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The meeting held at the La Moneda Palace was chaired by President Michelle Bachelet, Minister of Education Adriana Delpiano, Executive Vice President of the Council of Rectors and Rector of the University of Valparaíso Aldo Valle; Rector of the University of Chile, Ennio Vivaldi; Rector of the University of Santiago, Juan Manuel Zolezzi; Rector of the University of Aysén, Roxana Pey; Rector of the UMCE, Jaime Espinosa; Rector of the Metropolitan Technological University, Luis Pinto and Academic Vice-Rector of the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, Juan Larraín.
The meeting, chaired by President Michelle Bachelet and Minister of Education Adriana Delpiano, was attended by the Executive Vice President of the Council of Rectors and Rector of the University of Valparaíso, Aldo Valle; the Rector of the University of Chile, Ennio Vivaldi; the Rector of the University of Santiago, Juan Manuel Zolezzi; the Rector of the University of Aysén, Roxana Pey; the Rector of the Metropolitan University of Educational Sciences, Jaime Espinosa; the Rector of the Metropolitan Technological University, Luis Pinto; and, representing the Rector of the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, the Academic Vice-Rector of the institution, Juan Larraín.
At the end of the meeting, the executive vice president of the Council of Rectors, Aldo Valle, announced that “we have been able to obtain a positive response to this request, so we can inform you that, by order of Her Excellency the President of the Republic, the reform project will not be submitted in the coming days, but a decision will be made once we have carried out a process of analysis, evaluation and deliberation, with the purpose of contributing to a reform that we consider to be of greater interest to the country, not only for certain higher education institutions but for Chile as a whole.”.
Valle emphasized that significant reforms cannot be the result solely of office work, but rather that “it is crucial that reforms of this magnitude actively and positively incorporate the opinions of all stakeholders in the higher education system. A reform is not just a bill submitted to the National Congress; it is also a prior participatory process involving transparent, inclusive, and participatory discussion and deliberation, which we have not yet had, as we are not familiar with the details of the bill that was to be submitted to Congress.”.
Therefore, the executive vice president expressed that this decision is appreciated and noted that, along with demonstrating the government's willingness on this issue, it constitutes a recognition of the spirit in which the Council of Rectors has supported and endorsed the substantive pillars of the reform.
On the other hand, Rector Valle clarified that “we have told the President that we want to be an active part of this process, for which we need a more direct, regular, and systematic dialogue, which we haven't had until now.” Considering the President's instructions, the Rector said, “we believe that was made clear, since we are meeting with the Minister of Education tomorrow to begin working.” Valle also stated that they do not want to postpone this project indefinitely, that it is important for it to be introduced as soon as possible, but they see “a real opportunity to work on it in these early months of 2016 so that the reform has better structural support.”.
For his part, the rector of the University of Santiago, Juan Manuel Zolezzi, echoed Rector Valle's statements. “I was very pleased and grateful to the President for agreeing to postpone this project. We all hope to participate and collaborate in every way necessary so that we have the best possible project when the President deems it appropriate to send it to Parliament,” Zolezzi stated, adding that “we represent a group of rectors whose only interest is improving education in Chile.”.
Meanwhile, the rector of the University of Chile, Ennio Vivaldi, stated that “we believe it is essential to involve students in the legislative discussions taking place in the country. We would like to see students playing an active role in this discussion; therefore, a key aspect of postponing this bill is to create a space and invite students to offer their opinions and participate in this process.”.
It is worth noting that the initiative to request a postponement of the presentation of the bill reforming higher education in the country was agreed upon by the Council of Rectors in its extraordinary session on December 15th. At that time, it was deemed necessary to participate responsibly in the discussion, allowing for additional time to ensure a broader, more inclusive, and representative debate.
*Photo: Presidential Press Office.
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