Resumen de Gobernanza y rendimiento en las universidades latinoamericanas
Latin America is a heterogeneous region, both geographically, demographically and economically. Specifically from an economic perspectiva, the World Bank classifies some countries in the region as high-income according to their per capita GDP, while others are classified as lower-middle income. Similarly, the United Nations Development Programrne (UNDP) classifies some countries in the region as very high human development, while others are classified as medium human development. However, they all have one feature in common: income inequality, which is higher than the world average.
Given the above scenario, it is necessary to promote the development and competitiveness of Latin American nations. To this end, universities would be key institutions, since in their work they are responsible for the formation of human capital, produce and disseminate scientific knowledge, and promote technological progress and the arts. However, only a small number of Latin American universities are competitive at the global level. This is because most of them are institutions focused on teaching, while few can be considered research universities. Therefore, it is necessary to improve the competitiveness of these institutions and one of the factors influencing this, and it is necessary to analyze, is their governance.
In accordance with the above, this thesis set out to determine whether the attributes of the governance structure, such as the size of the university council, independence of the university council, method of appointing the rector, presence and independence of an audit committee or department, are determining variables in the performance of Latin American universities.
For the purposes of this study, it was considered that the performance of universities would be measured by the position they obtain in university rankings, specifically the QS ranking for Latin Arnerica, version 2019.
In order to achieve the objectives, six hypotheses were proposed, each one related to the attributes of university governance mentioned in the previous paragraph. To contrast the hypotheses, a sample of 129 universities was used, which were classified in the first 150 positions of the QS ranking for Latin America in 2019. In addition, two types of regressions were statistically applied: ordinary least squares and TOBIT regression.
Among the rnost outstanding results, it was evident that governance attributes such as the composition of the university council, method of appointing the rector, and the presence of a department or independent audit committee would be strategic variables that should be considered in university management. Likewise, it was found that the impact of these variables on university performance depends on the type of institution, i.e. whether it is a public or private institution
