The CRUCH Executive Committee meets with Minister Delpiano to learn about the structure of the Higher Education Reform Project

16/06/2016
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“We were able to discuss in more detail the various aspects of the reform project, we learned about the most advanced structure, but we have not seen any articles, nor any development of the regulations that the project contains,” said the executive vice president of the Council of Rectors, Aldo Valle, at the end of the meeting.

Also participating in this meeting were the Minister of Finance, Rodrigo Valdés, and the Minister of the General Secretariat of the Presidency, Nicolás Eyzaguirre.

The meeting between the rectors of the CRUCH Executive Committee and the Minister of Education, Adriana Delpiano, lasted nearly three hours, during which they discussed some of the content of the Higher Education Reform bill. At the end of the meeting, the Executive Vice President of the Council of Rectors and Rector of the University of Valparaíso (UV), Aldo Valle, said, “This has been the longest meeting we have had with the Minister so far, and we were able to discuss the various aspects of the reform bill in more detail. We learned about the most advanced structure, but we haven't seen any of the articles or any details of the regulations contained in the bill.”.

The Council of Rectors of Chilean Universities (CRUCH) stated that, while some aspects of the project were clarified, doubts remain regarding crucial issues such as the core funding for institutions. In this regard, Rector Valle argued that, “there must be a significant change. We understand that this change cannot happen overnight, so no one is asking for new resources for 2017 or 2018, but it is necessary to design goals or endpoints that, unfortunately, we have not seen in what was presented to us as a higher education reform project regarding public funding for institutions.” Along these lines, Valle emphasized the need to support all universities that have lower core funding than they require, such as regional universities, “which need state support,” he added.

Regarding the Superintendency of Higher Education, the executive vice president of CRUCH warned that "we still do not know what its powers will be and we are very concerned that these powers will undermine the autonomy of our institutions.".

Regarding profit in education, Valle explained that the bill stipulates that institutions receiving public funds, such as professional institutes, technical training centers, and universities, cannot operate for profit. With respect to universities, the Ministry of Education (MINEDUC) stated that the general prohibition would be maintained and that the capacity to guarantee this condition would be strengthened.

“At CRUCH, we believe that there should be no profit in Higher Education at any level. Therefore, the most effective regulations and legal frameworks must be established to prevent profit-making, whether with public or private resources,” emphasized Rector Valle.

According to the CRUCH spokesperson, one of the advances of the project is the incorporation of technical and professional education as a structural component of the higher education system and the strengthening of regulations relating to this type of education.

Regarding the date on which the project will be submitted to the National Congress, Rector Valle said that the day was not specified at the meeting, but that the Ministry of Education assured that it will be submitted during the month of June.

Also participating in the meeting were the alternate executive vice president of CRUCH and rector of the Catholic University of Maule, Diego Duran; the rector of the Pontifical Catholic University of Valparaíso, Claudio Elórtegui; the rector of the Federico Santa María Technical University, Darcy Fuenzalida; the rector of the University of Playa Ancha, Patricio Sanhueza; and Rosa Devés, Vice-Rector of Academic Affairs of the University of Chile, representing Rector Ennio Vivaldi.

Also present were the general secretary of CRUCH, María Isabel Munita; the Undersecretary of Education, Valentina Quiroga; the head of DIVESUP, Alejandra Contreras; and the advisor to MINEDUC, Rodrigo González, among others.

Admission System

On the other hand, the bill proposes the creation of a new admissions system for all higher education institutions, to be administered by the future Undersecretariat of Education. Regarding this issue, the executive vice president of CRUCH stated that “CRUCH does not support this system being left solely to a government administrative decision.”.

He specified that “an admissions system cannot be conceived on the basis of exclusively placing the decision of that system in the government's will, because a Higher Education system has a structural component in its admissions system.”.

For this reason, Valle argued that it is necessary to know the more specific design before being able to issue an approval judgment and added that a proposal in this area must respond to the tradition of independence and autonomy that Higher Education has had to determine the admission system.

The university rectors expect to have the full content of the Higher Education Reform project to analyze it at the next monthly session scheduled for June 30 at the Catholic University of Maule (UCM), in Talca.