This paper studies the changes in academic culture public universities have suffered these last decades. From a historical and comparative (with cases from Argentina and Canada) standpoint, it analyses the features of university and academic culture during the post-war (1950-1970) and end of century (1980-2000). In a context of neo-liberal policies that commercialize knowledge, reduce public funding and redirect funding according to external actors, a model of academic capitalism has gradually taken over during this last period and university has undergone a gradual shift from autonomy to heteronomy.
Academic culture; Industry-university relationship; Autonomy; heteronomy