La Avenida 19: Centralidad oportuna para el crimen.

In th is ch ap te r, I c o n sid er a n u m b e r o f issues th e cu m u lativ e im p a c t o f w hich re su lte d in c o n sid erab le v a ria tio n b etw een th e in te n tio n s o f th e policy initiativ e a n d its outcom e.

It is clear fro m c h a p te r 5 th a t th e issue ex ertin g th e m o st influence on th e policy p ro cess w as th e d ifferent ideologies w hich w ere b ro u g h t to b e a r at d ifferen t p o in ts o f th e policy trajecto ry . T he w o rld view s o f th e N C IH E a n d th e b en ch m a rk in g g ro u p s can reaso n ab ly expected to b e v ery d ifferen t. Technically th e role o f th e QAA w as to oversee th e d e v elo p m en t o f th e policy in te n tio n s re fe rre d to it b y th e NCIH E. H ow ever, th e p h ilo so p h ical p o sitio n of th e QAA w as am b ig u o u s. T he Agency m ay have le an t, a n d in creasin g ly so across th e p e rio d o f th e policy developm ent, to w a rd th a t o f th e b e n c h m a rk in g groups. This is su g g ested since th e re seem ed to be c o n sid erab le la titu d e o p eratin g in th e b e n ch m a rk in g g ro u p s favour as th ey so u g h t to devise b en ch m a rk s n o t capable o f b ein g u tilised in a TQI type in sp ectio n regim e. A lternatively th e u n d e rta k in g once u n d e r th e control o f th e QAA m ay have b e en a n exam ple o f ‘m u d d lin g th ro u g h ’ co n sid ered by L indblom to be a fre q u e n t m ode o f p ro g ressio n th ro u g h th e policy process (L indblom , 1968). O th e r explanations are possible a n d in reality are likely to b e m o re lay ered a n d com plex th a n su g g ested h ere. In te rm s o f th e p rofessional values o f th e b en ch m ark in g groups, interview s w ith academ ics show ed th a t th e y believed th e ir professional p rin cip les a n d ideology to be th re a te n e d a n d w ere defensive a n d suspicious o f th e QAA a n d o f th e initiative. Ind eed , th e interview s I co n d u cte d sh o w ed th a t a

com m o n re a so n fo r jo in in g a b e n ch m a rk in g g ro u p w as m o tiv a te d by a strongly felt im p erativ e to p reserv e ed ucatio n al, p ro fessio n al a n d d iscip lin ary values, a n d to re sist in tru sio n fro m th e state.

...and we thought there w ould be all these sort o f Botany Professors, wheeled out o f some store room, who had not taught fo r thirty years and certainly did not know about m odern biology education. There w as this sense that w e w anted to be in on the act. When I got to the fir s t meeting I fo u n d that that w as the

motivation fo r m ost o f the group - it w as alm ost like - i f we do not do this -

somebody else is going to do it, so we have to do it and m ake a good jo b o f i t . Respondent 18

A n d as I keep saying it is really, and it is the critical p o in t almost, that we were dam n sure that i f anyone w as going to do it w as at least going to be us and not some

other body selected fr o m elsewhere. Respondent 16

A n aw ful lot o f m y colleagues in the fa cu lty o f arts were sim ply trying to resist

all this, rather than responding to an imposed task. R espondent 7.

A Absolutely. It is a defensive statement. You can read it as: someone is

trying to kick us around. A n d us saying : no, w e are not going to be kicked around. This is w h a t we are going to do and this is w h a t w e think. We were p retty determined. Respondent 4

T h ere is m u ch in th e interview s w hich d e m o n stra te s th a t th e b en ch m ark in g g ro u p s w ere co n ce rn e d a b o u t th e p u rp o se to w hich th e p ro d u c t o f th e ir w ork w ould b e p u t a n d th a t th e ir con jectu re a b o u t th o se p u rp o ses w ere ideologically a b h o rre n t to th em . It is clear also th a t th e re w as considerable m is tru s t o f th e QAA itse lf w hich w as seen by m an y m e m b e rs to b e a tool of g o v ern m en t. Som e m em b ers o f th e b e n c h m a rk g ro u p s w ere especially pessim istic a b o u t th e initiative, believing th a t b e n c h m a rk gro u p s w ere being

d u p e d in to b ein g in s tru m e n ta l in b rin g ing a b o u t changes th a t w ou ld h a rm th e su b ject o r h a rm u n iv ersity education.

“Once we p u t anything into boxes we had had it. We were absolutely adam ant that we w ould not create any boxes that could in effect be used to destroy the subject. (Respondent 4)

“Some people refused to jo in the group on the basis o f w h a t they thought it was about w as a handcuffing o f universities by themselves, in other w ords they were being duped. There were deep suspicions around the exercise. (Respondent 11)