The OECD’s Higher Education Discourse : A qualitative analysis of the Chilean Case

Two-year Political Science MA programme in Global Politics and Societal Change Dept. of Global Political Studies

Course: Political Science Master's thesis ST631L (30 credits)

The OECD’s Higher Education Discourse

A qualitative analysis of the Chilean Case

Abstract

After the Jomtien conference and the World Declaration, Education for all in 1990, by UNESCO, education began to be a topic of greater relevance for global politics, and not only for domestic politics. The thesis aims to examine the construction of the OECD’s discourse about higher education using Chile as a Case of study, through the analysis of the OECD’s document Reviews of National Policies for Education, Education in Chile, published in 2017, and on the Law 21091 of Higher Education in Chile promulgated in 2018. For this, from poststructuralist theory, and using the concepts of legitimacy and norm as a theoretical framework, discourse analysis is carried out using the What is the Problem Represented to be approach. Thus, the thesis reveals that the OECD discourse is built on OECD preconceived standards, and not on particular standards for Chile, however, this also leads Chile to recognize itself as a country part of a world elite.

Keywords: OECD, Higher education policies, discourse, problem representation, Chile, International Organizations, Poststructuralism, legitimacy, norms, Latin America.

Table of Content

2.2.2 OECD - higher education 7

2.2.3 OECD – Chile 10

2.2.4 Chilean higher education, historical background 12

2.3 Previous studies 13 3 Theory 17 3.1 Theoretical framework 17 3.1.1 Poststructuralism 17 3.1.2 Norms 18 3.1.3 Legitimacy 19

4 Method and Data 20

4.1 Methodology 20

4.1.2 Case Study 21

4.1.3 Discourse analysis 21

4.1.4 What is the Problem Represented to be (WPR) 22

4.2 Data 26

5 Analysis 28

5.1 What is the ‘problem’ represented to be in a specific policy or policy proposal? 29

5.2 What presuppositions or assumptions underpin this representation

of the ‘problem’? 32 5.3 How has this representation of the ‘problem’ come about? 38 5.4 What is left unproblematic in this problem representation?

Where are the silences? Can the ‘problem’ be thought about differently? 39 5.5 What effects are produced by this representation of the ‘problem’? 40

5.6 How/where has this representation of the ‘problem’ been produced,

disseminated and defended? 43

6 Conclusions and limitations 49 7 References 53

Abbreviations

ECLAC – Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean IOs – International Organizations

OECD – Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development OEEC – Organization for European Economic Cooperation

UN – United Nations

UNDP – United Nations Development Program

UNESCO – United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization WPR – What is the problem represented to be

1 Introduction

1.1 Overview

After the Jomtien conference and the World Declaration, Education for all in 1990 by

UNESCO, education began to be a topic of greater relevance for global politics, and not only for domestic politics, and with this, began to be part of the agenda of the international

organizations (IOs) (Rivas, 2015).

An example of this are the Sustainable Development Goals 2030 in which education was established as a central theme of the international cooperation agenda. In this, education is the fourth goal, because as they say, “when people can access quality education, they can escape the cycle of poverty” (UN, 2019). With the above, it can be said that education is a central issue when talking about development, as organizations like the World Bank affirmed when they say “education is fundamental to development and growth because the human mind makes possible all development achievements, from health advances to efficient public administration” (King, 2011:1).

Within the area of education, higher education is interesting because it has become a vast twenty-first century enterprise, central to the development of economies everywhere (Altbach, 2009), and therefore the knowledge generated thanks to higher education institutions is becoming increasingly critical for countries' competitiveness into the international system (Garnier, 2004).

Nonetheless the recognition of the importance of higher education, especially for developing countries is recent. During the Jomtien conference in 1990, as Garnier (2004) assures, Latin America was recommended to focus on basic education levels and not waste its national budget on higher education, under the idea that this budget should be invested in the poorest, through a solid health system and greater coverage of primary education. However, years later it was shown that those countries in the region, such as Chile and Costa Rica, that had

invested in higher education despite the recommendations, were countries with greater social mobility and stronger social policies, than those countries that had not done so. (Garnier, 2004: 184).

Nowadays higher education is recognized as an engine of development in Latin America by various organizations such as the Economic Commission for Latin America and the

Caribbean (ECLAC), who affirms that higher education institutions in Latin America are a key factor for increase competitiveness and long-term economic expansion, strengthen democracy and promote the economic and social development of the region (Moreno-Brid and Ruiz-Nápoles, 2009). In this field, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), as different scholars like Regula Bürgi (2017) ensures, is nowadays the organism with the greater influence in the formulation of education policies around the world but especially within its 37 member countries (Kallo, 2020).

In Latin America, only three countries are members of the Organization, those are Mexico, Chile and Colombia, who became a member country in April 2020. Between them Chile stands out for its high development rates according to the latest human development report of the UNDP or United Nations Development Program (UNDP, 2019), its outstanding position in the PISA tests (BBC Mundo, 2019) and in the international rankings for the classification of higher education institutions (OECD, 2017d: 187), compared with other Latin American OECD member countries.

Moreover, the role of the OECD’s discourse on education is in debate. On the one hand, scholars like Bürgi (2017) states that the OECD's discourse, main objective is to influence economic policies, through its role of "education expert", and its recommendations are based mainly on political concepts, rather than scientists. In the same sense, the author affirms that the objective of the OECD has never been to implement existing policies that are

scientifically effective, but to participate in the political decisions from its beginnings, that is, in the design of policies and the setting of objectives (Bürgi, 2017). However, on the other hand, authors such Sellar and Lingard (2013) assure that the OECD develops discourse focused on the countries to help them to “shape understandings of the education systems that national governments must create to increase productivity and sustain economic growth” (2013: 722).

With the above, it can be said that despite the intention of its discourse, it is undeniable that OECD’s recommendations on higher education are a benchmark for the creation of public policies worldwide (Kallo, 2020). For this reason, it is important to understand how has the OECD's higher education discourse been constructed and what is the problem representation

behind its policy proposals in the field of higher education, which according to the OECD determines the labor and economic development focus of the countries (OECD, 2017c).

1.2 Aim

Based on the above, the purpose of this thesis is to answer the research question: How has the OECD's higher education discourse been constructed and embraced in Chile? This, reviewing what is the OECD's discourse on higher education for Chile and analyzing Chile as a case of study, to understand how this discourse is represented and problematized in the case of the South American country. This research question will be answered under poststructuralist theory and carrying out a discourse analysis through the what is the problem represented to be approach (WPR), proposed by Bacchi (2009).

