Postgraduate Commission
With the presence of academic authorities from Brazil, Spain, Germany, France and Chile, a debate was held on the trends and challenges of quality, internationalization, interdisciplinarity and financing of the postgraduate system in the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Valparaíso.
A hundred academics from different disciplines together with the Postgraduate Commission of the Council of Rectors met in Valparaíso on Thursday, October 10 and Friday, October 11 at the Second International Postgraduate Seminar, organized by CRUCH.
The event not only included presentations about the present and future of training at this level, but also visits to three laboratories at the Federico Santa María University, the Catholic University of Valparaíso, and the University of Valparaíso.
At the inauguration, Rector Aldo Valle of the University of Valparaíso stated that “postgraduate studies correspond to a task that is linked to the most important areas of the entire university system” and then added that “for the Council of Rectors, one of its founding purposes is to contribute from the public community in matters of postgraduate training, from the independent and autonomous reflection of university institutions, with a broad perspective, because the service to the community also depends on this, on the independence of judgment and the autonomy of those who express opinions, elements that are vital to legislate or to dissent with sound reasoning.”.
The UV rector stated that “one of the topics to be addressed in the seminar is quality assurance. We have discussed this in the Council of Rectors, and it is not good that a bill on accreditation should have a random effect on postgraduate accreditation; we do not believe this is beneficial for the country, nor particularly for doctoral training centers.” He later added, “It is very important to have an independent voice that helps ensure the legislation does not fall into the trap of believing that fewer public institutions are better. Therefore, this meeting is of utmost importance, and the participants in this seminar bear a great responsibility. This is a very sensitive issue for the development of the country and for our constitution as a developing society.”.
Quality assurance
The seminar opened a debate on successful practices and perspectives in quality assurance systems, highlighting the case of Brazil, presented by Arlindo Philippi, Vice-Rector of the University of São Paulo, as "the recognition of quality guaranteed through peer review based on criteria periodically established by the academic community." In this regard, María José Lemaitre emphasized that "higher education institutions are responsible for ensuring quality, and any system must respect their autonomy and contribute appropriate criteria defined with the participation of relevant stakeholders.".
These approaches converged with the Spanish experience presented by Lola Ferre from the University of Granada, who showed how “each program generates an internal quality assurance system, how evaluation agencies verify and establish follow-up, and finally, the recognition of quality as a distinction of excellence.” Each of these arguments confirmed the points made by Daniel Wolff from the University of Chile, who detailed that the current proposed law on quality assurance ignores the special accreditation for Postgraduate Programs.
Internationalization of Postgraduate Studies
Reflections on internationalization were a key point of discussion for all the speakers. Ximena García from the University of Concepción and president of the CRUCH Postgraduate Advisory Committee, called for “the creation of a student mobility system that allows this opportunity to be offered to all doctoral students enrolled in a national program and, at the same time, identifies new opportunities for the formation of doctoral colleges between programs at CRUCH universities and their international counterparts.” To further this type of collaboration, Gudrun Kausel from the Austral University and representative of DFG (Germany) highlighted experiences of doctoral colleges where “bonds of trust have been decisive in building collaboration in the field of doctoral research and training.”.
In summary, internationalization is a cross-cutting challenge, which is expressed in the attraction of foreign students, visiting professors, increased publications and research projects with international institutions.
Interdisciplinarity
The topic of interdisciplinarity was raised by Jorge Allende, from the University of Chile, who highlighted, from the perspective of the biological sciences, the progress towards new paradigms that make it possible to address from diverse disciplines the problems and questions generated today by the knowledge society, which he called "the convergence of the sciences," appealing to the development of "doctoral programs focused on a problem of great relevance, food, energy, health, relationship between biota and biosphere."“
From the University of São Paulo, these challenges were also addressed by Arlindo Philippi, who explained the impetus generated in Brazil for the promotion of interdisciplinary programs focused on converging themes, the provision of diversified and flexible training, and the response to the priorities of the country's research system. In Europe—specifically France and Spain—similar trends are observed, promoting training geared toward new competencies that enable both a broad and complex analysis of emerging phenomena and the development of skills that facilitate graduates' entry into the workforce.
Financing
Finally, the issue of financing was not absent from the debate, recognizing the need to increase the number of graduates, address the situation of serious asymmetries – both in Brazil and in Chile – ensure the role of universities, considering postgraduate training as a complex and diverse system that requires long-term policies avoiding the dispersion and instability of financing instruments.
In the case of Brazil, where there is a systemic and long-term policy, Professor Philippi argued for increasing the percentage of GDP allocated to science, technology, and innovation, generating a national strategic agenda, and the need to reform legislation to achieve greater flexibility in the use of resources earmarked for science, technology, and innovation. However, in the situation of Chile, where there is a serious lack of institutional framework and a fragmented funding system, Dr. Allende highlighted the importance of defining an institutional framework within universities for the development of doctoral programs. From this perspective, the Brazilian funding model is particularly interesting, given that the university itself receives the funds for postgraduate development.
This set of proposals and debates was compiled by the Postgraduate Advisory Commission, highlighting both those legal issues currently under discussion, such as the situation regarding quality assurance—a law that fails to recognize the relevance of the postgraduate system and excludes debate with the academic community. The seminar underscored once again the urgent need to design a systemic postgraduate policy that builds upon past achievements but also acknowledges regional disparities, as María Elisa Taboada from the University of Antofagasta pointed out; integrates quality management and effective funding for the system, according to Daniel Wolff from the University of Chile; and promotes close international collaboration in various forums, as Ximena García from the University of Concepción expressed.
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