The evaluation of research activities at private universities: Present and future according to the CONEAU speech

Abstract

This paper discusses how research is evaluated in private institutions of higher education. From the perspective of the production of scientific knowledge, institutional evaluation policy, as implemented by the National Commission for University Evaluation and Accreditation (CONEAU), has influenced the way we perceive research within universities. In this context it is pertinent to ask: What is the status of research in Argentine private universities? How it is evaluated externally? What prospects can estimate about research in private universities? This study entailed a qualitative research design, analyzing content published by CONEAU assessments, and including a select corpus of 12 reports: six belong to institutions founded during the first period (between 55 and 66); three of this group are Catholic Universities; and six universities that were founded in the 1990s. Sustained CONEAU recommendation in its reports was to increase research, aimed at private financing. The results suggest that monitoring CONEAU generates a movement within universities that perceives the system pressures and generates adaptation strategies. In this regard, the assessment seems to have functioned as a tool of indoctrination and homogenization, to which the question of how sustainable this process will be over time.