For this, two documents will be used: the OECD document Reviews of National Policies for

Education, Education in Chile published in 2017, and ley 21091 de Educación Superior en Chile, or Law 21091 of Higher Education in Chile, promulgated in 2018. Additionally, news

articles from the main Chilean media were also analyzed, during the months after the

publication of the OECD document, as well as the campaign proposals of the two presidential candidates competing for the country's presidency at the time of publication of the OECD document. The above, with the purpose of analyzing how the OECD discourse is

disseminated and answering one of the questions proposed by Bacchi (2009) in WPR approach.

Furthermore, the thesis aims to present a research model that could be replicated in other cases of studies, in order to understand the OECD discourse construction of the specific case and compare the problem representation differences or similarities with Chile. This to achieve more generalizable conclusions in the future.

1.3 Structure

To develop the thesis the structure will be the following: first, a literature review is presented, here the debate around the role of International Organizations (IOs) within states will be shown. Second, a brief overview on how the OECD works and which are its advices on higher education policy for the two other Latin American member countries (Mexico and

Colombia) as well as the OECD relation with Chile and a historical background on higher education policies in the South American country, are exposed. Third, previous studies

regarding OECD discourse on higher education and its discourse impact on national education policies are presented.

After the literature review, the theory of poststructuralism as well as the definitions of norms and legitimacy, that are used in the analysis, are shown. Then, as the thesis will be used, qualitative analysis through a discourse analysis and the WPR approach, the methods will be explained as well as the primary sources selection, this means, sources that have not been previously analyzed (Halperin and Heath, 2012: 329). Finally, the analysis, following the WPR structure, as well as the conclusions, and limitations of the study are exposed.

2 Literature Review

In the literature review, previous studies regarding the topics of interest for the thesis will be examined. For this reason, first, studies regarding the debate around the role of International Organizations (IOs) and its impact on the domestic politics of the states will be shown. Second, an overview of the operation of the OECD will be presented, especially the

Directorate for Education and Skills. Here, the recommendations made by the organization to the other two Latin American member countries are also briefly presented. Third, Chile's relationship with the OECD will be exposed, and after this, the Chilean higher education historical background. Finally, previous research conducted on the OECD discourse on higher education will be explored.

2.1 International Organizations

International organizations are fundamental actors in the international system, although they do not replace sovereign states as the central actors, are fundamentally changing the way in which international relations work (Zaum, 2013: 157). For this reason, it is interesting to study the discourse of the OECD and how it is constructed, since the IOs are actors with indisputable influence in the configuration of global politics and in the development of the domestic policy of the countries. For this reason, this part of the literature review presents the main existing debates around the role of international organizations and their impact on states. As Barkin (2013: 3) ensures, there is a debate according to what some scholars argue that IOs are vehicles through which states cooperate to promote the best outcomes for all, while others argue that IOs are not neutral agents of cooperation, on the contrary they have or represent a specific agenda. In the same sense, Bernett and Finnemore (2004:4) present others of the existing debates. As the authors say, for some scholars, international organizations are mechanisms or structures through which others (usually states) act, so they are not purposive actors and do not have their own agenda. However other scholars affirm that in order to fulfill the requests of the states, mainly the most powerful ones, the international organizations need a certain level of autonomy and therefore can develop their own agenda.

Bernett and Finnemore (2004) also suggest that IOs have authority over the states, to the extent that they use discursive and institutional resources to generate respect, and with this legitimacy. In this sense, international organizations are powerful mainly, because they use their authority to orient actions, create social knowledge, create actors, specify responsibilities and authority among them, and define the work these actors should do (Bernett and

Finnemore, 1999: 609).

Other scholars study the effects of IOs on norms of behavior in global politics. One of these is Nilsson (2017) who argues that IOs are bureaucracies that not only pursue the tasks delegated to them by states, but develop their own views and organizational cultures to promote good policy. Therefore, this not only means that IOs have a particular agenda - parallel to that of member states, but they are the ones who determine what the problem is, which actors have that problem and what are the prescriptions or solutions to solve it, in other words, as stated by Nilsson (2017), IOs regulate behavior through three mechanisms: classifying problems, actors and actions; fixing meanings by establishing how to solve it and by whom; and, articulating and diffusing norms and rules.

2.2 Chile- OECD

This part of the literature review presents an overview of the operation of the OECD,

especially the Directorate for Education and Skills in order to understand how studies such as the one analyzed in the thesis are carried out. In the same way, the recommendations made by the organization to the other two Latin American countries that are members of the

Organization are briefly presented in order to have them as a reference throughout the analysis. After this, Chile's relationship with the OECD is presented to understand how their relationship has been and what commitments exist between both parts. Finally, the Chilean higher education historical background will be exposed because, as shown in-depth in the analysis, it is important to keep it in mind to understand the impact that some measures have had on the representation of the problems.

The OECD or the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development was born in 1948 as the Organization for European Economic Cooperation (OEEC) with the purpose of helping with the implementation of the United State - financed Marshall Plan for the

reconstruction of Europe after the war (OECD, 2020a).

Years later, countries like Canada and the United States joined the Organization for European Economic Cooperation and this became the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development on September 30th of 1961. Today the OECD has 37 member countries, among those three Latin American countries (OECD, 2020a) and it is for many, one of the most influential international organizations in global politics (Burgi, 2017).

Nowadays, one of the Organization's main objectives is to carry out studies and analyzes towards formulate recommendations to improve the quality of public policies for member countries and the international community in general (Tassara, 2015). The OECD's working methodology is based on building consensus on the issues considered a priority and is carried out through five stages.

1. Data collection and analysis: First the data is collected and compared to steer economic, social and environmental policies.

2. Discussion and consultation: The results are discussed and commented in working groups within the OECD.

3. Standard setting and policy guidance: The OECD enter into direct discussion with the policymakers of the countries and presents their suggestions and recommendations. 4. Implementation support: Under the request of the countries, the OECD supports the

implementation of new public policies.

5. Peer review: In this final stage, the impact of policies is reviewed and “each country’s policy in a particular area is examined by fellow member countries on an equal basis across dedicated OECD” committees (OECD, 2020b).

2.2.2 OECD - Higher education

The OECD Directorate for Education and Skills is currently in charge of the German, Andreas Schleicher and works with OECD experts, representatives of all member countries, over 50 partner countries and economies and observers from different organizations such as UNESCO and the European Council (OECD, 2019a). Likewise, according to the OECD, the Directorate

for Education and Skills has the purpose of helping countries close the gap between

educational aspirations and performance by providing advice that spans the policy process, from diagnosis to implementation (OECD, n.d.). For this, the OECD in conjunction with the member countries carries out a four-stage process, which are diagnosis, review, dialogue and implementation.

