The Rectors (University Presidents) and the National Interuniversity Council in the period 1990-1999: the time of concerted heteronomy

Abstract

Based on the critical analysis of diverse documentary sources, particularly executive decisions and proceedings, this article analyzes the performance of the National Inter-university Council (CIN for its Spanish acronym) in the period 1990-1999. It examines the role of the rectors in the Protocol of the University Concertation; the Commission of Concertation of the State Universities with the National Executive Power; the agreement with the Bureau of University Policies in relation with the Higher Education Law and the involvement of the CIN in the implementation of the main governmental programs of the period. It addresses this process as a form of "concerted heteronomy", in the sense that, on the one hand, intense and asymmetric government policies were promoted from the outside of the university field,
but, at the same time, the central core of these policies were discussed and negotiated with the Rectors nucleated in the CIN, these agents intervening actively in the implementation of said policies.