Abstract

VILLALOBOS, Pablo; LABRANA, Julio; ROJAS MARIN, Álvaro  and  PUYOL, Francisca. Socio-Technical Transitions and Niche Innovations in the Governance of Chilean Public Universities: A Transformative Case Study. Trilogía. Cienc. Tecnol. Soc. [online]. 2023, vol.15, n.31, e202.  Epub May 10, 2024. ISSN 2145-7778.  https://doi.org/10.22430/21457778.2787.

This study aimed to explain the incorporation of goal-oriented strategic planning into the governance of Chilean public universities-considering the role of these niches for experimentation, the dominant academic capitalist regime, and a political economy landscape with a high degree of privatization. For that purpose, this case study adopted a multi-level perspective on socio-technical transitions and a qualitative approach. The latter included interviews with key actors and a review of the literature on university management published over the last thirty years. The results of this study demonstrate that the adoption of transformative innovation-such as strategic planning at the University of Talca-implied a deep and significant change in internal university governance. These alternative innovations (strategic management and planning model) were able to permeate the established regime of the university-producing (permanent and self-managed) practices; creating a culture of quality and innovation; establishing financial discipline; building links with stakeholders (civil society, government, private sector, and academia); and making it a leading institution for the rest of the system.

Keywords : Multi-level perspective; strategic planning; transformative innovation policy; socio-technical transitions.

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