Diagnosis

The first stage develops an understanding of how an education system is performing, and which are its strengths and challenges, in comparison to peer nations (OECD, n.d.). This through the study of evidence that provides policymakers of the countries with rigorous data-based that they can use to identify key challenges within their education system (OECD, n.d. :5).

Review

This stage has the purpose of providing independent, in-depth analysis and policy

recommendations, so the countries can benefit from external, expert and trusted advice on how to make improvements to policy and practice (OECD, n.d.:8). This can be a custom, in-depth analysis and advice for a single country, or a comparative review analysis of Education Policy (OECD, n.d.: 9).

Dialogue

This stage is based on discussion and analysis of international practices, with the purpose of providing national policy makers with tools for policy development or implementation of newly adopted reforms. This stage can be carried out directly between the country and the OECD, or through working groups made up of experts and policymakers from different countries (OECD, n.d.: 10).

Implementation

With the premise that successful reforms require effective policy implementation (OECD, n.d.: 12). This stage helps countries to identify challenges to come as education policies are implemented. This through the support in the development of implementation plans and the constant revision of the implementation process (OECD, n.d.).

On the other hand, regarding higher education, the OECD has two main projects, the labor market relevance and outcomes project and the higher education resources project. The first, provides recommendations on how higher education policies can promote good labor market outcomes, and the second assists policymakers in addressing questions of resource allocation (OECD, 2019b).

Additionally, the OECD publishes documents that are the results of different investigations and in which it shows the current situation of higher education in various countries and establishes benchmarks and recommendations. The report The State of Higher Education

2013 is an example of that. Here, after analyzing several cases, the OECD gives a series of

recommendations on public policies to ensure the success of higher education. Some of these are, to ensure university fees do not limit access and introduce loans that do not depend on the creditworthiness of the family (OECD, 2014).

Likewise, in the report, In-depth analysis of the labor market relevance and outcomes of

higher education systems: Analytical framework and country practices of 2017, the OECD

asks the countries to consider the needs of the labor market. This study proposes to use tools such as labor force surveys, population surveys, tax data, and job vacancy data, that can provide evidence of the skills that are currently in demand and will presumably be in demand in the near future. (OECD, 2017a).

In the same sense, the OECD in its document, The State of Higher Education 2015-2016, after a quantitative analysis in which compares data from several countries, ensures that higher education generates several benefits for example, more highly educated adults tend to be more engaged in the world around them. Furthermore, according to them, adults with higher

qualifications are more likely to report desirable social outcomes, including good or excellent health, participation in volunteer activities, interpersonal trust, and political efficacy. Not only does education pay off for individuals, but the public benefits of education, in greater tax revenue and social contributions from a larger proportion of higher education graduates, also outweigh the cost (OECD, 2017b).

However, education is not covered by the 1960 OECD convention, so it is up to member countries to decide on mandates around education. This implies that the authority of the Organization in matters of education depends on what they do and not on what their legal

stages are (Kallo, 2020), that is, its authority depends on the legitimacy they have with the states.

Latin American Cases

In the Colombian case, Andreas Schleicher, Director of Education of the OECD said during an interview in 2018 "Colombia is spending more than it should in higher education because investing in this field necessarily prevents investing in others. In our experience, the bases are what matter most” (Semana, 2018). In like manner, in the report, Reviews of National Policies

for Education: Tertiary Education in Colombia 2012, the organization recommends

considering the long duration of professional careers in Colombian universities, on average 5 years, since they represent an additional social and economic cost for the country and its citizens. (OECD and World Bank, 2012).

In the case of Mexico, in the report Higher Education in Mexico, the OECD (2019c) makes a comparative analysis of the public policies of higher education of the Mexican government and the economic development reports of the OECD. After this, the OECD emphasizes the importance of increasing the programs and institutions of higher education, since they are insufficient, are not interconnected and are located only in large cities, which prevents young people from remote regions to access them. Likewise, the OECD also recommends making higher education programs more flexible. This is because many programs do not consider the need of many young people, to study and work at the same time, which ends up favoring school drop-out (OECD, 2019c). In this same sense, the report also recommends taking into account employers not only to train students in what the labor market needs but also because companies can be too, a source of funding higher education.

2.2.3 Chile - OECD

Chile became part of the OECD in 2010 after more than two years of negotiations, in what the OECD called an international recognition, for two decades during which Chile reformed its democratic system and its economic policies (OECD, 2011). For its entry, Chile had to meet two basic requirements like all member countries, to be a democratic country, and to have a market economy (Sáenz, 2010: 95). Likewise, the country was obliged to carry out legislative

reforms on the legal responsibility of legal entities (companies) to combat corruption and money laundering, as well as make adjustments to the country's tax policies (Sáenz, 2010). After joining the OECD, Chile, like all the countries that join the organization, is obligated to belong to and participate in all the departments such as environment, and education and skills and is able to decide if it wants to participate or not in other committees (Sáenz, 2010: 97). This is clearly shown by the Chilean government in the organization chart below.

Chart 1. OECD organization chart based on the groups in which Chile participates (Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores de Chile, n.d)

The chart shows in the upper left-hand side, the administrative bodies to which Chile belongs, and on the upper right-hand side the twelve boards in which Chile, as well as all OECD member countries, is obliged to participate. Likewise, at the bottom, it shows the

subcommittees, divided by color according to the directory to which they belong, in which Chile decided to participate for its own interest. Finally, in the upper part, forming a circle, are shown committees to which Chile belongs, but are not open to all members of the organization. Additionally, for the purposes of this thesis, it is important to highlight that Chile does not belong to the IMHE or Programme on Institutional Management in Higher Education, which means that it is not an advisory part of this committee.

However, as Sáenz (2010) affirms, Chile will receive periodic recommendations and evaluations from both the OECD and its peers, on OECD work topics, including topics in

which Chile does not participate such as higher education. These recommendations summarize the good practices and benchmarks by which the members of the organization must abide. For this reason, if Chile does not directly object to the recommendations, the country must accept them voluntarily. In this sense, it is important to bear in mind that although there are no sanction mechanisms in the OECD, if the country does not embrace the recommendations, peer pressure on Chile will be permanent (Sáenz, 2010: 108).

