Martinez Romo, Sergio.; (1992) Political and rational models of policy-making in higher education: the creation and establishment of the National System for Permanent Planning of Higher Education in Mexico 1970-1986. Doctoral thesis , Institute of Education, University of London.

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Abstract

This study explores the policy-planning process in the provision of higher education in contemporary Mexico. A theoretical framework is developed by drawing upon current discussion on higher education coordination and planning. Particular emphasis is given to the relationships between their interactive and technical concerns. This analysis suggests that policy-planning in higher education is a process in which the disciplinary concerns of those academics involved co-exist with their vested interests. A "political nature" of policy-planning in higher education becomes apparent when the disciplinary concerns and the conflicting vested interests of academics converge. It is thus not necessarily the 'politician' who brings to this process its political dimension. The System for Permanent Planning of Higher Education (SiNaPPES), established in 1978 as the principal mechanism for the formulation of higher education policy in Mexico, is used as a case study and is at the heart of the discussion. An examination of the creation and subsequent operation of the SiNaPPES mechanism reveals the 'political nature' of the rationale behind its establishment. The analysis thus provides two perspectives on the creation of SiNaPPES. The concern of its formal history is technical planning while in the second, its alternative interpretation, is interactive planning. The analysis of the formal history that planning has not been fully achieved is challenged. The thesis argues that SiNaPPES, has been successful as a means of coordinating institutions and academics in higher education. The analysis is restricted to the period 1970-1986 leading up to the creation and operation of SiNaPPES in 1978 and the publication in 1986 of the third version of the National Plan for Higher Education (PNES). The study is supported by documentary evidence and interviews with those academics closely associated with the creation of SiNaPPES.

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