University today: images, practices and representations

Abstract

This essay explores some of the relations between images, practices and representations of universities in Latin America, based on the data of some of the surveys performed by the Universia organization in early 2014. The core argument of the text is that the images of the university among its actors and spectators are the result of the collective representations of functions, practices and expectations about university. From an institutional point of view the article puts forward ideas and interpretations about its effect on the “social vision” of the contemporary university in Latin America.