Scientific professionalization or academic hierarchy? The "Incentives Program" at the National University of San Juan: historical path, the last categorization trends and teaching perspectives.

Abstract

This work attempts to analyze, from a historical, structural and ethnographic perspective, the main changes oertaken in the institutional configuration of the National University of San Juan (UNSJ), after the implementation of the “The Incentive Program for university researchers-professors” (PROINCE). The central argument of the article maintains that the impact of this national university politic was such that it accentuated in its institutional development a series of significant asymmetries in terms of segmentation and hierarchy of the teaching body. Firstly, the development of the institutional structure of the University will be examined, attending to two historical interregnums that signified substantial changes: 1993-2002, stage of expansion of scientific professionalization and; 2003-2019, complex stage of asymmetric diversification of the academic body. In second place, the analytical lens will be sharpened on the results of the last call (started in 2014 and ended in 2018), offering a qualitative description of the categorization process in general and a quantitative analysis of the results obtained. The question will be addressed from a historical-sociological angle supported by the dialogue between the available specialized bibliography, specific regulations of the Program, the examination of databases about the socio-demographic profiles of the categorized researchers-professors and a series of first-hand interviews.