Framing educational policy discourse in neoliberal contexts: debates around the public university in a Chilean newspaper

ABSTRACT

This article discusses the role of the media and academic experts in the configuration of educational policy in a neoliberal context. The analysis is based on the discourse on the public/private divide in higher education scrutinising the opinion columns of El Mercurio, a major Chilean newspaper. The authors identify the discursive disappearance of the public university and the reappearance of the ‘public’ dimension connected to the private sector. The discourse of a ‘diverse and mixed’ system is accomplished by two discursive devices: (a) Reference to (selected) global trends and (b) Scientific expertise in higher education. The economic and discursive power of El Mercurio enhances the discourses of opinion columnists on the public/private divide. As a result, the concept of the public takes a hybrid turn, detaching itself from the State as its exclusive owner and connecting it to the market.

KEYWORDS:

• Neoliberal discourse
• educational policy
• social science experts
• public/private
• universities
• newspaper
• Chile

Acknowledgments

Work on this article was supported by the Chilean National Funding Agency CONICYT and the research grant Fondecyt Regular 1141271, by the PIA-CONICYT Basal Funds for Centers of Excellence Project BF0003 and the Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies about Political Culture, Memory and Human Rights at the Universidad de Valparaíso. We greatly appreciate the help provided by research assistants Ricardo Zavala and Benjamín Gareca.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

Work on this article was supported by the Chilean National Funding Agency CONICYT and the research grant Fondecyt Regular 1141271, by the PIA-CONICYT Basal Funds for Centers of Excellence Project BF0003 and the Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies about Political Culture, Memory and Human Rights at the Universidad de Valparaíso. We greatly appreciate the help provided by research assistants Ricardo Zavala and Benjamín Gareca. .