Universities: Back to the Books

• Share

A Bolivian father sadly surveyed his nation's seven universities, then made up his mind. "I don't want my son mixed up in politics, and I don't want him to be a bad engineer because of the lack of facilities or because of endless strikes. I know he will not come back, but at least his future is assured." So saying, he sent his son off to West Germany to college.

Many more Bolivian parents would do the same if they could afford it. In the past two years, enrollment at San Andres University in the Bolivian capital of La Paz has jumped from 2,700 to 6,400. The government, which fears San Andres as a hotbed of opposition, gives the school little money, and last year actually refused a United Nations grant. In Bolivia, the university presidents and deans are elected by councils divided fifty-fifty between students and professors. Communists have grabbed control of three universities outside La Paz and are reaching for the rest.

Bolivia is an extreme case. But higher education throughout Latin America has long been plagued by similar problems. Without enough money or facilities, often more concerned with politics than learning, the universities have failed to produce the large number of doctors, engineers and widely skilled people needed to develop their nations. Latin American educators are aware of the shortcomings, and in recent years have been engaged in a drive to improve and broaden the universities.

Older Than Harvard. Such universities as Peru's San Marcos and the University of Mexico (both established in 1551) are older by 85 years than Harvard. Founded by the Roman Catholic Church as adjuncts to the colonial empires of Spain and Portugal, they were in the beginning centers of relative enlightenment. But after the wars of independence in the early 19th century, they became part and parcel of the rigid social and political system that dominated Latin America through a long succession of tyrants. Not until after World War I did a wave of liberalism sweep the hemisphere.

At Cordoba University in Argentina, rioting students refused to obey the school's administrators and demanded a voice in running things. They asked for relaxed entrance requirements, looser attendance rules, the virtual elimination of tuition. To eliminate narrow-minded professors who preached the dogma of the oligarchs, they also called for review of professorial qualifications.

Flourishing Rebellion. Known as the "University Reform.'' the student movement swiftly spread the length of Latin America, only to be turned back on itself by new platoons of tyrants. Fearful of the universities as centers of rebellion, the new dictators slashed government funds, leaving schools staffed with underpaid, part-time professors to teach an ever-growing student body. Learning suffered, but rebellion flourished.