Throughout Latin America, the recent return to power of left-of-center governments has transformed pre-existing U.S.-Latin America relations based on U.S. hegemony and Latin American quiescence. From foreign policy to neoliberal economic policies and beyond, left-of-center governments throughout Latin America have increasingly abandoned U.S. models of economic development and foreign policy, but have they also transformed higher education? This paper will explore higher education policies in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Venezuela, and Nicaragua, in order to understand contemporary interactions between U.S. university models and university models in those countries. Two questions will be of central concern: (1) are Left-of-center governments in Latin America resisting U.S. models of higher education? (2) How are left-of-center governments resisting U.S. models of higher education?
