The influences of the World Bank Group on the evaluation of Tertiary Education: contemporary tensions

Abstract

The deliberations raised in this paper result of a research on the work of the World Bank Group (WB) in the field of tertiary education, carried out, in part, during a Doctorate course in Education. The author starts from the assumption that the conceptions around the evaluation of tertiary education in WB Member States are, partially or totally, outlined by the tensions caused by this organism, through guiding documents published by it. To confirm this hypothesis, an analysis of “What matters most for tertiary education systems: a framework paper” is presented, set as a guiding document for the creation and strengthening of evaluation tools for educational systems. The semantic-categorical analysis of that document pointed to the creation of evaluation mechanisms by the WB, based on the neo liberalization of education, around the following topics: institutional diversification, knowledge economy, participation of the private sector, financing of activities and access and permanence in higher education. It should be noted that this World Bank document is little explored in Brazilian scientific literature. Therefore, the present time is considered an opportune moment to build new trenches in defence of the idea of public higher education, free of charge, secular and of socially referenced quality. This is what this article proposes.