Who Embodies the Evaluative State? Programmatic Actors and Accreditation Agencies in Chilean and Colombian Higher Education Systems

Since the early 1990s, the Evaluative State has become a coined expression to refer to the changing relationships between governments, higher education institutions and markets forces in Western Europe and abroad (Neave & Van Vught, 1991). A great deal of research has developed this concept by paying special attention to the evolution of these relationships over time in different countries as well as their commonalities and national particularities (Enders & Van Vught, 2007; Neave, 2012). Much of the literature on this theme has adopted a neo-institutional approach to analyze this phenomenon and, by doing so, has not only revaluated the role of higher education institutions themselves but also has pointed out the growing importance of the institutions which mediate in these relationships. The publications on external quality assurance and evaluation are a good example of the increasing attention given to this kind of institutions. However, most of this work has focused on the general features of the organization and their context, without properly assessing their internal composition and its evolution. In order to have a dynamic understanding of the operation of these institutions - whether their regulatory approach evolve over time and, if so, how does it change -, more research should concentrate in the identification of the policy actors inside these institutions and the processes through which they produce collective action. This communication is aimed to contribute to this alternative perspective on the Evaluative State by proposing a comparison of the Chilean and the Colombian policies of quality assurance in higher education. It uses the concept of programmatic actors (Genieys & Hassenteufel, 2012; Hassenteufel et al., 2008) to analyze the evolution of the two main agencies involved into these policies: the National Commission of Accreditation of Chile and the National Council of Accreditation in Colombia. It will be shown that the transformation - the Chilean case - or the continuity - the Colombian case - of the mode of regulation depends on the mobilization of collective actors that, respectively, subverted and reinforced the original policy program of the programmatic actors who laid the foundations of both agencies. Enders, J., & Van Vught, F. A. (2007). Towards a cartography of higher education policy change. A Festschrift in Honour of Guy Neave. Center for Higher Education Policy Studies (CHEPS). Genieys, W., & Hassenteufel, P. (2012). Qui gouverne les politiques publiques ? Par-delà la sociologie des élites. Gouvernement et action publique, 2, 89–115. Hassenteufel, P., Genieys, W., & Smyrl, M. (2008). Reforming European Health Care States: Programmatic Actors and Policy Change. Pole Sud, n° 28(1), 87–107. Neave, G. (2012). The Evaluative State, Institutional Autonomy and Re-engineering Higher Education in Western Europe. The Prince and His Pleasure. Palgrave Macmillan. Neave, G. R., & Van Vught, F. (1991). Prometheus bound: The changing relationship between government and higher education in western Europe. Pergamon Press.