Framing educational policy discourse in neoliberal contexts: debates around the public university in a Chilean newspaper

This article discusses the role of the media and academic experts in the configuration of educational policy in a neoliberal context. The analysis is based on the discourse on the public/private divide in higher education scrutinising the opinion columns of El Mercurio, a major Chilean newspaper. The authors identify the discursive disappearance of the public university and the reappearance of the ‘public’ dimension connected to the private sector. The discourse of a ‘diverse and mixed’ system is accomplished by two discursive devices: (a) Reference to (selected) global trends and (b) Scientific expertise in higher education. The economic and discursive power of El Mercurio enhances the discourses of opinion columnists on the public/private divide. As a result, the concept of the public takes a hybrid turn, detaching itself from the State as its exclusive owner and connecting it to the market.