Abstract

This article examines the evolution of Chile's higher education system governance over the last 50 years. It considers the New Public Management (NPM) narrative as a conceptual framework and applies the governance equalizer as an analytical model to study changes in different periods characterized by different political contexts. The results show that after 50 years, the governance of the Chilean higher education system has shifted from a regime of academic self-governance to a hybrid system with a predominance of coordination through state regulation, competition, and managerial government. The results of previous studies are reviewed through the lens of the governance equalizer applied to the higher education systems of Italy, Hungary, Ukraine, Poland, and Ethiopia. A common trend towards the configuration of hybrid governance models is found, and the limitations of ideal governance regimes to represent the current complexity of national higher education systems are noted.