ABSTRACT
This chapter describes university policies proposed by the constitutional government in Argentina since 1983. It focuses on the shift in policies proposed by the Menem administration during the last three years. A new financial regime for national universities has been proposed, stimulating them to increase cost recovery through student fees and other mechanisms. Financial reform is at the core of a broader program which includes a change in the relations between the national universities, on the one hand, and the state and the market, on the other. Public policies towards national universities have shifted drastically with changes in political regime, including sharp movements up and down in federal financing of the system. Private universities have functioned within a stable legal framework since the 1960s, with very limited active intervention on the part of the federal or state governments.
