1 MERCO“UR BraŶd: regioŶalisŵ aŶd higher educatioŶ 1 Dra. Daniela Perrotta (UBA/CONICET) 2 Abstract Regional integration processes that were created during the nineties did not commonly address social policies, but deeply focused on trade liberalization strategies instead. However, certain schemes have included provisions for social policies within the overall integration agenda. This is the case of the Common Market of the South (aka MERCOSUR): an eduĐational seĐtoƌ ǁas shaped iŶ ϭϵϵϭ aŶd has ďeeŶ iŶ foƌĐe ever since. This article introduces the assessment of MERCOSUR´s higher education regional policies in order to discuss policy diffusion processes. The aim is twofold: on the one hand, to assess whether regional integration policies have diffused to the domestic policy arena, generating policy impacts and institutional changes in the member States; on the other, to evaluate the possible impact of higher education regulatory regionalism prompted by the European Union on MERCOSUR´s policies. We proceed with a case-study approach, focusing on MERCOSUR´s regional policy for the accreditation and quality assurance of undergraduate university degrees. Introduction During the nineties, it was commonly addressed by scholars that the novel regional integration agreements (RIAs) –defiŶed as Ŷeǁ ƌegioŶalisŵ– focused only in trade liberalization policies. Such an appreciation was grounded on the fact that those RIAs were part of the broader process of implementation the Neoliberal structural reforms (lock in effect) within the new international economic and political order after the Oil Crises and the fall of the Berlin Wall. Indeed, as South America was the first vivid laboratory where the recommendations of the Washington Consensus were set in force, the RIAs created confirmed the rule. In this context, the Common Market of the South (aka MERCOSUR) was created by the Asunción Treaty between Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay in 1991. During the first ten years of development, MERCOSUR, indeed, focused on trade liberalization policies –fulfilling the free trade area, first, and the customs unions, afterwards–. By the end of the 20 th Century the Neoliberal project did not proved to accomplished development and was highly contested. Since 2002/2003 new political leaders supported by massive social movements have came to office –some have referred to this process as the arising of New Left Governments (Sader, 2009; Vilas, 2011); here we prefer to use the category of redistributionist governments as their main policy goal is based on the redistribution of wealth–. Such a political twist impacted directly on the policy orientation of the RIAs: MERCOSUR incorporated a wide range of social policies (soĐial deǀelopŵeŶt, faŵilLJ faƌŵiŶg, Đoopeƌatiǀes ageŶda, etĐ.) as well as included provisions for citizenship participation and productive integration. Also, new agreements were set in force: the Union of South American Nations (aka UNASUR), in 2008; the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (aka CELAC), in 2010; the Bolivarian Alliance for the 1 This article resumes findings obtained in a previous research to obtain the Doctorate diploma. 2 Political Scientist (University of Buenos Aires, UBA). Master in Social Sciences with mention in Education (Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences, FLACSO Argentina). Doctor in Social Sciences (FLACSO Argentina). Post-doctoral fellow at UBA sponsored by the National Council of Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET). Professor at the UBA. CooƌdiŶatoƌ of IdeŶtidad ME‘CO“U‘.