Periodic Reporting for period 1 - CHERPE (Cuban Higher Education Reform: a Policy Ethnography)
Periodo di rendicontazione: 2023-07-01 al 2025-06-30
CHERPE was designed to study Cuban higher education reforms through the lens of the anthropology of policy, situating the role of universities within the broader political and social transformations that followed the 1959 Cuban Revolution. Higher education in Cuba has been both a tool and an arena of revolutionary change, influencing citizenship formation, access to social mobility, and the production of knowledge in ways distinct from many other national contexts. Yet, despite its significance, Cuban higher education has received limited attention in comparative and anthropological scholarship.
The project addressed this gap by combining historical analysis, ethnographic fieldwork, and documentary research to trace how policies on university access, organisational restructuring, and the universalisation of higher education have reshaped institutions and individual trajectories across generations. The research objectives were:
• to contextualise Cuban higher education historically;
• to analyse university access policy since 1959, including the universalisation reforms of the 2000s;
• to describe how the role of universities has changed within the Revolution; and
• to explore how university actors enact and adapt policies in their everyday practices.
In methodological terms, the project advanced the anthropology of policy approach through ethnographic fieldwork, textual and discourse analysis, and interviews across three generations of students and university staff. These interdisciplinary methods linked social sciences and humanities (SSH) perspectives—particularly anthropology, education studies, and history—into a coherent analytical framework.
Pathway to Impact
The pathway to impact was structured around three dimensions:
a) Scientific and academic contributions: By generating new empirical material on Cuban higher education, the project contributes to underexplored fields in anthropology of education, policy studies, and Latin American studies. The findings have been disseminated in international conferences, seminars, and forthcoming open access publications archived in the project’s Zenodo community and via the dedicated website (cherpe.site).
b) Policy and societal relevance: The analysis provides insights into how higher education policies function as instruments of state-building, equity, and ideological formation. These findings are relevant not only for understanding Cuba but also for broader debates on access, equity, and the role of universities in shaping citizenship and social transformation. The project thus contributes knowledge that can inform policy dialogues in the Global South and within European comparative higher education research.
c) Capacity building and sustainability: The fellowship strengthened the researcher’s independence, international networks, and methodological expertise. By embedding dissemination in long-term infrastructures (the Aarhus University CHEF project page, the independent website, and the Zenodo community), the outputs remain accessible for scholars, policymakers, students, and the general public beyond the project’s duration.
In scale and significance, the project has helped position Cuban higher education as a valuable case study for global debates on the intersection of education, ideology, and social change. Its interdisciplinary perspective underscores the importance of SSH integration in addressing contemporary challenges in education policy and governance.
The project addressed this gap by combining historical analysis, ethnographic fieldwork, and documentary research to trace how policies on university access, organisational restructuring, and the universalisation of higher education have reshaped institutions and individual trajectories across generations. The research objectives were:
• to contextualise Cuban higher education historically;
• to analyse university access policy since 1959, including the universalisation reforms of the 2000s;
• to describe how the role of universities has changed within the Revolution; and
• to explore how university actors enact and adapt policies in their everyday practices.
In methodological terms, the project advanced the anthropology of policy approach through ethnographic fieldwork, textual and discourse analysis, and interviews across three generations of students and university staff. These interdisciplinary methods linked social sciences and humanities (SSH) perspectives—particularly anthropology, education studies, and history—into a coherent analytical framework.
Pathway to Impact
The pathway to impact was structured around three dimensions:
a) Scientific and academic contributions: By generating new empirical material on Cuban higher education, the project contributes to underexplored fields in anthropology of education, policy studies, and Latin American studies. The findings have been disseminated in international conferences, seminars, and forthcoming open access publications archived in the project’s Zenodo community and via the dedicated website (cherpe.site).
b) Policy and societal relevance: The analysis provides insights into how higher education policies function as instruments of state-building, equity, and ideological formation. These findings are relevant not only for understanding Cuba but also for broader debates on access, equity, and the role of universities in shaping citizenship and social transformation. The project thus contributes knowledge that can inform policy dialogues in the Global South and within European comparative higher education research.
c) Capacity building and sustainability: The fellowship strengthened the researcher’s independence, international networks, and methodological expertise. By embedding dissemination in long-term infrastructures (the Aarhus University CHEF project page, the independent website, and the Zenodo community), the outputs remain accessible for scholars, policymakers, students, and the general public beyond the project’s duration.
In scale and significance, the project has helped position Cuban higher education as a valuable case study for global debates on the intersection of education, ideology, and social change. Its interdisciplinary perspective underscores the importance of SSH integration in addressing contemporary challenges in education policy and governance.
The project was structured around four interrelated research work packages and embedded training activities. Together, these provided an integrated approach to understanding the transformations of Cuban higher education since the 1959 Revolution.
