Abstract
The three case studies that follow in this special focus on Latin America arise from the UNESCO/COLUMBUS project on ‘The Higher Education Contribution to R&D in Latin America’. In this introductory article, Hebe Vessuri discusses some of the findings of the research carried out in that project and presents an analytical summary of the major issues and challenges facing Latin American universities in evolving the culture and conditions for an R&D effort that will underpin their countries' economic and social development. Among the issues she picks out are evaluation systems and quality criteria; the establishment of research priorities; institutional restructuring and strategic thinking; and the essential elements in a consensus among the major universities, the state and industry, which the most influential universities must take a lead in establishing.
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