Analysis of the Ideas of Free Higher Education and the Chilean Student Movement

Abstract

This paper analyzes why student organizations won support for the idea of free higher education, which had been regarded as a radical idea, from other actors such as politicians, academics, and citizens in the 2011 Chilean student movement, the largest social movements since democratization. This analysis focuses on the content change of free higher education presented by the student organizations based on the materials such as minutes, petitions, or joint statements. Utilizing the framing theory, this paper analyzes how the student organizations coordinate their original claim on free higher education with the claims that other actors have. In particular, the student organizations connected their idea of free higher education and the idea of politicians and academics and clarified their idea to citizens by making a slogan. In addition, the good fiscal situation caused by the boom of copper industry and the data on higher education published by OECD prompted these framings. This research will contribute to understanding one of the broad and fruitful outcomes of the 2011 Chilean student movement to the Chilean society and politics.