1. Work Package 1 – Contextualising Cuban higher education
Activities included an extensive literature review in European and international repositories, a research visit to the University of Nottingham’s Hennessy Collection, and three months of ethnographic fieldwork in Cuba. Fieldwork generated a corpus of interviews, field notes, and policy documents.
Main achievements: Established a conceptual framework from an anthropology of policy perspective; produced new empirical data on the historical development of Cuban higher education; and advanced scholarly understanding of the role of higher education reforms in social transformation.
2. Work Package 2 – Analysing university access policy
This phase encompassed documentary and textual analysis of access policies since 1959, complemented by ethnographic interviews with students across three generations (1960s, 1970s, and 2000s).
Main achievements: Produced a critical account of access reforms, including the universalisation of higher education in the 2000s; strengthened methodological expertise in discourse and textual analysis; generated comparative insights into massification, equity, and social mobility; and laid the groundwork for two forthcoming journal articles.
3. Work Package 3 – Describing changes in the role of universities
Using systematic analysis of documentary and ethnographic materials, the project examined how universities’ missions evolved alongside shifting political and social priorities of the Revolution.
Main achievements: Provided new analytical insights into universities as both agents and products of revolutionary change; positioned Cuban higher education as a case study for broader debates on ideology, state-building, and education policy; and contributed to comparative and interdisciplinary scholarship in anthropology, policy studies, and history.
4. Work Package 4 – Examining practices of university actors
This cross-cutting package integrated into all research activities, exploring how actors interpret and adapt policies in their everyday practices.
Main achievements: Identified dialogical processes between policy frameworks and academic practices; generated a framework for understanding co-construction of policy and practice in higher education; and reinforced the project’s integrative dimension across anthropology, education studies, and policy analysis.
a) Training and capacity-building activities
Throughout the fellowship, formal and informal training strengthened expertise in ethnographic and policy analysis, discourse analysis, project management, and research planning. Particular emphasis was placed on implementing the “studying through” methodological strategy, refining interviewing and documentary analysis, and developing analytical synthesis skills.
Main achievements: Consolidated an interdisciplinary profile in the anthropology of policy; enhanced independence in leading complex international research; and advanced readiness for producing scientific outputs, including forthcoming journal articles.
b) Overall outcomes
The project generated substantial new empirical evidence on Cuban higher education, expanded the historiography and anthropology of education in Latin America, and provided frameworks for understanding universities’ roles in revolutionary contexts. It advanced methodological innovation in policy ethnography, fostered mutual transfer of knowledge with the host institution, and positioned the fellow and host within international debates on higher education reforms, access, and social transformation.
1. Work Package 1 – Contextualising Cuban higher education
Activities included an extensive literature review in European and international repositories, a research visit to the University of Nottingham’s Hennessy Collection, and three months of ethnographic fieldwork in Cuba. Fieldwork generated a corpus of interviews, field notes, and policy documents.
Main achievements: Established a conceptual framework from an anthropology of policy perspective; produced new empirical data on the historical development of Cuban higher education; and advanced scholarly understanding of the role of higher education reforms in social transformation.
2. Work Package 2 – Analysing university access policy
This phase encompassed documentary and textual analysis of access policies since 1959, complemented by ethnographic interviews with students across three generations (1960s, 1970s, and 2000s).
Main achievements: Produced a critical account of access reforms, including the universalisation of higher education in the 2000s; strengthened methodological expertise in discourse and textual analysis; generated comparative insights into massification, equity, and social mobility; and laid the groundwork for two forthcoming journal articles.
3. Work Package 3 – Describing changes in the role of universities
Using systematic analysis of documentary and ethnographic materials, the project examined how universities’ missions evolved alongside shifting political and social priorities of the Revolution.
Main achievements: Provided new analytical insights into universities as both agents and products of revolutionary change; positioned Cuban higher education as a case study for broader debates on ideology, state-building, and education policy; and contributed to comparative and interdisciplinary scholarship in anthropology, policy studies, and history.
4. Work Package 4 – Examining practices of university actors
This cross-cutting package integrated into all research activities, exploring how actors interpret and adapt policies in their everyday practices.
Main achievements: Identified dialogical processes between policy frameworks and academic practices; generated a framework for understanding co-construction of policy and practice in higher education; and reinforced the project’s integrative dimension across anthropology, education studies, and policy analysis.
a) Training and capacity-building activities
Throughout the fellowship, formal and informal training strengthened expertise in ethnographic and policy analysis, discourse analysis, project management, and research planning. Particular emphasis was placed on implementing the “studying through” methodological strategy, refining interviewing and documentary analysis, and developing analytical synthesis skills.
