The death of Hugo Chavez is unlikely to lead to much-needed changes within Venezuela¡¯s ¡°isolationist¡± university system, a higher education expert has told an international conference.

Orlando Albornoz, professor of education at the Central University of Venezuela, told delegates at Going Global, the British Council¡¯s conference for higher education leaders, that those in charge of higher education in his country would remain deeply committed to a ¡°different vision¡± of university education.

His comments follow the death of the Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez at the age of 58 on 5 March following a long battle with cancer.

¡°The death of Chavez will not change anything,¡± Professor Albornoz said.

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¡°I believe Chavez leaves a negative legacy for higher education, but it will remain as the regime is strong.¡±

Professor Albornoz, author of?³ÉÈËVRÊÓƵ Strategies in Venezuela, said higher education institutions in the country had shunned collaboration with US and European universities and instead concentrated on links with Cuba.

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¡°Their centre [of focus] is Havana,¡± he told an audience at the Dubai World Trade Centre on 6 March.

¡°They are locally focused, rather than globally aware,¡± he said.

¡°I¡¯m not saying they are going backwards, but it is an entirely different vision [for higher education].¡±

Professor Albornoz later told?³ÉÈËVRÊÓƵ?that Mr Chavez¡¯s government had made some progress in terms of expanding student numbers, but remained hostile to some parts of academia.

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¡°He expanded access to higher education, but these new universities that comprise about half of all universities are ruled by Marxist doctrine,¡± he said.

¡°The autonomous research universities are not given resources. Academic salaries have also gone down by 46 per cent and inflation stands at 20 per cent.

¡°[The government] does not care about doctoral students either. Mr Chavez often said that the knowledge is in the people.¡±

Professor Albornoz said it was vital for Venezuelan universities to engage with international universities.

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¡°We have cut down the internationalisation process that we need,¡± he said. ¡°We cannot live without contact with other leading universities.¡±

jack.grove@tsleducation.com