198 BOOK REVIEWS

management of educational data and facilitate strategic planning. For example, chapter 5 conceptualises the administrative levels involved in implementing educational change and discusses implementation of plans, scheduling, adjusting resource allocation, evaluating impact and adjusting policy. However, this volume suffers from the same internal focus as the previous one. The discussion of sector analyses focuses almost exclusively on the Improving the Effidency of Educational Systems Project, ignoring the ways in which other organisations, such as the World Bank, carry out sector analyses.

The role of donors and governments is unfortunately neglected. The policy cycle portrayed here would be supported by democratic and participatory processes, which can be either facilitated or blocked by donors and governments alike. Details on how to optimise the assessment process within the policy cycle, the role of presentation techniques, language of presentation, format of reports, and negotiations are all important to sector analysis, but are not discussed here. On the other hand, there are many useful details, such as the balance of national vs international experts, the composition of the steering committee, the role of preliminary discussions of findings, etc. This useful contribution to the educational planning literature will help us reflect critically on why so many technocratic fixes to educational problems fail. It would be very useful for courses on educational policy.

FERNANDO REIMERS Harvard Institute.for International Development, U.S.A.

Education and Society in Latin America: Orlando Albornoz. Macmillan Press in association with St Antony's College, Oxford, Basingstoke, 1993, ISBN 0 333 56563 0, vii + 185pp., £40.

At one level Professor Albornoz's book is a 'tour de force', which will be of much value to anyone concerned with the role of higher education in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), and in particular with that of the 700 or so universities in the region. At another level, it is not quite what it sets out to be, but is much concerned with an extended critical review of educational reform and the development and role of universities in Venezuela.

Latin America is a vast region and relatively unknown to academies from other parts of the world. Albornoz provides a useful review of the higher education (HE) sector, stressing both its great diversity and its high level of pofitieisation. To try to bring order to such a vast subject, he develops useful typologies: of the various forms of universities and of prominent national 'models' of university provision (e.g., state controlled - - Cuba; market led - - Chile; mixed state and private - - Venezuela). Much of what Albornoz says is not only helpful to an understanding of the Latin American university systems, but provides perceptive insights which may be relevant to the emerging models of university development found in other parts of the world, where entrenched traditionalism, changing political systems and the growth of market forces are in great tension.

A central theme is the role of universities in promoting social and economic progress. He outlines various histori-

cal influences on LAC universities: the colonial heritage, the indigenous Cordoba Reform in Argentina in 1918, the adoption of American models after World War II, Soviet influence in Cuba and the vast growth of private insti- tutions with the emergence of democratic governments in much of the region. He uses 'cognitive complex' to describe the ideal situation, where universities not only teach, but act as centres for innovation. He argues that high levels of politisation and bureaucratisation mean that LAN universities concentrate on training professionals and 'legitimising membership of the ruling classes' rather than on innovation, so they contribute little to national development.

Albornoz found six types of educational reform; all have more to do with exercising control over HE than with fundamental changes in the system. Governments are generally happier to support educational innovations which only cost money and yield fairly fast results. The reform of systems takes much longer and always creates social tensions. It may also bring down a government! While reforms in Venezuela have (on paper) been concerned with more egalitarian access to education, the reality has been increasing dominance of the private sector, mainly focused on training the elites. Educational reform in LAC (and elsewhere) appears to be the art of the expedient.

Four of the seven chapters provide a passionate critique of the Venezuelan university system. Though his choleric approach leads to a number of side is- sues, there is much valuable material on the massive expansion since the 1950s, with the emergence both of large government-controlled (as opposed to the public- autonomous) universities and many private ones. The public and government universities are largely controlled by powerful academic unions; as a result, the 'search for knowledge has largely been replaced by a search for job security.' He sadly concludes that 'meritocracy is not the style . . . knowledge is not the main aim . . . power is the main element of its activity'. In contrast, the private universities are small, unpoliticised, largely manned by part-time contract staff and almost entirely devoted to teaching.

The final chapter looks at the future prospects for HE in the LAC. While he finds some examples of excellence, his general view is of lethargy and ineffectiveness, with little prospect of contributing to economic or social change in the region. Most institutions have little commitment to academic or intellectual improvement. He sees these universities as still largely isolated from international flows of knowledge and much engaged in 'parochial preoccupations'. His final point is the great dilemma they face in choosing between 'intellectual expansion in order to achieve the universal goal of the search for knowledge, or to obey this principle of institutional self-containment'.

The structure of the book suggests that it may have been put together in a hurry. Subheadings are sometimes missing or misleading. However, despite some weaknesses this is a very valuable reference for all who are concerned with the development of the university and its potential role as a change agent in the development process, both in Latin America and beYond.

IAN WALLACE University of Reading, U.K.