell es que las ideologas que se no pueden sostener los sistemas polticos y sociales modernos. Ciertamente que hay ejemplos que contraan la tesis del socilogo norteamericano. En Irn se impone la ideologa religiosa, en Nigeria la tnica y en Cuba la poltica, en todos estos casos durante mucho tiempo y es innombrables que esos valores sean prdidos por supuestos cambios democrticos.

36 constituir una va muy importante hacia el xito de Amrica Latina en la economa global basada en el saber (2003: 11)46 .

Quiere decir esto que el inevitable camino de la Regin en educacin superior es la tendencia hacia el academic capitalism que discuten Slaughter y Leslie en su libro sobre el tema (1997) Pero es que hay otro camino? La hoja de ruta acadmica parece sealar hacia el hecho irreversible de cmo los pases en desarrollo, incluida la Regin, tienen que tratar de incorporarse a las tendencias internacionales, que sealan la realidad de una sociedad del conocimiento que exige nuevas posturas, polticas y extraas para alcanzar los fines de la educacin superior y por ende del desarrollo y del bienestar social. Venezuela, es oportuno decirlo, se dirige hacia el camino contrario, the road less travelled de Peck (1978), pero en otros trminos, porque en este caso es un camino estril y baldo. No estimo que ello sea lo que los venezolanos queremos, pero la voluntad de la ciudadana se halla postergada, una y otra vez, por la llamada voluntad poltica de los gobiernos, que a veces obedecen caprichos y voluntarismos que, infortunadamente, llevan al fracaso. Nos quedaremos en el espacio de la improductividad, como aquellos sapientsimos acadmicos de Laputa, en la obra de Swift, que no producan nuevo conocimientos sino que se regodebanan en lo que ya saban, que era el no-saber, al no reproducir el mismo47 . Esto es, la impotencia intelectual y acadmica que abruma los sistemas de educacin superior, cuando se les impone la burocracia, la fatiga mental y la desidia existencial. Se ha expresado a menudo que la universidad es una institucin cuya esencia yace en su visin de futuro. En ese sentido Clark Kerr expres que la universidad participa en una frantic race to remain contemporary. En Venezuela ocurre, probablemente, lo contrario, pues observo que nos hallamos en una franctic race t remain o backward, una carrera hacia el atraso y el subdesarrollo. Si Venezuela es una minscula parcela del espacio del conocimiento a nivel mundial, su atraso en el nivel de la educacin superior lo disminuir aun ms. Seguir Venezuela siendo noticias, pero ello es irrelevante. Seguiremos como el pas de las reinas de belleza, productor de petrleo a pesar de que la industria se halle disminuida, por diversas razones, unas imputables al gobierno, otras a los propios dirigentes de la misma, quienes en forma suicida lanzaron al empresa en una hoguera destructiva inexplicable, pero seguiremos, sobre todo, si lo estimo, como un pas folklrico, manejando como una hacienda personal por sus dirigentes polticos, quienes con la misma furia con la cual el pas destruyo buena parte de su industria petrolera, destruye ahora su esquema institucional, todo ello en aras de una obsesin por el poder digna de mejor causa. En todo caso somos y seremos mientras persista la situacin los hacedores de otro salvador del mundo, uno ms de esos lderes mesinicos que de tiempo en tiempo aparece en estas latitudes, con un mensaje uniforme, consistente, ofrecer solucionar todos los males de la humanidad, como si ello fuera posible. Solventar los problemas, cualesquiera que estos sean, requiere una enorme dosis de tolerancia, capacidad de negociacin, conciencia del lmite, prudencia, aceptar que el rea de la educacin superior opera bajo presin y esfuerzo, tener sentido de las oportunidades y, sobre todo, al menos en materia de educacin
46

The provided overview indicates that the LAC countries are relatively well attuned to global trends in postsecondary education. While the region appears to be on track it may, however, not be moving at a sufficient pace. As LAC countries improve tertiary education so do high-income nations. For this reason, Latin America should not only seek to create learning opportunities for all at the current rate of the OECD countries but aim at closing the gap by catching up to what leading economies will achieve in the future. Boldly welcoming this challenge by applying creative and innovative approaches to tertiary education will be an important key to the success of Latin America in the global knowledge based economy 47 Vase la deliciosa lectura satrica de Jonathan Swift titulada exactamente Viaje a varias naciones del mundo por el capitan Lemuel Gulliver. Laputa proviene etimolgicamente de la expresin en castellano de la puta, pero no hay explicacin de porque Swift le puso este nombre a la famosa isla flotante o voladora de Laputa. Los acadmicos venezolanos haran bien en leer esta novela.

