The growing number of academic programs and the quantity of higher education institutions offering them is a phenomenon present in different parts of the world today. This is reflected in an increase in coverage, diversity of educational offerings, and heterogeneity of the student population. However, this does not always lead to an equivalent improvement in quality, which has led to the establishment of external control methods and demands for public accountability. As a result, to address these demands, forms of managing processes and quality assurance systems have been created.
This thesis focuses on the scenario of higher education in Chile and the integration of new university actors into its institutions. In this country, this occurred amid a process of change, a crisis of trust in these institutions, and adjustments in how their quality was regulated.
Quality administrators are now positioned in new university substructures specialized in the function of educational quality management, known as quality assurance units.
During the process of defining their role, a shared identity among quality administrators does not emerge. Until now, this identity has seemed to be primarily based on the common obstacles they must face and the constant efforts they must make to validate their work in the academic sphere. They feel that they have to accept the invisible value of their function within the university. During this process of defining their identity and in an environment where the identity of the “others” (the academics) is more defined and deeply rooted in their discipline, this new actor uses strategies to help reduce their own anxiety regarding their loosely defined role.
