By Edson Eduardo Navarro Meza
Thesis submitted to Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales Sede Académica de México for the degree of Master of Science.
Abstract
This study analyzes the recent expansion of private higher education institutions towards non-metropolitan areas and its relationship with the policies implemented since the year 2000. The study has two core interests: first, it aims to map policy decisions and actions related to private sector regulation framed by national higher education policies; second, it aims to discover the origin, objectives and characteristics of private institutions that have emerged far away from the cities. From the analysis of three case studies of distinct types of institutions (Adventist, indigenous and for profit) located in Chiapas, Mexico, the study concludes that private institutions use non-metropolitan territory as a strategy to set up institutional agendas with "individualistic” interests (political, economic or symbolic), that have little or no relationship with the explicit aims of higher education. The main findings in relation to higher education policies indicate that the instruments established to regulate the creation of institutions and educational programs are unsuitable for addressing the new dynamics of private higher education in Mexico
