La Gestión en la Universidad Colombiana: Algunos Fundamentos, Realidades, Propuestas y Oportunidades

Abstract

In a great part due to the characteristics of our country, the Colombian university has certainly been constructed from the merely enterprising logic and not, from a wider perspective, from the organizational one, in the sense that in many cases it is the spirit of lucre and the “industrial” conception of production that guide, in an almost exclusive way, its performance. This is a factor that, among others, has transformed the mere formation of professionals into the fundamental axis of attention of universitates; hence, research and extension activities which are basic for its mission have been gravely overlooked. This phenomenon has, in addition, been affected by the fact that management is essentially considered as a series of support, and up to a point, mechanical activities, but not as an autonomous organizational construction process within the framework of the purpose that the ́university ́ institution has, in society, nor as the fourth function or basic role for the same.

An important opportunity to improve this condition is found in the interaction with other different locations in the United States, since this country has shown a merely commercial interest (the recent signing of the Free Trade Agreement) and strategic one (in terms of safety) in Colombia and the Latin American area. Another place among with an interesting option is the European Union, which in addition to having a high-level educational and institutional systems (as well a defined and funded agreements), has made its explicit intention of cooperation above any other.