Council of Rectors meets with the president of the National Commission for Scientific and Technological Research

19/04/2013
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At the meeting, CRUCH raised the need to review the rules of the national scholarship competitions and asked CONICYT to make a second call for applications this year.

The Council of Rectors met with the president of the National Commission for Scientific and Technological Research (CONICYT), José Miguel Aguilera, to express their concern about the situation of doctoral and master's scholarship programs, both for Chilean and foreign students.

On that occasion, the executive vice president of CRUCH, Rector Juan Manuel Zolezzi, and the rector of the University of Chile, Víctor Pérez, expressed their concern about the conditions and requirements for awarding National Postgraduate Scholarships. Specifically, they proposed working together on the following issues:

  • Establish the role of the CONICYT Postgraduate Scholarship Selection Advisory Council.
  • Review together with the CRUCH Universities the Decree and the Bases of the CONICYT 2013 Scholarship competitions.
  • Open a second competition in 2013, considering the high number of students who were left out of the bases, both in the doctoral and master's programs.
  • Reconsider the role of Postgraduate programs in the evaluation processes and agree on the criteria for the evaluation processes of applicants.
  • Establish in the competition rules the same rights for Chilean and non-resident foreign doctoral scholarship recipients.
  • Consider the specific situation of the various regions of the country when determining the amount of scholarships, due to the cost of living in extreme areas, along with analyzing the importance of regional scholarships of their own, as a concrete way to promote the training of researchers throughout the country.

In response to these proposals, José Miguel Aguilera indicated that to address the difficulties expressed in relation to scholarships for foreigners without residency in Chile, CONICYT and the International Cooperation Agency (AGCI) have begun talks for the latter to take charge of scholarships for foreigners without residency in the country during the current year 2013, which would allow overcoming the requirement of guarantees and maximum limit of absence from Chilean territory.

In parallel, it was reported that modifications will be requested to improve these requirements to Supreme Decree No. 325/11 of the Ministry of Education, which will regulate the granting of National Postgraduate Scholarships in the next call.

Regarding the role of the Scholarship Program Advisory Council, it pledged to strengthen the participation of its members in the processes related to the implementation of CONICYT's various advanced human capital training competitions. At the same time, it expressed openness to reviewing the possibility of a second competition this year.

CONICYT and the Council of Rectors expressed their gratitude for this dialogue, leaving the door open to future meetings and continued collaboration.

Photo: CONICYT