2.2.4 Chilean higher education

According to the OECD (2017d: 176), in Chile, not only higher education has a crucial role in the development of the country, in order to transform its economy by moving away from dependence on primary goods as the cooper, but is also crucial into Chileans everyday life, and daily debates. An example of this are the constant strikes, the last one was on October 18, 2019, thousands of citizens in Santiago, began to protest against the rise in the price of

subway tickets. While the subway’s price increase was the initial claim, it served as the trigger for the rest of the country to join the protests claiming for the quality of education among other issues during what was called the “Latin-American Spring”.

The history of higher education in Chile dates back to the founding of eight universities between 1842 and 1956, years in which accessing higher education was synonymous with social status and therefore its students belonged to the Chilean elite (Brunner, 2015). In this period, the role of the state was limited. Universities had the autonomy to determine among other things the careers offered and the goal of higher education. In addition to this, as

Brunner (2015) points out, the universities were run by the church, the masons, and the elites. Between 1967 and 1968 the situation of higher education in Chile changed, the government implemented an education reform thanks to which higher education became more widespread, going from 25,000 students in 1960 to 146,000 students enrolled in 1973, favoring the entry of the middle class (Brunner, 2015: 28). Likewise, higher education began to be part of the government's political debates, achieving that the public spending on higher education increased considerably, going from 1.08% of GDP in 1967 to 2.11% of GDP in 1973 (Brunner, 2015: 30). This does not mean that the universities lost independence in their teaching, but that they worked closely with the national government and had public funding.

The period between the late 1960s and early 1970s was also known as the golden age of universities in Chile, not only because of the increase in enrollment but also because the universities established themselves as strategic places for national political debate.

However, in 1973 with the arrival of General Augusto Pinochet to power, the situation of higher education radically changed. This meant that first, the universities lost the autonomy that the governments of Frei Montalva and Allende had granted them. Second, enrollment dropped and higher education refocused on the elite, and third, state funding for higher education fell by less than half (Brunner, 2015: 37). Likewise, during the dictatorship, higher education was privatized, which generated not only high tuition costs, but also led to the appearance of more than 300 new, low-quality universities throughout the country (Brunner, 39).

Since 1990 after the reestablishment of democracy, enrollment has progressively increased among the middle and lower strata, additionally, a process of revision of higher education centers began, with which it was possible to go from 302 institutions in 1990 to 163 in the 2012 (Brunner, 2015: 43). However, despite the end of the dictatorship, higher education in Chile remains private and Chile's tuition fees are more than double those of any other OECD member country (OECD, 2017d: 180).

Nowadays, according to the OECD (2017d), higher education in Chile has improved significantly compared to other member countries. On the one hand, the number of tertiary education students in Chile, between 2005 and 2013, rose by 78.6%, the highest increase among all OECD countries, even though only 28% of the students came from public municipal schools. That means that less than a third of the students came from low-income families.

Likewise, the number of women enrolled in higher education programs grew 132% from 2004 to 2016, while during the same period, men enrollment grew 96%. Additionally, according to the Minister of Education of Chile, cited by OECD (2017d: 177), the percentage of Chilean higher education students who identify themselves as indigenous or as having indigenous backgrounds increased from 16.6% in 2006 to 31.3% in 2015.

Although the numbers are good, as the OECD underlines, for more than 10 years there were no significant changes into the higher education policy in the country until 2018 when the national government issued the Law 21091 of Higher Education in Chile, which, as well as

the OECD document “Reviews of National Policies for Education, Education in Chile, 2017” are used in the thesis analysis as primary sources (Halperin and Heath, 2012).

2.3 Previous studies

The final part of the Literature review, explores previous research conducted around the OECD discourse on higher education, and around its discourse impact on national education policies.

To begin, Hunter (2013) carries out an investigation in which he considers the changes in the political economy and explores how they might be related to changes in OECD discourse in higher education. The above, under this hypothesis: “with the changing political economy after the global economic turmoil of the early 1980s and in light of changes in its membership and activities, OECD’s higher education discourse might also be shifting” (Hinter, 2013: 708). For this, the author compares the studies carried out by the OECD to different countries in the mid-1990s and the late-2000s, after which he concludes that effectively there is a change in the OECD discourse on higher education, in which the main change is regarding the public and private benefits of higher education and the specific benchmarks of the decades. In the 1990s the focus was on quality, equity and finance, while in the 2000s the focus was on innovation and skills development for the workplace (Hinter, 2013: 717).

In like manner, Kallo (2020) investigates the changes that have occurred in the OECD and its higher education agenda, this from the perspective of the epistemic community, based on three research questions first, what are the changes that have taken place in the OECD and its higher education agenda? Second, what are the dominant narratives on higher education? Third, does an epistemic culture exist within the OECD? To answer these questions, the researcher uses reports from the OECD and interviews with both employees of the organization and academic experts in it. Finally, the findings mainly show that there is a dependency on temporary mandates which have led to the creation of knowledge that would guarantee financial support in the future, and has shaped the epistemic culture within the Directorate for Education (Kallo, 2020: 17).

Regarding the impact of OECD discourse on national education policies, one of the

researches is the one developed by Gounko and Smale (2007). They carried out a research to study the impact of the World Bank and the OECD on changes in higher education policy in

Russia. For this, the authors compared the reforms to higher education policy in Russia carried out between 2000 and 2005, with the recommendations given to the country by these organizations, set out in official documents of the OECD and the World Bank (Gounko and Smale, 2007: 535). After this, the authors found that the three pillars on which the Russian education reforms were based, coincide with what the organizations have stated. These three pillars are, the creation of a new unified national examination, the implementation of the Bologna declaration and the creation of a financing system for higher education (Gounko and Smale, 2007: 542).

Finally, the authors conclude that the changes in Russian education policy responded to formal and informal pressures from the World Bank and the OECD to the extent that the government and therefore universities adjusted their policies in accordance with their suggestions. (Gounko and Smale, 2007: 542). Additionally, the authors assure that this is possible because governments do not have the resources or expertise necessary to carry out large-scale reforms on their own, but rather need the informed knowledge and financing of these organizations, this results in the exportation of the International Organizations agenda and the influence on public education policies (Gounko and Smale, 2007: 546).

For their part, Alasuutari and Rasimus (2009) studied the relationship between public policy reforms in Finland and the OECD. For this, the authors analyzed the Finnish bills and public policies from 1991 to 2009, in order to determine if they refer directly to the OECD and therefore, if the organization can be considered a point of reference for the formulation of policies in the country (Alasuutari and Rasimus, 2009: 93). After this, the researchers concluded that the OECD recommendations are constantly used to develop public policies and bills in Finland. This is due to the fact that the OECD discourse has been integrated into the political discourse of Finland through the comparison of the Nordic country with other OECD countries and the legitimacy of recommendations given by the organization, which are used as a frame of reference in the formulation of policies (Alasuutari and Rasimus, 2009: 102).

