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During its monthly meeting, the Council of Rectors of Chilean Universities (CRUCH) offered words of support and welcome to the rectors of the two new public universities. Rector Roxana Pey of the University of Aysén and Rector Rafael Correa of the University of O'Higgins expressed their commitment and enthusiasm for establishing these two regional institutions, fulfilling their commitment to the community and to higher education.
New public universities are being created at a crucial moment for Chilean education, on the verge of a reform to the higher education system where the aim is for more young people to have access to free, quality higher education.
“During today’s session, we welcomed the two new rectors of the new state universities to the Council of Rectors: Roxana Pey, rector of the University of Aysén, and Rafael Correa, rector of the University of O’Higgins. We believe this beginning of the new Chilean universities is very relevant at such a crucial moment for Chilean higher education, where we are eager to see how such substantial changes as free tuition will be implemented,” said Vice President of the Council of Rectors Aldo Valle to the press covering the CRUCH monthly session held on September 24 in Santiago.
Rector Rafael Correa said he was tremendously enthusiastic and optimistic about the task of leading this new educational institution. “It is the first time in the history of Chile that two public universities have been created from scratch and they are regional. This is a project that excites the region and is tremendously important for the government. I am optimistic about this challenge and I trust that we will have the necessary resources to carry it out,” he added.
For her part, Rector Roxana Pey explained that the Aysén community eagerly awaited the creation of this university, understanding the fundamental role universities play in the development of the region. While acknowledging that it will take time to get this new institution up and running in a complex territory like Aysén, with its significant challenges of isolation and high rurality, she emphasized that the community is very active and attentive to the launch of this new public university. “As the new state university of Aysén, we join the tradition of the Council of Rectors, as a new institution, but also embracing its tradition of pluralism and intellectual diversity. We know we have the support of the CRUCH (Council of Rectors of Chilean Universities), as we have felt from all the rectors, and we are confident that we will do good work together,” she stated.
Free
Regarding the budget allocation being prepared to finance free tuition in 2016, Rector Aldo Valle explained that while the Ministry of Education has stated that no institution will experience a decrease or deficit in its 2016 budget income as a result of implementing the free tuition policy, uncertainty persists among the universities of the Council of Rectors of Chilean Universities (CRUCH). “We believe there is a lack of information. We are concerned because there are some relevant details of the formula for implementing free tuition in 2016 that we haven't been able to learn due to a lack of important clarification.” For this reason, Valle announced that they agreed with Francisco Martínez, head of the Division of Higher Education (DIVESUP), who was present at the CRUCH session, that «immediately after the Law is presented to Congress on September 30, they will hold a meeting in the following days to finalize each of these aspects—not just details, but structural aspects for the financing of our universities.».
This meeting was scheduled for the week of October 5th, giving DIVESUP time to work on the basis of the determination made by the Executive Branch when presenting the budget item corresponding to the financing of free tuition for the year 2016.
When asked about the announcements made by DIVESUP during the session, the vice president of CRUCH said, “We would have liked to make more progress, but we weren't able to advance further, as we felt was necessary. However, as the Council of Rectors, we presented all our viewpoints and made our differences clear, and we trust that the government, in its presentation to Congress, will act accordingly and accept what we have proposed today,” he emphasized. While the impacts of the proposed tuition-free options on each institution vary, there is still another stage that has not yet taken place, where each institution, with DIVESUP and the available budget information, can clarify these differences on a case-by-case basis.
Quotas and vacancies
On September 24, the academic offer was published, where it is estimated that a total of 79,865 vacancies will be offered by the set of 25 universities of the Council of Rectors and the 8 private affiliated universities that make up the Single Admission System (SUA) for the 2016 Admission Process, which represents an increase of 2,75% in the total number of vacancies of the system, with respect to last year (77,727 vacancies).
On this subject, Rector Valle said, “We have analyzed the expansion of first-year enrollment in CRUCH universities over the last 5 years, and DIVESUP agrees that this evolution does not represent any threat to the financing of free tuition in 2016.” He acknowledged that there are differences because it's impossible to include all enrollment in a single figure or percentage limit, since not all students will be eligible for free tuition. “Universities will also receive many students who won't be covered by free tuition. That's why we've stated that any limitation that might be established should only apply to students entering the free tuition program. We've also repeatedly received commitments from DIVESUP (the Directorate of Higher Education) that new programs will in no case be considered within any limit that might be established regarding actual enrollment, not with respect to the published figures for available places and overcapacity. The evolution and effectiveness of enrollment varies in each institution and region, so no conclusions can be drawn.” Therefore, the executive vice president of CRUCH (Council of Rectors of Chilean Universities) expects that the institutions will not encounter any difficulties. “The threat or idea that a greater expansion could occur, in our opinion, does not exist,” he emphasized.
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