The University: A Yet Unresolved Problem in Peru

Abstract

This essay analyzes the Peruvian university in a historical and comparative context with universities in Latin America and around the world. It questions its secondary role in the construction of a modern national identity, its inability to resolve national crises, and its focus on the past without imagining an innovative future. It examines endogenous factors that impede its modernization, highlighting inbreeding as one of the important causes of its stagnation. It evaluates the three roles of the modern university—teaching, research, and "third mission"—and their presence in the Peruvian context. Finally, it proposes nine measures to improve its functioning.