Universities, Complexity and Public Policy in Times of Crises

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic highlighted the strengths and weaknesses of social institutions when providing information to the state for crisis resolution. How is the public policy information system organized in the countries of the Americas and what role do universities play? This theoretical paper seeks to answer this question and explore the possibility of a paradigm shift for the university's role at the continental level. The methodology we have adopted is exploratory: we will compare cases published in digital media in both regions where universities were involved in studying phenomena triggered by the Covid-19 crisis. We will analyze these experiences in the light of two systems: the information creation system for public policy and the historical-cultural paradigm of human development. The results of our analysis show that the contemporary university can benefit from a broadening of its institutional role. This broadening would allow universities to undertake two strategic actions in the face of the key obstacles we have identified: (1) strengthen their academic offerings in the face of factors that go against the grain of higher education and (2) create greater compatibility between the knowledge generated within universities and the use that can be made of it by decision-makers.