Finally, for the researchers, the case of Finland is not particular insofar as, thanks to this, it becomes evident how the countries follow a model established by organizations such as the OECD not by pressure but by their own interests and to ratify their reputation as a member of the international system highly qualified by organizations such as the OECD (Alasuutari and Rasimus, 2009: 103).

In like manner, Niemann and Martens (2018) carry out a study in which they analyze how the OECD uses its studies to promote a certain agenda. In the study, they first analyze what is the role of ideas in soft governance and determine that the proliferation of ideas and ideational change in turn promote policy change, insofar as it discursively restricts the framework of behavior of the states (Niemann and Martens, 2018: 270). Then, they make an analysis to understand how the OECD has become a knowledge broker, after which they conclude that the PISA tests have been the backbone of the construction of the OECD identity as a reference in education. Finally, the authors conclude that the rankings and comparisons between countries used by the OECD and other organizations are a soft governance tool through which organizations influence countries' education policies (Niemann and Martens, 2018: 276).

Throughout the literature review, it was shown to begin with that the OECD as an agent of the International System has a fundamental role in the configuration of global politics and

therefore relevance of the thesis becomes evident. Likewise, the operation of the

organization's education department was shown, which is of the greatest relevance to be able to carry out the analysis, understanding how the department works and under which

guidelines the reports are developed. Likewise, exploring the relationship of the OECD with Chile is useful for the thesis to the extent that the commitments between both parties can impact both the creation of the discourse and its embrace in Chile. After this, the historical background of higher education in Chile was presented, this will be useful for the thesis because it will allow the changes in its higher education policy to be more evident and question number four proposed by Bacchi (2009) analyzed.

Finally, with the studies presented, it seems clear that the OECD discourse regarding higher education is not static, on the contrary it is shaped by various factors such as the temporary mandate in which it is located and the economic and social context in which it is developed, here it is also important to note that, as shown above, education is not covered by the 1960 OECD convention, then it was to be expected that the discourse around education was variable. Regarding the relationship between international organizations and national

education policies, the studies made clear the direct relationship between the legitimacy of the organization and the changes in education policies. Likewise, it is important to say that in the literature review no relevant studies that analyzed specifically the construction of the OECD’s discourse on a specific country were found, so, the thesis will be also a contribution to the

literature in this regard, and its research design could be used as a model for future investigations.

3 Theory

3.1 Theoretical framework

As the aim of this thesis is to respond to the question, how has the OECD's higher education discourse been constructed and embraced in Chile? and the theoretical framework has the

purpose of establishing a framework for data analysis. Based on the literature review where poststructuralism is a common way to explain the discourse construction of International Organizations, this section will present and define poststructuralism, as the main theory that will be used to analyze data, and the concepts of norms and legitimacy in order to create a theoretical framework.

3.1.1 Poststructuralism

Poststructuralist theory is constructed over the idea that there are no absolute truths, but rather discourses, built by different actors, based on particular ways of understanding the world. The above, according to Devatak (2012), quoting Nietzsche, means that for poststructuralism, when an actor say something about the world, is also saying something about its conception of the world, that means that the ideas an actor has about a phenomenon, are linked to preconceived ideas that have been built over time (Devatak, 2012: 188).

Additionally, “poststructuralists always call into question how certain accepted ‘facts’ and ‘beliefs’ actually work to reinforce the dominance and power of particular actors within international relations” (McMorrow, 2017: 56). This is interesting in the development of the thesis, since the OECD discourse on higher education, according to this theory and as ensured by some studies shown in the literature review, can be seen as a mechanism of the

organization to reinforce its power in the international system. In the same sense, for Newman (2005) poststructuralism aims to discover the cracks, uncertainties, and heterogeneities that are present in the structures of political institutions and identities with the purpose of showing how these can create new political meanings or events (Newman, 2005: 7).

In poststructuralism, as Foucault (1984) shows, the discourse has a fundamental role, since it is through it that the most powerful actors impose their ideas and manipulate other actors. In this regard, McMorrow (2017) ensures that according to poststructuralism, “the strength of dominant discourses lies in their ability to shut out other options or opinions to the extent that thinking outside the realms set by the discourse is seen as irrational (2017: 58). In the case of the OECD, as shown in the literature review, its discourse on education issues is not only dominant, but also dismisses contrary ideas. This is especially evident when it comes to the PISA test, which is considered a worldwide standard for comparing and measuring the quality of education between OECD member and non-member countries Bürgi (2017).

Finally, it is important to clarify that for the purposes of the thesis, when speaking of

discourse, the thesis speaks from Bacchi's (2000) definition of policies or policy proposals as a discourse. This, in the way that policy-as-discourse approaches encourage deeper reflection on the contours of a particular policy discussion, the shape assigned a particular ‘problem’ (Bacchi, 2000). In other words, understanding the OECD policy proposals as a discourse allows us to analyze what is behind each proposal and not simply describe them, to the extent that it is assumed that the proposals are constructed from a specific position and a specific background. On this, Bacchi (2012) states that understanding policy as discourse is “more than just looking at language usage, is understanding that discourses are socially produced forms of knowledge that set limits upon what it is possible to think, write or speak about a given social object or practice” (2012: 35).

In Foucault's (1984) words, “in every society the production of discourse is at once controlled, selected, organized and redistributed by a certain number of procedures whose role is to ward off its powers and dangers” (1984: 52). This leads to creating what Foucault, cited by

McMorrow (2017), calls a regime of truth, in which the power of language and binary positions, which will be presented later in the thesis, come together to create a dominant discourse that is not questioned but accepted.

3.1.2 Norms

Based on the literature review presented above, this thesis is going to take into consideration two terms, norms and legitimacy. The above, in order to analyze what is behind the higher education discourse construction of the OECD and the implications of that discourse in Chile’ education policy.

Hence, for the purpose of the thesis, the definition of Finnemore and Sikkink (1998) is considered. For the authors, “norms are standards of appropriate behavior for actors with a given identity” (Finnemore and Sikkink, 1998: 891). For the thesis, understanding norms from this perspective is interesting insofar as the discourse on higher education policies of the OECD and its policy proposals for Chile can be understood as the norms that a country with the development of Chile, and above all a member country of the OECD should take into account to follow an appropriate behavior.

