Aldo Valle: "Our institutions require certainty and security regarding the income that they will have for free from 2016"

During the monthly meeting of the Council of Rectors held at the University of Talca, Rector Aldo Valle, executive vice president of this organization, addressed the points that still raise concerns for the CRUCH institutions regarding the transfers that the institutions will receive from 2016 onwards for free tuition.

While the full Council of Rectors (CRUCH) agrees that free tuition is a beneficial policy for the country and will benefit higher education as a whole, concerns about the process persist. “We stated in a public document more than two months ago that we value the decision to implement a free tuition policy for the most socioeconomically vulnerable sectors starting in 2016. However, we believe it is essential to move forward with clearer definitions for several institutions that still have gaps or doubts that have not been resolved with the Ministry of Education (MINEDUC). Our institutions require certainty and security regarding the income they will receive from free tuition starting in 2016,” stated Rector Valle. He added that if there is no clarity, they will continue to file claims, even before the Joint Budget Committee, since they have the power to approve or reject the education budget.

The main point of contention lies in the effects of changing from a reference tuition fee to a regulated tuition fee. This creates discrepancies that could represent real deficits in the institutions' revenues. Most institutions within the Council of Rectors (CRUCH) do not face this difficulty, but others do. Therefore, a gradual adjustment process has been underway for several months. "The commitment was made at the outset of the free tuition policy announcement that none of our institutions would experience real deficits. The difference is that until we can clearly define whether these are purely projected (theoretical) deficits or actual deficits in university budgets, we will continue to publicly demand this clarity from the Ministry of Education," stated the executive vice president of CRUCH.

There are between 7 and 9 universities that could present a deficit and therefore, each of these universities will have the opportunity to clarify in the coming days directly with DIVESUP the terms in which the different results to those that have been reached are resolved.

Aldo Valle, rector of the University of Valparaíso, explained that the Council of Rectors of Chilean Universities (CRUCH) has not validated or discussed any divisions within its member institutions in order to maintain the free tuition policy starting in 2016, and has not discussed or validated any reduction in the number of institutions that should be part of the free tuition program. “In general, all our universities have expressed their willingness to move forward with the implementation of this policy because we understand that it will benefit families and students. However, we have also stated that we are responsible for ensuring that institutions have the necessary budgetary balances, which are a prerequisite for the proper functioning of universities in 2016,” Valle stated.

Thus, the vice-president of CRUCH believes that it is not advisable in any case to introduce a division in the budget statement, nor to reduce the number of institutions, particularly those belonging to CRUCH.

Regional reality

For his part, the alternate executive vice president of the Council of Rectors, Diego Durán, emphasized the importance of considering the regions in the current discussion. “Today, we believe that this budget does not take into account the regional reality. In fact, there are elements of the budget line item that have been reduced with respect to the regions—resources that were previously allocated to the regions and that no longer exist. We believe this should be improved. Furthermore, making tuition-free education determined by the nominal duration of the programs does not, in our opinion, consider the reality of the regions. It is precisely in the regions where students face greater vulnerability, and this is reflected in the financial constraints they face in completing their studies,” explained the rector of the University of Maule (UCM).

Regarding the Indirect Fiscal Contribution (AFI), the CRUCH (Council of Rectors of Chilean Universities) indicated that there is a shared opinion among all the rectors that it is an instrument that should be modified. “We agree that it is a rather regressive, not progressive, instrument. We share the idea that these resources should be modified in the future in their allocation, so that they favor inclusion and equity, particularly in universities located in regions that require more resources to carry out their missions of integration and inclusion in higher education for young people who lack the resources and sometimes the academic background required to succeed in higher education,” said Aldo Valle.