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Before the Education Committee of the Chamber, which began the review of the bill that modifies the effective date of the regulated fees, Rector Emilio Rodríguez argued that this debate should also consider an evaluation and adjustment of the consequences of the application of article 108 of Law No. 21,091 and the transitional articles 35 and 38 of the same law.
Likewise, consideration must be given to safeguarding the complexity and integrity of institutions and designing a comprehensive model of regulated fees, which allows institutions to plan in the medium and long term.
“We see in this postponement of deadlines the possibility of formulating a much more participatory process for setting regulated tariffs,” said the executive vice president of CRUCH, Emilio Rodríguez Ponce, who spoke this Tuesday in the Education Committee of the Chamber of Deputies.
The parliamentary body has begun reviewing the bill that modifies the effective date of regulated tuition fees, basic registration fees, and graduation fees. These fees are established in Title V of Law No. 21,091, on Higher Education, for institutional funding to ensure free tuition.
The initiative, classified as extremely urgent, is in its second constitutional stage, after being passed in July by the Senate and was presented to the committee by the Undersecretary of Higher Education, Verónica Figueroa.
On that occasion, the rector of the University of Tarapacá highlighted that in May, the plenary session of CRUCH agreed to accept the invitation from the Undersecretary of Higher Education, Verónica Figueroa, to participate in a new process for setting regulated fees., after the authority decided to challenge the technical bases prepared by the previous administration.
In this context, Emilio Rodríguez stated that the CRUCH agreed to support this short bill, agreeing on a series of considerations “relevant to the development and harmonious functioning of the university system”.
Principle of non-detriment
One of the considerations established by the Council is linked to the establishment of a principle of non-detriment to higher education institutions.
“To work within a framework of harmony in the functioning and development of the higher education system, it is important that this first basic principle exists, which implies that the definition of regulated fees does not mean lower income for the institutions that are part of the system.”.
In this regard, the Secretary General of CRUCH, Angélica Bosch, maintained that the solvency and sustainability of higher education institutions must be safeguarded, especially universities of excellence and complex institutions, such as those belonging to CRUCH. “We are concerned that, due to budget constraints, there might be, for example, a mechanism to compensate for transfers within the system, but that it does not safeguard this principle of not harming higher education institutions,” Bosch explained.
Review of Law No. 21,091
A second consideration raised by the Council is that while the process of setting fees is suspended, it is essential to consider options that support the institutional financing of higher education entities.
In this context, the executive vice president of CRUCH stated that this implies an urgent review and analysis of the implications generated by articles 108 and transitional articles 35 and 38 of Law No. 21,091.
“These articles have significant impacts on several universities. Preliminary calculations, in terms of the costs associated with Article 108, indicate that they exceed 30 billion pesos per year. Furthermore, Articles 35 and 38 significantly affect some institutions in particular,” Rodríguez explained.
On the other hand, the rector of the University of Tarapacá stated that it is necessary to consider that fees must be adapted to the reality of complex universities, where there are fundamental costs for a comprehensive quality education, linked to research (which are included within the transfer to teaching), extension programs and community engagement and other complementary training activities such as internships or exchange programs.
“It is very difficult to ignore the almost indissoluble links that exist between undergraduate and postgraduate teaching, research and community engagement (…) Therefore, it should be understood that these links could and should be expressed in the definition of regulated fees,” said Rodríguez.
Comprehensive model and work table
The executive vice president of CRUCH stated that the fourth consideration of the rectors is that the implementation of regulated fees must consider a comprehensive model that incorporates all degree programs.
“In this way, universities will be able to understand the effects of tuition fees on medium and long-term planning, even though their implementation may be gradual by groups of programs,” Rodríguez explained.
The university authority highlighted that this point is being addressed by the Undersecretariat of Higher Education, through the methodological proposal presented to the representatives of the CRUCh universities in a meeting held on Friday, August 5, 2022.
Rodríguez added that, procedurally, the Council considers it essential to establish a working group with the associations of higher education institutions, representatives of academics, officials and students of institutions affiliated with the institutional funding for free tuition.
In this context, he maintained that in this new process “we have had a much greater opportunity to put forward ideas and positions in this discussion. We have done so through our groups, such as CRUCH itself, but the institutions have also had the opportunity to make proposals to the Undersecretary and, consequently, we see that it is a much more participatory process.”.
Rector Rodríguez's presentation to the Education Committee is available at this link.
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