For its part, Winston (2017) ensures that the norms are a tripartite structure. First, a norm presupposes a problem, then, the norm includes a value and finally, a norm enjoins a

particular behavior (Winston, 2017, p.640). Taking this into account is especially interesting since the method used in the thesis also starts from the idea that behind every policy or policy proposal, there is a representation of a problem. Therefore, understanding this representation of the problem as part of a structure helps to analyze with more elements the creation of the higher education discourse of the OECD in the case of Chile.

However, to understand the impact of norms on the international system it is not enough to understand what they are or what role they play, it is also important to understand how they are created and how they become part of the international system. In this regard, Finnemore and Sikkink (1998) propose a life cycle of the norm with a three-stage process, these are norm emergence, norm acceptance, and norm internalization. That is, first, norms entrepreneurs create a norm and convince the main actors or norms leaders to adopt the norm. Then, the norm leaders socialize the norm and convince other countries to adopt it, norm cascade. Finally, the norms are accepted within the international system and their validity or need is no longer discussed (Finnemore and Sikkink, 1998). This is important to the extent that, as will be shown later, one of the questions of the method used in the thesis asks for how has this representation of the ‘problem’ been produced, disseminated and defended.

Likewise, it is important to bear in mind that here the representation of the problem is understood according to Bacchi (2009). Problem as the author says, indicates what an actor thinks needs to be changed. So, in a particular policy or policy proposal, the problem refers simply to the kind of change implied in it. In like manner, as Shapiro (1998), cited by Bacchi, ensures representations are the practices through which things take on meaning, so problem representation refers to the understanding of the problem implied in any policy (Bacchi, 2009: 35).

3.1.3 Legitimacy

As stated above, for the purpose of the thesis, it is important to define the term legitimacy that has already been named throughout the text. For this reason, in this thesis legitimacy is understood according to Suchman (1995) who cited by Hurd (1999) assures that legitimacy is “a generalized perception or assumption that the actions of an entity are desirable, proper, or appropriate within some socially constructed system of norms, values, beliefs, and

definitions” (Hurd, 1999: 382). The above means that legitimacy presumes that actors, in this case Chile, would regard the OECD’s exercise of authority as appropriate, even if it were to make a decision that goes against their narrow self-interest (Tallberg and Zürn, 2019). In the same sense, as Zaum (2013) ensures, the legitimacy of international organizations can be classified into three types or ways of perceiving it. First, the legitimacy that is based on the effectiveness of the Organization to achieve the desired objectives, for which reason, for example, failing to promote a certain human right, may result in a decrease in legitimacy. Second, the legitimacy that is based on procedural fairness, or the perception that member states have appropriate and fair participation in the Organization. Third, the legitimacy that emanates from the trust on the organization and its work, that is, believing that a certain organization is the right organization for the job (Zaum, 2013: 10).

Additionally, it must be taken into account that legitimacy is fundamental for IOs as

international organizations lack the coercive powers of states, legitimacy affects the capacity of IOs to develop and secure compliance with their decisions (Zaum, 2013) For that reason, for the thesis purpose it is important to pay attention to the OECD’s legitimacy, insofar as it can justify its discourse, creation and embrace by the actors of the international system, like Chile.

4 Method and Data

The purpose of the thesis is to analyze the OECD’s policy proposals for Chile from the poststructuralist theory, the above, by analyzing and identifying first the OECD’s problem representation behind its policy proposals and using Chile’s higher education law as a case of study in order to answer the question how has the OECD's higher education discourse been constructed and embraced in Chile?

4.1 Methodology 4.1.2 Case Study

A case study is a research strategy that allows focusing on a single case and has the advantage that the case can be intensively examined (Halperin and Heath, 2012: 205). In the same sense, according to Wiebe, researchers employing case study methodology assume that what is learned from particular cases will be generalizable even when researchers cannot simply take for granted that a given case is typical (Wiebe et al., 2010: 64). This implies that

although, as Halperin and Heath (2012) say, with a single case study it is not possible to reach absolute conclusions and its results must be viewed with caution, developing an investigation around the OECD's discourse on higher education in the case of Chile can serve as a base to carry out future studies in this area.

Moreover, using Chile as a case study allows examining the OECD’s discourse in greater depth as Halperin and Heath (2012) ensure, and will contribute to the literature on the

construction of OECD’s benchmarks on education policies. The foregoing, insofar as the case study allows the development of arguments that could be relevant for many other contexts as well. That is, “that the study not only will say something meaningful about the case in

question but also about general political phenomena” (Halperin and Heath, 2012: 205) as mentioned above. In like manner, the single case study to apply theory, used in the thesis will be done from a qualitative approach and will search out congruence between theory and data, looking for theory-driven within case expectations (Wiebe et al., 2010).

4.1.3 Discourse analysis

Discourse analysis is a qualitative and interpretative form of analysis that aims to reveal the beliefs, values or ideology behind actors’ actions. This, because what someone says about a particular phenomenon reflects a particular way of thinking (Halperin and Heath, 2012). In this sense, discourse analysis as a research method chosen for the thesis is in accordance with the poststructuralism theory on which the thesis is based, to the extent that both consider what is behind the OECD’s discourse about higher education as an important issue to understand what the Organization means to say with the policy proposals for Chile. Thus, in the thesis,

discourse analysis is used with the purpose of uncovering how OECD’s discourse is

constructed and at the same time, how through its discourse, the OECD constructs meanings and subjectivities.

4.1.4 What is the Problem Represented to be (WPR)

The what is the problem represented to be or WPR approach, is a resource or tool, intended to facilitate critical interrogation of public policies and public policy proposals. It is based on the premise that what one person (state, organization, etc.) suggests as public policy, reveals what that person (state, organization, etc.) perceives as a problem (Bacchi, 2012). Likewise, as Bacchi (2012) says, according to this approach “policies are not the government’s best effort to solve ‘problems’; rather, policies produce ‘problems’ with particular meanings that affect what gets done or not done” (Bacchi, 2012:22). However, the above does not mean that this is an exercise of manipulation or misrepresentation, rather than, it is a necessary part of making policy because all policies have implicit representations of problems (Bacchi, 2009: 1). In this sense, as the author ensures and as was mentioned above, the word problem refers to a change implied in a particular policy proposal (Bacchi, 2009: xi) For the case study of the thesis, using the WPR tool is not only consistent with the theory used, but also allows investigating the construction of the OECD discourse through various questions, which means digging deeper and seeing the implications behind the way in which the organization represents a problem.

