Abstract

The various narratives, or practical discourse, that make up the self-awareness and ideology of the modern public state university have been subject to intense examination. The ample literature on this topic reflects the debate about the contemporary role of this type of university. The present article describes the core models of these narratives, simply put as Humboldtian and Napoleonic, with their different evolutions and expressions in various contemporary higher education environments. The discussion shows that the ((idea of the public or state university, developed by these narratives, is quite dramatically different in the present day. Today the public university lacks a narrative, an explanation of itself, and a sense of how to account for new organizational forms and practices of knowledge production, transmission and management. Given these antecedents, the article makes proposals to refresh the practical discourse of public/state universities in Latin America and examines the possibility of a critical-deliberative model for both public and private universities.