CRUCH universities are preparing to resume in-person classes in March and integrate lessons learned during the pandemic

The executive vice president of the Council of Rectors, Juan Manuel Zolezzi, stated that institutions “must design their planning taking into account that we are still in a pandemic context, to ensure that the return is safe, orderly and legitimized by the communities.”.

The CRUCH also defined its representatives in the Access Committee of the Undersecretariat of Higher Education and in the Advisory Council of the Institutional Network to Support the National Infrastructure for Access to Scientific Information.

With the conviction that it is important to resume in-person classes in 2022 and safeguard the quality of educational processes, the 630th session of the Council of Rectors of Chilean Universities (CRUCH) reiterated the commitment of the institutions to the return to classrooms starting in March.

The executive vice president of CRUCH and rector of the University of Santiago, Juan Manuel Zolezzi, stated that “it is important that as a Council we give a signal in favor of in-person learning, to promote the learning of young people and resume the different dimensions of university life.”.

The university official also specified that institutions “must design their planning taking into account that we are still in a pandemic context, to ensure that the return is safe, orderly, and legitimized by the communities.” Zolezzi added that at this stage, “it will be of great help to universities to consider the lessons and experiences we have gained in these two years of the pandemic, in which we have faced difficulties, but also innovative solutions to some problems.”.

Along the same lines, the plenary session of the Council of Rectors approved that its monthly sessions will be in person starting in March of this year.

New in-person presence

In Thursday's session, held remotely, presentations were given by the president of the CRUCH's Commission of Academic Vice-Rectors (COVRA), David Figueroa, Academic Vice-Rector of the Catholic University of Temuco, and the vice-president of that commission, Pamela Ibarra, Vice-Rector of Undergraduate Studies at the University of La Frontera. Both analyzed the lessons learned by universities during these two years of the pandemic and argued that a new concept of in-person learning must be considered.

In this context, Vice-Rector Ibarra warned that “in-person learning implies that students feel the need to travel regularly to their campuses, whether for classes, workshops, laboratories, practical activities, clinical rotations, or extracurricular activities.” In this regard, one of the recommendations is that universities schedule a significant number of in-person activities and services to encourage students to attend regularly.

According to both COVRA representatives, the new in-person learning requires planning, training, and monitoring in conjunction with university communities.

Regarding post-pandemic teaching, Pamela Ibarra argued that it must consider the permanence of remote education, the coexistence of different educational spaces (face-to-face, hybrid, remote and their combinations), and the adaptation of academics and students to the different formats.

Furthermore, this scenario opens the door to the redesign of teaching and the promotion of self-learning among students; along with a deep analysis of the curriculum and a reflection on educational models and their evolution in new social contexts, which constitutes a "new teaching".

Regarding the new teaching methods, David Figueroa stated that universities have had to evolve very rapidly in the last two years, especially due to the possibilities offered by technology and virtual learning, "so we face the challenge of working on how we will incorporate these new teaching methods into the educational process." In his opinion, there will need to be a transition period within university communities "in order to integrate the various elements and formalize them in educational models," he noted.

On the other hand, Vice-Rector Ibarra also addressed the actions developed by the CRUCH universities during the second semester of 2021, which included prioritizing practical academic activities, strengthening ties with the 2020 and 2021 incoming generations, and the recovery of university life through shared spaces for work and dialogue.

Committee for Access and Support Network for Scientific Information

In Thursday's session, the plenary of rectors elected their representatives to the Access Committee of the university subsystem, within the framework of the Higher Education Access System of the Ministry of Education.

Representing the Consortium of State Universities of Chile (CUECH), the following were nominated: Natacha Pino, Rector of the University of Aysén; Alberto Martínez, Rector of the Arturo Prat University; and Ennio Vivaldi, Rector of the University of Chile. Representing the institutions of the Network of Non-State Public Universities (Red G9) on the committee will be Carlos Saavedra, Rector of the University of Concepción, and Diego Durán, Rector of the Catholic University of Maule.

On the other hand, the CRUCH representatives were also chosen in the Advisory Council of the Institutional Network to Support the National Infrastructure for Access to Scientific Information, an initiative promoted by the National Research and Development Agency, ANID.

The appointments went to Andrea Rodríguez, Vice-Rector of Research and Development at the University of Concepción and President of the Council's Research Commission; and Karen Jara, Director of the Library System at the University of Concepción and President of the CRUCH Library Commission.

Farewell to the Undersecretary of Higher Education

The Undersecretary of Higher Education, Juan Eduardo Vargas, also participated in the session, addressing the Comptroller General's ruling that upheld objections raised by the Council of Rectors (CRUCH) regarding the procedure for setting regulated tuition fees. He explained that after the hearing period to gather feedback from the CRUCH universities, the Undersecretariat had decided to reverse the process and adjust the technical guidelines for calculating the regulated tuition fees. The Undersecretary announced that once a draft of the technical guidelines is available, no later than the end of January, they will meet with the CRUCH.

Furthermore, within the framework of the 2022 Admissions Process, the results of the University Transition Test and the work carried out in this area were highlighted. In this regard, more detailed information was presented by Mauricio Cornejo, head of the Information and Access Division of the Undersecretariat of Higher Education, and Leonor Varas, director of the Department of Educational Evaluation, Measurement, and Registration (DEMRE) at the University of Chile.

Finally, Undersecretary Vargas gave an overview of his tenure and bid farewell, as he will be leaving his post on March 11. The assembly of university presidents and rectors praised his work and wished him success in his future endeavors.