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The path taken by free tuition, the financing system, and the need to thrive in an inclusive dialogue with university communities for the implementation of the Higher Education Reform were some of the topics analyzed at the meeting held by the Executive Committee of the Council of Rectors and representatives of the Confederation of Students of Chile (CONFECH).
For nearly two hours on Monday, the rectors who make up the Executive Committee of the CRUCH met with leaders of the Confederation of Students of Chile (CONFECH), an instance in which the students expressed their displeasure with the path that the reform of the higher education system has taken, with the problems and uncertainty that has arisen around free tuition and with the lack of clarity regarding the future financing system.
Representing the Executive Committee were the Executive Vice President and Rector of the University of Valparaíso, Aldo Valle; the Alternate Executive Vice President and Rector of the Catholic University of Maule, Diego Duran; the Rector of the University of Chile, Ennio Vivaldi; the Rector of the University of Playa Ancha, Patricio Sanhueza; and the General Secretary of the Council of Rectors, María Isabel Munita.
Representing the students were Camila Rojas, president of the Federation of Students of the University of Chile (FECH); Marta Matamala (FEUSACH) from the University of Santiago; Nicole Cornejo and Nicolás Berthet from the Austral University of Chile (UACH); Carlos Vergara from the University of Valparaíso (UV); and Mario Bustos from the Diego Portales University (UDP).
After the meeting concluded, the executive vice president of CRUCH stated, “It is unacceptable that at this stage, with the bill about to be submitted to Congress, we still lack a proposal outlining the funding structure for higher education. We believe this shortcoming is inexplicable, and therefore, we think the government must act quickly, because otherwise CRUCH is unable to issue a statement of support for the higher education reform,” Valle concluded.
Valle added that the lack of clarity, ambiguity, and likely disagreements among the various actors within the government are contributing to the absence of a clear proposal for higher education funding. He pointed out that, to date, the different universities have been unable to share the new higher education system project with their respective communities because the government's proposal is still unknown. However, “all institutions have ways of convening their governing bodies to present any proposals we may receive, hopefully from the government in the coming days,” Valle said.
For her part, the president of FEUSACH, Marta Matamala, after the meeting concluded, said that “we have made a joint diagnosis with the rectors, since there is discontent among students, rectors and workers in higher education, because the reform not only falls short, but also lacks programmatic points that are not included and this approach that has been made with CRUCH is in that same vein, to be able to work on common issues, but above all to understand that it is the organized communities that must put issues on the agenda of the MINEDUC and not simply be waiting for its drafts,” argued the student leader.
The meeting, held at the CRUCH (Council of Rectors of Chilean Universities) headquarters, was also attended by the president of the FECH (Federation of Chilean Students), Camila Rojas, who explained that “free tuition will not solve the major problems in Chilean education; therefore, we consider it a very partial solution to what we have been demanding all these years.” For this reason, she called for a discussion of fundamental issues, such as funding, democracy, and working conditions—"essential issues that have been absent from the discussion surrounding the higher education reform," she emphasized.
Regarding the points of agreement between CRUCH and CONFECH, Rector Aldo Valle mentioned the need to establish a dialogue between rectors, academic communities, students, and student organizations. Therefore, they agreed to work together to propose a meeting to their respective plenary sessions in the coming months. “We believe it is very important that students and academic communities, which we rectors represent, have a common voice on this. The country needs a new higher education system; however, we still don't see it reflected in the minutes on the reform,” stated the Executive Vice President of the Council of Rectors.
Invitation to march
During this meeting, the university rectors received a formal invitation from CONFECH (the Confederation of Chilean Students) to join the call to march on April 21. “We extended an invitation to them to participate in the mobilization, as we want the entire university community to be able to participate that day. This means that both students and staff should have the opportunity to march, and that the rectors should be able to participate as well,” explained Camila Rojas, President of FECH. Rector Valle thanked the student leaders for the invitation and added, “We have shared it with all the rectors and will evaluate it at the next CRUCH (Council of Rectors of Chilean Universities) meeting scheduled for Monday, April 18.”.
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