Likewise, the argument of this approach is that, in order to understand how we are governed, we need to examine the problem representations that lodge within policies and policy proposals (Bacchi, 2009: xiii). Reason why for the purpose of the thesis, the what’s the problem represented to be method is a useful tool to understand what is behind the OECD’s discourse on higher education.

To accomplish that, Bacchi (2009) proposes six questions:

1. What's the 'problem (e.g. of problem gamblers', ‘drug use/abuse', ‘domestic violence’, global warming, health inequalities, terrorism, etc.) represented to be in a specific policy or policy proposal?

2. What presuppositions or assumptions underpin this representation of the ‘problem’? 3. How has this representation of the ‘problem’ come about?

4. What is left unproblematic in this problem representation? Where are the silences? Can the ‘problem’ be thought about differently?

5. What effects are produced by this representation of the ‘problem’?

6. How has this representation of the ‘problem’ been produced, disseminated and defended?

(Bacchi, 2009: xii)

In the following section, the 6 questions will be briefly explained in order to understand the objective of each one while showing how they will be applied in the analysis.

Question 1:

The goal of Question 1 in WPR approach is to identify implied problem representations in specific policies or policy proposals (Bacchi, 2009: 4). This means to analyze the

understanding of the problem implied in any policy or policy proposal (Bacchi, 2009: xii) “This first question is straightforward - if a government proposes to do something, what is it hoping to change? And, hence, what does it produce as the 'problem'?” (Bacchi, 2009: x). For the above, as Bacchi (2012) says, this question will assist in the clarification of the implicit problem representation within the OECD policy proposals.

Question 2:

After identity the representation of the problem, is time to start thinking about the

understanding that underpins identified problem representations. What is assumed? What is taken-for-granted? What is not questioned? (Bacchi, 2009: 5), and question 2 is the first step in this analysis.

Question 2 asks which presuppositions or assumptions underlie an identified problem representation, that means, which knowledge is taken-for-granted. Therefore, the goal of Question 2 of a WPR approach is to identify and analyze the conceptual logics that underpin specific problem representations (Bacchi, 2009: 5). The above, by encouraging the reflection on the underlying premises in this representation of the ‘problem’ (Bacchi, 2012: 22).

To do so, Bacchi (2009: 7) proposes a form of discourse analysis, identifying and

interrogating the binaries, key concepts and categories operating within a policy or in this case, within OECD’s policy proposals.

Binaries

Binaries or dichotomies imply that one side is excluded for the other, an example of this is public - private or civilized - uncivilized. These dichotomies, as (Bacchi, 2009) rightly says, also implied that there is a hierarchy and that one side is considered more important than the other, this is evident within political debates, where opposite parties, usually stand up for different sides of dichotomies. Likewise, invariably binaries simplify complex relationships. Hence, the WPR approach proposes to watch where the binaries or dichotomies appear in policies and how they function to shape the understanding of the issue (Bacchi, 2009:7).

Key concepts

In the same sense, policies and policy proposals as Bacchi (2009) says, are created around key concepts, and even though many concepts, like equality, liberty, youth, and democracy, for example, appear to have clear-cut and obvious meanings, other concepts have broader, less defined meanings. Because of the above, it is important to identify key concepts in problem representations in order to understand which meanings are given to those concepts (Bacchi, 2009).

Categories

According to Bacchi (2009: 9) categories are concepts that play a central role in how

governing takes place. Likewise, these categories or labels are created through measurement, highlighting the important role played by measurement techniques such as censuses and surveys in for example, policies evaluation. However, in this approach the goal is not to accept these categories as given, but to see how they function to give particular meanings to problem representations (Bacchi, 2009: 8).

After establishing the presuppositions underpin the representations of the problems, this question seeks to answer how and where did these presuppositions appear. To do so, this question encourages the consideration of the contingent practices and processes through which this understanding of the ‘problem’ has emerged (Bacchi, 2012: 22). This, by identifying specific points in time when key decisions were made, taking an issue in a particular direction (Bacchi, 2009: 11). Therefore, the purpose of Question 3 of a WPR approach is to highlight the conditions that allow a particular problem representation to take shape (Bacchi, 2009:11).

Question 4

Through the previous questions, first, the representations of the problems are identified, then the conceptual foundations of the representation of the problems are analyzed, and finally, through question 3, the origins of the representation are examined. Now, with question 4, the approach inquiries about what has not been taken into account or the existing silences and limitations in these representations of problems (Bacchi, 2009).

To do so, the analysis performed in Question 2 is helpful here. Since binaries simplify complex experience, it is possible to indicate where this simplification distorts or

misrepresents certain issues (Bacchi, 2009: 13). At the same time, the analysis carried out in question 4, usefully draws attention to tensions and contradictions in problem representations, again highlighting limitations or inadequacies in the way the 'problem' is being represented (Bacchi, 2009: 1).

Question 5

This question is based on the presumption that some problem representations create more difficulties (forms of harm) for members of a specific social group than for members of other social groups (Bacchi, 2009: 15). So, its aim is to direct attention to the effects that

accompany specific problem representations (Bacchi, 2009: 15). To do so, Bacchi (2009: 16) identifies three, interconnected sorts of effects that need to be considered. Discursive effects. subjectification effects and lived effects.

Discursive effects refer to the limitations imposed by discourses and the representation of problems, which create frameworks of thought that limit what is thought and said (Bacchi, 2009).

Subjectification effects

Subjectification effects refer to the subjects and subjectivities created by a representation of the problem or a certain discourse. This implies that the people, the states, or that on which the representation of the problem falls, constitute themselves as specific subjects and with a definite way of perceiving reality, based on a discourse of representation of the problem. This can occur, for example through the ways in which policies set up social relationships and the place (position) of the subject within them (Bacchi, 2009: 17).

The above means that as Bacchi (2009: 17) says, discourses make certain subject positions available and when such a position is assumed, a person tends to make sense of the social world from this standpoint.

Lived effects

The concept of lived effects directs attention to the material impact of problem representations (Bacchi, 2009: 17). The notion of lived effects thereby highlights the way in which discourses create representations of problems that have effects on people's lives (Bacchi, 2009: 18).

Question 6

This question builds on Question 3, which directs attention to practices and processes that allow certain problem representations to dominate. Therefore, in question 6 Bacchi (2009: 19) proposes an analysis to think about the ways through which particular problem presentations reach their target audience and achieve legitimacy. One example of the ways to reach the target audience is the media that have a crucial role in disseminating and supporting particular norm or problem representations (Bacchi, 2009: 19).

