[SSC] Open Democracy Q&A

[ELISABETH SIMBURGER]

Dear all,

Mike this is a fantastic piece! It answers a lot of questions people could
potentially have and makes clear statements about its objectives while still
being reflexive about it being in a state of development.

Being now based in Chile as an academic who works on the university,
academic working conditions and knowledge production in neoliberal times (I
lived and studied in Warwick before that), this piece particularly resonates
with the Chilean situation. The massive students' movement (every week
thousands in the streets) that started in June is still ongoing. Chile
counts as the neoliberal laboratory worldwide and this becomes especially
evident in education and health. The tuition fees are one of the highest
worldwide in relation to the GDP and 70% of all students are registered in
private universities. Public universities receive very little state funding
(only about 14% of their annual budget). In the last few months the
students' movement (that is now supported by 91% of the population according
to surveys) has developed a much more general critique of the economic and
political structures that are underlying the conflict. Students have been
incredibly creative in this movement, staging public performances and e.g
producing videos for youtube. Like no other political actor in the last few
years they really changed public discourse about what should be done in
educaction.The work of the Centre is important for us here too as the
origins of the problem cannot just be sought in national politics but in a
global neoliberal agenda.

I really look forward to working closelier with all of you on one of my next
visits to the UK!

Best wishes,
Elisabeth

2011/9/30 Joss Winn <joss at josswinn.org>

> I think this is well articulated and combines a personal view with the
> general statement we have for the SSC, very well.
>
> Thanks for writing this.
>
> Joss
>
>
> On 30 Sep 2011, at 05:13, Michael Neary wrote:
>
> Dear All,
>
> I have attached the latest draft of my piece for Open Democracy.
>
> They asked me to write this in a Q and A format, and to give it more
> 'colour'.
>
> The piece is written from the perspective of my involvement with the
> Centre, rather than an official statement of the Centre's aims and
> purposes.
>
>
> Best wishes,
>
> Mike
>
>
>
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>


-- 

Dr Elisabeth Simbürger
Research fellow
Centro de Políticas Comparadas en Educación
Universidad Diego Portales
Vergara 210
Santiago
Chile

<http://www.cpce.cl/> <http://www.cpce.cl/>
http://udp.academia.edu/ElisabethSimbuerger/About
http://www.cpce.cl
http://go.warwick.ac.uk/ep/pg/live/elisabethsimbuerger

email: elisabeth.simburger at mail.udp.cl; e.a.simbuerger at gmail.com;
Phone: +56 2 6768549
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