37
superior, un conocimiento pleno de nuestras magnitudes y de donde se halla la punta del saber, la gua para orientar nuestro destino, en una actividad en donde no hay sorpresas ni milagros, sino el esfuerzo constante y la perseverancia que nos pueden proporcionar el hallar nuevo saber, el poder identificarlo al menos, para no seguir repitiendo los clichs del desamparo y la discordia. La situacin venezolana no es desesperada aun, es recuperable. El potencial existe, la infraestructura fsica y acadmica puede ser recuperada, los contactos internacionales no han desaparecido, pero si prosigue el abandono y el desinters ser improbable recuperar los aos perdidos. El tiempo se puede contar hacia delante e igualmente hacia atrs. Si tomamos el inicio de la cuenta a partir de 1999, cuando accede el nuevo gobierno, y si suponemos que por cada ao que no se avance se retroceden dos, es fcil hacer un calculo terrible, que nos seala, como hemos querido discutir en esta trabajo, que el tiempo nos conduce a una disyuntiva, o avanzamos, o retrocedemos y en educacin superior las voces nos indican que no estamos los venezolanos haciendo el esfuerzo para avanzar, en materia de educacin superior. Cuando publicamos, hace ya una dcada, nuestro libro Education and Society in Latin America, el futuro era de optimismo en la Regin, en el rea de la educacin superior. Para el ao 2003 podemos mantener dicho optimismo. Mxico y Brasil avanzan en trminos de calidad y eficiencia, si bien ambos pases presentan desigualdades notables, al comparar los niveles de desarrollo al interno de sus sistemas de educacin superior. Chile ha consolidado un sistema de calidad interesante. Argentina ha sufrido retrocesos visibles. Per y Colombia se mantienen en sus posiciones, no obstante las dificultades polticas y econmicas. Los pases del Caribe no hispnico mantienen sus nichos culturales y por ende sus sistemas de educacin superior, funcionan dentro de sus esquemas histricos. Cuba se deshizo del patrocinio sovitico y procura un aire de apertura, obstaculizado una y otra vez por razones de un rgimen poltico e ideolgico cerrado. Venezuela, con todas las opciones abiertas durante aos de contactos internacionales y a travs de fijar metas de excelencia interesantes, manteniendo apertura para el acceso plural, busca ahora dirigirse hacia un sistema bajo el control total del Estado. De ser as, se unir a Cuba como entonces los dos nicos pases que han escogido esta hoja de ruta, cual es la educacin superior bajo el estricto control del Estado48 . Ello no ha ocurrido, el sistema mantiene su pluralidad, pero las amenazas no permiten pronsticos amistosos y de hecho la dictadura y la autocracia ya declarada en el plano poltico e ideolgico, no tardar en llegar a los recintos universitarios, prueba de lo cual ya son fcilmente visibles. Esto es, si as como el slogan del rgimen es que su ideologa es la unin de la fuerza armada con el pueblo, no habr ninguna razn para que la educacin superior no padezca el mismo sndrome, la universidad del pueblo y cuando ello acontezca la misma dejar de ser y mantener el ethos de la academia, para convertirse, quizs para bien, dirn los lderes de la revolucin, en una institucin ms, adosada a un proyecto poltico e ideolgic o, doctrinario, para perder su entidad e integridad universal. Un documento reciente, aprobado en una reunin efectuada en Barinas hace temer lo peor, sin embargo y dar al traste con el optimismo de un desarrollo superior de la educacin en la Regin. Es probable que este documento sea incidental, sin repercutir, pero pone de manifiesto una terrible

48

En la Regin no es probable hacer anotaciones de calidad por pases, ya que en varios de estos, pongamos el caso de Colombia, coexisten instituciones de excelencia con aquellas de muy baja calidad. Mas aun, es necesario hacer especificaciones dentro de cada institucin, pues en algunas un rea es de alta calidad, peor otras de menor y as sucesivamente. En los ltimos dos aos se habla, por ejemplo, de las macro universidades de la Regin atribuyndoles importancia cualitativa solo por su tamao. A veces son macro burocracias, nada ms. Pero ciertamente poseen la mayor suma de recursos y de potencial acadmico.

