The Enactment of Quality Assurance Policies in Ecuadorian Higher Education: A Case Study in the Public Universities in the Province of Manabí

This study investigates how the administrators in the research and quality assurance offices in the regional universities in Ecuador enact the national research quality assurance policy. The massification and diversification of higher education and the internationalization, as well as globalization of higher education institutions create an increasingly competitive environment. Given this competition, resources are scarce, resulting in more frequent and more aggressive budgetary constraints. Government and national funding agencies are including the notion of “quality” in their policies to measure the performance and efficiency of universities and determine budget allocation, demanding universities to “prove their value” to remain operational. In a qualitative case study, I incorporated Bourdieu's practice theory to investigate how accountability mechanisms (such as quality standards, quality evaluation models, and performance outcomes) influence research practices in Ecuadorian Higher Education. Data sources included several policy documents and semi-structured interviews with administrators (n=9) in charge of the research and quality assurance offices in the four public regional universities in Manabí. This work makes conceptual and theoretical contributions to the existing literature on regional universities and quality assurance in higher education. In terms of the conceptual contribution, it provides one of the first definitions of regional universities applicable to the Ecuadorian higher education context. This study also brings to light the contradictions between the definitions of quality in the policy text and the practical view of the policy actors in charge of its enactment. The theoretical contribution of this research is framed by the use of Bourdieu’s practice theory, which is used to identify the critical components of research practices in Ecuadorian higher education. Since the existing literature about quality assurance in Ecuador is primarily quantitative, this study constitutes the first attempt to map out the capitals of the Ecuadorian higher education field, the predispositions, and strategies of universities to face the rules set by the policy, and some of the existing structural constraints in the field. By identifying these key components, this work provides insights into the often-overlooked mechanisms of policy translation into research practices by the administrators in universities in Manabí Province.