Discussing Privatization in Peru

August 31, 2012

Over recent decades Peru’s education system has expanded significantly. In spite of that, secondary education is not universal and higher education even less so.

There is great inequality with respect to access to education because of divisions among urban and rural populations, and among indigenous and mixed-race groups.

On a recent visit to Peru, Adam Gamoran visited former graduate students and delivered talks at the Peruvian ministry of education, at a research center, and at the Pontificial Catholic University of Peru.

He spoke on causal effects of social capital, accountability policies in the U.S and their impact on social inequalities, and on the results of privatization in access to higher education. The latter topic aroused heated controversy.

Contrary to conventional wisdom, it turns out that privatization does not increase inequality in access to higher education. Gamoran summarized findings from a book he recently edited with Richard Arum and Yossi Shavit, Stratification in higher education: A comparative study. The book details trends in inequality of enrollment in higher education in 15 countries and examines the relation between privatization and inequality.

Because private institutions charge high tuition, students of limited means are less likely to attend. The direct effect of privatization is to increase inequality, as would be expected. However, privatization has countervailing effects that tend to reduce inequality: As the private sector expands, more places are opened for students to enroll in the system as a whole. This tends to reduce inequality. On balance, then, privatization is neutral for inequality.

“When I reported this finding, it was as if I had lit a fuse,” Gamoran says. Privatization in Peruvian higher education is a hot topic now. Those who work at public universities and those who lean to the political left tend to oppose expansion of the private sector for the reasons one would expect – concern that it puts higher education out of the reach of the disadvantaged.

But Gamoran responds that one must look beyond the direct effects of privatization. The studies reported in the book show that the indirect effects tended to balance out the exacerbation of inequality caused by privatization.

For more about the book, see http://www.sup.org/book.cgi?id=8735

If your Spanish is good, see Gamoran’s interview with the university newspaper of La Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú:  http://puntoedu.pucp.edu.pe/entrevistas/para-construir-una-politica-educativa-pertinente-es-importante-que-un-pais-haya-estudiado-su-realidad/