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posibilidad, la negacin del pensamiento plural. Este documento, denominada La Declaracin de Barinas tiene un prembulo que es necesario citar49 : Inspirados en los ideales libertarios de los padres y las madres fundadores de nuestra nacionalidad: Guaicaipuro y Sorocaima, Jos Leonardo Chirinos, Josefa Camejo y Luisa Cceres de Arismendi, El Libertador Simn Bolvar, el Maestro Simn Rodrguez y el General del Pueblo Soberano Ezequiel Zamora. Animados por el espritu de lucha de los grandes combatientes por la autodeterminacin de los pueblos de la Amrica Latina y Caribea como Jos Mart, Benito Jurez y Emiliano Zapata, Augusto Csar Sandino, Francisco Caamao, Tpac Amaru y Juan Santos Atahualpa, Jos de San Martn y Ernesto "Che" Guevara. Impulsados por el mpetu creativo de los ancestros forjadores de nuestra cultura y dispuestos a defender y profundizar el acervo que nos han legado los poetas, artistas, artesanos, investigadores, cientficos y tecnlogos nacidos de nuestra sangre indgena, afro americana, ibrica y mestiza. Nosotros, profesores, estudiantes y trabajadores de las ms diversas casas de estudios superiores de la Repblica Bolivariana de Venezuela, nos hemos congregado en la ciudad de Barinas para ofrecer al pas y al continente la siguiente Declaracin. Este tipo de retrica no permite sustentar una Declaracin acerca de la educacin superior. La educacin superior contempornea se afirma y apoya en otros esquemas intelectuales. Una simple prueba de ello, la definicin de autonoma a travs de los procesos de investigacin, que aborda en estos momentos la universidad europea, especficamente sobre the patenting of knowledge: El tema de la propiedad intelectual es hoy en da un tema central de la autonoma universitaria. De quin son los derechos de la propiedad intelectual? Quin fiscaliza que los conocimientos producidos estn vinculados a sus potenciales usuarios? Qu significa ello en trminos de la responsabilidad social, para no hablar de la de ndole jurdica (para el investigador, para la institucin? Qu status le proporciona la propiedad de patentes al investigador y a la institucin? Estas son algunas de las preguntas que debemos resolver para definir la autnoma institucional y su gerencia. Esto se hace ms complejo, debido al hecho de que la universidad necesita usar patentes originales de otros investigadores y otras instituciones para poder proseguir su propio trabajo (Felt and Barblan, 2003) 50 . Entonces, la universidad contempornea se aboca a problemas del conocimiento, no del poder, y la legislacin corresponde a esa necesidad. Me cabe acotar como en nuestras sociedades la autonoma

49

Documento final del I Encuentro Nacional "Universidad y Soberana" celebrado en la ciudad de Barinas, Venezuela, entre el 6 y el 8 de junio de 2003, con asistencia de delegaciones de las siguientes instituciones de Educacin Superior: UNELLEZ - UNERG - UNESR - UCV - UC - LUZ - ULA - ITJEG - IUTVA - IUTPC IUTEBA
50

Vase por Ulrike Felt y Andris Barblan (2003) Managing University Autonomy in terms of Research. The question of intellectual property has now become a central issue for university autonomy. Who holds the intellectual property rights? Who takes care of the fact that the knowledge produced is also linked to potential users? What does it mean in terms of social responsibility, not to speak of legal liability (for the researcher, for the institution)? What status does the ownership of patents give to the individual researcher and/or to the institution? These are but a few of the questions to be addressed to define institutional autonomy and its management. A matter made more complex by the fact that the university also needs to use patents originating from other researchers and other institutions in order to progress with its own work

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aun se ve como un problema jurdico, cuando en verdad es un problema activo dentro de las variables y parmetros econmicos y sociales51 . La liberacin de las sociedades, en todo caso, plausible empeo, no es responsabilidad de la educacin superior, si bien esta sea un actor esencial en los procedimientos de produccin /productividad del saber, que tiene luego su efecto, en ciencia y en tecnologa, en los procesos de liberacin, pues estos requieren instrumentos para alcanzar sus fines, pero esta retrica sin sentido citada anteriormente no tiene absolutamente nada que ver con los objetivos de la educacin superior, menos con la universidad52 . Ahora bien, la Declaracin de Barinas (2003) tiene una virtud, especifica con claridad los objetivos que supuestamente tendr la educacin superior en el futuro venezolano, va divergente con la anterior sealada en Europa, pues es una propuesta referida exclusivamente al poder, y a la postura externa de la educacin superior y de la universidad:

