Managerialism, Engagement, and Outreach in Chile's Regional Universities

Abstract

The article examines how Chile's regional state universities have resolved the tension between their social mission of outreach and engagement and the pressures of managerialism, using social systems theory and the sociology of translation. The findings indicate that these institutions have adopted various forms of translation, such as copying, adding, subtracting, and altering, to incorporate the demands of managerialism without entirely abandoning their institutional identity. Although the universities reinterpret and adapt external demands in a contextualized manner, the professionalization of their teams has facilitated alignment with managerialism but without producing homogenized responses. The reformulation of engagement as management of outreach, guided by managerial principles, implies that activities related to dissemination and social justice are now expected to be demonstrated and verified. This poses the challenge of balancing their social mission with the growing concern about institutional image.