To carry out this thesis, primary sources will be used, this means, sources that provide direct or first-hand evidence about an event, object, or person, that is, sources that have not been previously analyzed (Halperin and Heath, 2012: 329).

Since the purpose of the thesis is to respond to how has the OECD's higher education

discourse been constructed and embraced in Chile? through the WPR approach and under the lens of the poststructuralism theory, the analysis will be based mainly on two documents. On the one hand, the OECD document "Reviews of National Policies for Education, Education in

Chile" published in 2017, and on the other hand, ley 21091 de Educación Superior en Chile,

or Law 21091 of Higher Education in Chile, promulgated in 2018. These documents were selected not only because they are the most recent documents found, but because the OECD report predates Chile's higher education law, so it can be assumed that the Chilean

government had access to it before or during the elaboration of law 2109 of 2018.

In like manner, it is important to know that first, the OECD report is public, and can be found in English but also in Spanish, which means that it is easily accessible not only for the

government but also for stakeholders in general (citizens, media, etc.). Second, the report was developed at the request of the government of Chile, who asked that its educational policies be reviewed (OECD, 2017d). So, it can be assumed that the Chilean government trusted in the OECD criteria and had an interest in putting into practice the policy proposals presented by the Organization.

Likewise, it is important to consider the importance of this study and its specificities. On the one hand, it is interesting to analyze a topic that is part of the objectives of sustainable

development, such as education, which according to the United Nations agency for Education, Science and Culture (UNESCO) in its report “Education transforms”; reduces cases of child marriage and teenage pregnancy; saves the life of mothers and the education of mothers saves the lives of children; It provides better job opportunities and living standards to men and women and contributes to the economic development of the countries (UNESCO, 2013, p. 17) among other advantages.

On the other hand, it is impossible to ignore the place that the OECD has today as a reference to talk about education policies because, as Sellar and Lingard (2013) assure, the OECD has drawn attention to particular education systems and has influenced education policy-making in both member and non-member countries.

Finally, Chile has been chosen as a case of study because the country was, until very recently, the only country in South America member of the OECD (Colombia became a member state on April 28th of 2020) and is also the country with the highest Human Development Index in the region, according to the latest human development report of the UNDP or United Nations Development Program (UNDP, 2019). At the same time, Chile is interesting as well, because due its image as a well-qualified country its policies are a reference for other South American countries (OECD, 2017d.

In addition to these documents mentioned, the thesis will also use news produced by the three media with the highest readability in the country, according to the most recent circulation and readability report of Valida (Association of media and advertising agencies of Chile). Those are, La Tercera, El Mercurio y las Últimas Noticias (Valida, 2018:5). Here it is important to clarify that these are the three most-read paid newspapers, the free newspaper Publimetro was not considered, which ranks third overall in readability, because it was not possible to access its news history. The aforementioned newspapers will be reviewed for 7 months, from

November 2017 to May 2018, taking as a point of reference the publication of the OECD report on November 30th, 2017.

In the same manner, the campaign proposals of the two 2017 presidential candidates who passed to the second round will be used. These are Alejandro Guillier and the current

president of Chile Sebastian Piñera. These documents are interesting in order to analyze if the discourse of the OECD is taken or not as a point of reference by the future ruler of the

country. These documents, the news and the campaign proposals were selected with the purpose of answer question number 6 of WPR.

5 Analysis

In this chapter, the analysis is presented using the questions proposed by the WPR approach as a guide, and was developed in the following way. First, the documents Reviews of National

Policies for Education, Education in Chile, published in 2017, and on the Law 21091 of Higher Education in Chile promulgated in 2018, were read carefully in order to understand

the structure and acquaint to what they say. Then, taking into account every question in the order suggested by Bacchi (2009) and the theory of poststructuralism, the analysis was carried out. Additionally, questions one to four were answered based on the OECD document and

question number five was answered based on the Chilean higher education law and the analysis presented in questions one to four.

Furthermore, in order to answer question 6, as was mentioned above, the campaign proposals of the presidential candidates in 2017, Sebastian Pinera and Alejandro Guillier were used as well as the news produced by the three newspapers with the highest readability in the country, according to the most recent circulation and readability report of Valida (Association of media and advertising agencies of Chile). These are, La Tercera, El Mercurio y la Última Noticia (Valida, 2018:5).

5.1 What is the ‘problem’ represented to be in a specific policy or policy proposal?

The goal of the first question is to identify the problem representation behind the policies proposals of the OECD, with the purpose of as was saying above, understand what is the OECD hoping to change when they present a policy proposal, or what is behind its discourse. For this, after carefully reading the OECD document, the three main points identified by the Organization were analyzed. These are quality, access and focus.

1. Quality

To begin, the document highlights the quality of higher education in Chile as a problem. However, here it is important to keep in mind that quality is a problem when speaking of Chile compared to OECD countries (2017d: 29), but when speaking of Chile as part of the Latin American region, the OECD highlights the quality of Chilean education (OECD, 2017d: 181). In this area they give some recommendations such as:

“Chile needs its higher education system to be of the highest possible quality, and it also needs higher education to be relevant to the wider society and economy”.

(OECD, 2017d: 29) “Higher education institutions should better engage with industry”. (ibid)

“The Chilean government should prioritize greater internationalization of faculty and students to deliver learning suitable to the globalized twenty-first century”

(ibid) With the above citations, it can be seen that when the OECD suggests policies to improve the quality of education in Chile, it expects the country, on the one hand, to have standards more similar to those of other member countries and, on the other hand, that the country manages to make its higher education more linked to the economic development of the country.

This can be related to the OECD’s project of relevance and results of the labor market that was presented in the literature review and has the purpose of promoting good labor market outcomes. In other words, when the OECD talks about the poor quality of Chilean education, it talks about the lack of coherence between higher education policies and the economic development of the country, which can be translated as having international standards and high human capital formation or training the professionals that the country's economy needs.

2. Access

For the OECD, limitations on access to higher education should also be a central issue in Chile's educational reforms. For this reason, the OECD proposes, among other

recommendations, that the Chilean government should target support to students facing greater economic barriers (OECD, 2017d: 28). However, although at first glance the

economic reasons could seem the most common reason for dropping out of school or the lack of access to higher education, reading through the document reveals other reasons that have an impact on the access problems.

“In the National Socio-economic Characterization (CASEN) household survey, only 17% of young people from families in the bottom income decile indicated that financial reasons explained why they were not participating in higher education”

(OECD, 2017d: 183) “Failure to complete high school or pass qualifying examinations are the most common reason”