System and Policy in the Planning of Higher Education in Mexico

In higher education in Mexico, the tension between institutional practice and the directives of government authority produces a scenario of uncertainty. In recent decades the government has used planning mechanisms in an attempt to induce a more solid direction all round. Such a policy tries to assert itself in generic criteria such as the opening of opportunities by increasing student enrollment numbers and the radius of social recruitment. It does not relinquish the maxim of educational achievement and quality of service. Nevertheless, given the interinstitutional complexity of the system, it is hard to ensure that these would bring about significant corrections in the short term. The crux of the matter lies in the resolution of the ties between the government and the Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), indeed, between centralization and autonomy. One escape route from this tension has been the parallel growth of the private higher education sub-system, but in relation to the public sector the approach of official policy has been to advance evaluations as a means of information and control.