Francisca Bustamante is a PhD student at the Department of Sociology, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. She holds a Master’s degree in Sociology at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (UC) and a Sociology Professional Degree from the Universidad Central de Chile (UCEN). Her main interests are focused on the sociology of education, particularly on student transitions between different academic stages and social inequalities regarding the access to higher education. Currently, her doctoral project analyzes persistent horizontal admission disparities resulting from the application of the 2010 Organic Higher Education Act in Ecuador.
She has vast experience in the design and execution of public policy as well as in the administration of higher education reforms in Ecuador. She has held Government positions such as Under Secretary of State for Professional and Academic Training at the National Secretariat for Higher Education, Science, Technology and Innovation (SENESCYT) and Director of Evaluation and Accreditation of Technical and Technological Institutes at The Higher Education Quality Assurance Council (CACES).
She has been Head of the Student Welfare Department at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Ecuador (PUCE). There, she has managed and designed programs aimed at enhancing the inclusion of underprivileged students.
Finally, she has taught in Chilean Universities, where she has imparted sociology of education and educational research courses at the Universidad Metropolitana de Ciencias de la Educación (UMCE) and Universidad de Playa Ancha (UPLA).
Globalisation, Education and Social Policies 