| Abstract: | During the last decade, the debate over higher education took up a significant space on the agendas of various international agencies, including multilateral development banks and other intergovernmental agencies. This fact points to the importance of the subject within a broader discussion that refers to national development projects and their articulation within the new international economic and political order. In this context, the purpose of this article is to discern the principal lines of argument at work and their implications for the transformation of higher education in Latin America. To this end, we have chosen four cases that we consider relevant for the region: The United Nations Education, Science and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the World Bank, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLA) and the Interamerican Development Bank (IADB). In the first part of the text we characterize the particularities of each of these organizations, highlighting their relation with the processes of educational change. In the second, we approach the subject of the recommendations made by the multilateral agencies on change in the higher education systems in the world and, particularly, in the Latin American region. |
