Changing knowledge production and Latin American universities

This article examines some of the main issues affecting knowledge production in Latin America. The focus is on universities,,,e up to now. The paper compares changes and continuities because they are the principal regional producers of knowledge up to now. The paper compares changes and continuities concerning academic values and attitudes, governmental policies, university-industry relations and endogenous knowledge generation, analysing also the connection between the 'structurally unachieved' National Systems of Innovation (NSI) in Latin America and the social 'loneliness' of universities, The article finishes by sketching alternative scenarios for the future interaction between knowledge generation and university transformation. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.