Deber ser autnticamente participativa por su orientacin tic o-poltica fundada en el ejercicio de la democracia directa y el control colectivo en la administracin interna. La divisin de la estructura del gobierno universitario en los cinco poderes del Estado: Autoridades Rectorales, Parlamento Universitario, Tribunal de Apelaciones, Defensora y Consejo Electoral; la profundizacin de la participacin estudiantil, administrativa y obrera en la eleccin de las autoridades y los rganos de gobierno; el Presupuesto Participativo Universitario y los referendos consultivo, aprobatorio y revocatorio, son algunas de las nuevas formas de participacin colectiva que, de acuerdo con el marco constitucional vigente, podemos integrar a la gestin universitaria. Deber ser genuinamente popular por su misin socio pedaggica al servicio de las grandes mayoras, mediante una redefinicin de las polticas de ingreso que revierta la exclusin a la que han sido sistemticamente sometidos los ms pobres y haga valer la equidad social, tanto en el acceso como en la prosecucin de estudios dentro de nuestro sistema de educacin superior. Asimismo, el contenido popular de la nueva Educacin Superior deber traducirse en una labor permanente del voluntariado universitario en la organizacin de las comunidades para la convivencia democrtic a, la produccin econmica, la capacitacin tcnica y la creacin cultural. Deber ser lcidamente patritica por el desarrollo de una labor cientfica, humanstica y productiva destinada a consolidar la soberana econmica, agroalimentaria, ecolgica, territorial, cientfica, tecnolgica, cultural y deportiva de la nacin. Esta determinacin implica profundizar el concepto de autonoma, ponindolo a la par con el principio de defensa de la soberana, al que debe adherirse el sistema de Educacin Superior en su condicin de sector estratgico del Estado venezolano. En efecto, el artculo 110 de nuestra Constitucin as lo establece, al sealar que "El Estado reconocer el inters pblico de la ciencia, la tecnologa, el conocimiento, la innovacin y sus aplicaciones y los servicios de informacin necesarios por ser instrumentos fundamentales para el desarrollo econmico, social y poltico del pas, as como para la seguridad y soberana nacional." Deber ser permanentemente revolucionaria por la renovacin continua de sus mtodos y programas de enseanza; por la participacin de todos los actores sociales en la planificacin, administracin y evaluacin de la gestin acadmica; por

51

Un ejemplo de este enfoque jurdico de la autonoma es el documento por Alexis Mrquez Rodrguez (2003) Autonomia universitaria y revolucin. 52 Este tema de la liberacin da para mucho anlisis. En el mes de mayo de 2003 visit la ciudad de Mrida, para actividades en la ULA, y antes de llegar por carretera a la citada ciudad se lea un letrero que atravesaba la carretera: Estado Mrida, territorio liberado. Me pregunt, liberado de qu?

40
la flexibilidad de su estructura organizativa y por su vocacin al servicio de la transformacin social. Esta Declaracin es tpicamente retrica. Los objetivos mencionados son plausibles, pero no se aplican en modo alguno a un espacio de creacin y de crtica, de cuestionamiento y de permanente incertidumbre. Obsrvese: Deber ser autnticamente participativa. Deber ser genuinamente popula., Deber ser permanentemente revolucionaria. Deber ser lcidamente patritica. Cmo puede una universidad guiarse por tales principios? Cmo puede mantenerse gobernabilidad acadmica si se sostiene que el gobierno de la universidad debe seguir la estructura de los cinco poderes del Estado: Autoridades Rectorales, Parlamento Universitario, Tribunal de Apelaciones, Defensora y Consejo Electoral? Es decir, todo lo anterior configura una universidad bajo el imperio de una propuesta ideolgica y poltica. La consecuencia de lo anterior ser el pensamiento nico y en ese contexto no cabe, precisamente, la necesaria universalidad del saber, cuyo requisito esencial es, justamente, la posibilidad de no obedecer a un proyecto, sino a la obsesiva bsqueda de la verdad, de la explicacin, de la confusin, de la duda y de la ausencia del pensamiento revelado. La universidad, todo lo contrario, es pensamiento por revelar, es la bsqueda para descubrir, inventar, innovar y rehacer al hombre. La educacin superior y de hecho la universidad, no es un sistema escolar, despus de todo, es un sistema de pensamiento y ste no acepta cortapisas ni limitaciones. Se puede supervisar, regular, intervenir y controlar el aparato escolar, pero no el sistema de pensamiento. Mucho ms, en la era de la electrnica, en la era de la globalizacin de las comunicaciones, cuando la universidad abandona por siempre el aula y se incorpora un mundo virtual en donde esos mecanismos de represin y de oprobio son cada da menos factibles, por fortuna para quienes hacemos vida de pensamiento, ms all de vida escolar. Esos son algunos de los enormes dilemas que tiene la universidad en la Regin y en nuestro pas, diez aos despus de haberse publicado mi libro, y ciertamente en los prximos diez aos y por venir.

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