Latin America, Higher Education in

The history of higher education in Latin America begins with the founding of the University of Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic) by the Spanish Crown in 1538. In the same way as happened in the Dominican Republic, in the rest of the countries of the region, the first universities were created during the Spanish viceroyalty and are the antecedent of the current universities in the region. However, a key point to understand the current Latin American universities is the Cordoba University reform movement (1918) that took place in Argentina. That movement represented an important shift in the region. It meant the struggle for autonomy, shared governance, academic freedom, curriculum change, and free tuition.

Since the 1990s, Latin American higher education has achieved several goals: enrollment growth, women’s ...