Main achievements: Consolidated an interdisciplinary profile in the anthropology of policy; enhanced independence in leading complex international research; and advanced readiness for producing scientific outputs, including forthcoming journal articles.
b) Overall outcomes
The project generated substantial new empirical evidence on Cuban higher education, expanded the historiography and anthropology of education in Latin America, and provided frameworks for understanding universities’ roles in revolutionary contexts. It advanced methodological innovation in policy ethnography, fostered mutual transfer of knowledge with the host institution, and positioned the fellow and host within international debates on higher education reforms, access, and social transformation.
• Overview of the results
The project generated substantial new empirical evidence and analytical insights into Cuban higher education reforms since the 1959 Revolution. Through archival research, ethnographic fieldwork, interviews across three student generations, and critical analysis of policy documents, the project produced:
A conceptual framework for studying higher education reforms from an anthropology of policy perspective.
Empirical data on access reforms, including the universalisation of higher education in the 2000s.
A historical analysis of the changing role of universities as both agents and products of revolutionary transformation.
Documentation of how university actors interpret, enact, and adapt education policies in everyday practices.
Two scientific articles currently in preparation, supported by conference presentations and seminar discussions.
These results strengthen the historiography and anthropology of higher education in Latin America, particularly in a context that has been underexplored in international scholarship.
• Potential scientific and societal impacts
a) Scientific impact: The project positions Cuban higher education as a key case for comparative studies of access, ideology, and the social role of universities. It advances anthropological debates on education, state-building, and citizenship formation.
b) Policy and societal impact: Findings provide insights for policymakers, education planners, and international organisations on how equity, massification, and ideological objectives intersect in university reforms. This is particularly relevant to debates on access and social justice in higher education beyond Cuba.
c) Career development impact: The project consolidated the researcher’s profile as an independent scholar with expertise in policy ethnography, while also strengthening the host’s capacity in comparative education research.
• Key needs for further uptake and success
a) Further research: Continued ethnographic and comparative work is needed to examine long-term impacts of access reforms on professional trajectories and social mobility in Cuba and other Global South contexts.
b) Internationalisation: Expanding collaborations with European and Latin American institutions could strengthen comparative frameworks and ensure broader academic uptake.
c) Open Science and accessibility: Sustained use of the project’s Zenodo community and websites (cherpe.site and the CHEF project page) will ensure long-term accessibility of findings for scholars, policymakers, and students.
d) Policy dialogue: Engagement with policymakers and international organisations such as UNESCO and regional education councils could support the translation of findings into comparative education policy debates.
e) Future publications: Timely submission and Open Access publication of the two forthcoming articles will be crucial to consolidating the project’s contribution to the international literature.
The project generated substantial new empirical evidence and analytical insights into Cuban higher education reforms since the 1959 Revolution. Through archival research, ethnographic fieldwork, interviews across three student generations, and critical analysis of policy documents, the project produced:
A conceptual framework for studying higher education reforms from an anthropology of policy perspective.
Empirical data on access reforms, including the universalisation of higher education in the 2000s.
A historical analysis of the changing role of universities as both agents and products of revolutionary transformation.
Documentation of how university actors interpret, enact, and adapt education policies in everyday practices.
Two scientific articles currently in preparation, supported by conference presentations and seminar discussions.
These results strengthen the historiography and anthropology of higher education in Latin America, particularly in a context that has been underexplored in international scholarship.
• Potential scientific and societal impacts
a) Scientific impact: The project positions Cuban higher education as a key case for comparative studies of access, ideology, and the social role of universities. It advances anthropological debates on education, state-building, and citizenship formation.
b) Policy and societal impact: Findings provide insights for policymakers, education planners, and international organisations on how equity, massification, and ideological objectives intersect in university reforms. This is particularly relevant to debates on access and social justice in higher education beyond Cuba.
c) Career development impact: The project consolidated the researcher’s profile as an independent scholar with expertise in policy ethnography, while also strengthening the host’s capacity in comparative education research.
• Key needs for further uptake and success
a) Further research: Continued ethnographic and comparative work is needed to examine long-term impacts of access reforms on professional trajectories and social mobility in Cuba and other Global South contexts.
b) Internationalisation: Expanding collaborations with European and Latin American institutions could strengthen comparative frameworks and ensure broader academic uptake.
c) Open Science and accessibility: Sustained use of the project’s Zenodo community and websites (cherpe.site and the CHEF project page) will ensure long-term accessibility of findings for scholars, policymakers, and students.
d) Policy dialogue: Engagement with policymakers and international organisations such as UNESCO and regional education councils could support the translation of findings into comparative education policy debates.
e) Future publications: Timely submission and Open Access publication of the two forthcoming articles will be crucial to consolidating the project’s contribution to the international literature.