Committee of Academic Vice-Rectors
The meeting of the Commission of Academic Vice-Rectors (CoVRA) and the Teaching Network of the CRUCH Universities was attended by the Rector of the University of Chile, Rosa Devés, her counterpart from Alberto Hurtado University, Eduardo Silva, and the Commission's chair, David Figueroa Hernández, Academic Vice-Rector of the Catholic University of Temuco. Diversity, inclusion, and support were the themes that defined this meeting.
Courtesy of the University of Chile Press Office. Photographs: Alejandra Fuenzalida and Felipe PoGa
The meeting of the Commission of Academic Vice-Rectors (CoVRA) Y Teaching Network of the Universities of the Council of Rectors and Rectors of Chilean Universities, The event, which focused on the analysis of diversity and academic support in higher education, included the participation of the Rector of the University of Chile., Rosa Devés; from his counterpart at Alberto Hurtado University, Eduardo Silva; and who chairs the Commission that brings together university authorities, David Figueroa Hernandez, Academic Vice-Rector of the Catholic University of Temuco.
The meeting was opened by Rector Devés, who thanked those present for attending and reflecting on the challenges of their positions.“The heart of the university is academics. Our primary mission, which is to educate, is a mission that resides within ourselves and which we have placed in a position of transformation., Guided by the logic of inclusion and the challenges facing our society, as well as by what it means today to educate for an uncertain world, in order to deliver those values that we all recognize as important, from those that allow us to act with flexibility, to those that foster resilience. We know that the world to come is difficult and that, therefore, a sense of community, of supporting one another, is fundamental,” he said.
Eduardo Silva, Rector of the Alberto Hurtado University, stated that “There is only one thing we cannot stop doing, which is the cultivation and transmission of knowledge. This cultivation is called research, this cultivation is called innovation, knowledge generation; it involves teaching, education, public value… That is the heart of the matter.” He added that “in our classrooms and laboratories, our students, for now, are quite different. This relationship between teachers and students has been transformed, and this superior character seems to have to be expressed differently because our institutions, which were previously for the elite, a segment of society that had access to higher knowledge, have taken on the responsibility of massification, universal access, and comprehensive, lifelong professional training.”.
David Figueroa Hernandez, The Academic Vice-Rector of the Catholic University of Temuco stated that the initiative is “a great space for cooperation, because it helps us resolve the problems that we sometimes face in our universities. And, obviously, in these spaces of cooperation we can fulfill the purposes that each of our universities has.” Along these lines, he continued, “without a doubt, a central focus of all the work, of everyone here, is precisely the attention given to our students. They are the object of our attention, our service, our work, in which we often spend enormous amounts of time, precisely to To address the problems these young people face so they can have successful academic careers, which is a great challenge that all universities have today.”.
To kick off the activity, which lasted for two days (Thursday and Friday), Pedro Milos, Professor at Alberto Hurtado University, spoke about “Challenges of University Teaching Post-Pandemic”. “When we talk about university teaching, we are talking about something tremendously complex, subject to very diverse conditions, in some sense systematic, but -at the same time- very practical and everyday. Only by recognizing the complexity of university teaching can we appreciate the implications of a phenomenon seemingly so external to university teaching as the pandemic,” said Professor Milos.
In his presentation, he addressed The curricular challenges, comprehensive training, disciplinary training, mental health, intensive use of technologies, and the academic and professional development of the teaching staff. “If someone were to ask me where to focus on university teaching, taking into account the contextual elements I already mentioned and these six specific areas in which we could do things, I would say that The focus is on highlighting the importance of the microcurricular space and the classroom (…) During the pandemic, the classroom was the space most impacted in terms of university teaching, not the curricula. The classroom, with all that it implies and with our expertise as teachers, is what was most affected,” he added.
To close the two days of work, the Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs of the University of Chile, Claudio Pastenes, She shared some reflections. “The title that brought us together on this occasion was ‘'Diversity, inclusion and support'’. ”This title exists because we believe in diversity, and we believe in it because it effectively creates a space where different perspectives, customs and cultures – from the point of view of educational trajectories, indigenous peoples, and gender – interact,” he explained.
“This was a very pleasant space to share strategies, visions and problems very honestly, which is very good for us. This instance has to break with the paradigm of competition and, in fact, I think that's what happened. ”For me, it was a moment of great collaboration, great friendship, great spirit, of putting the problems on the table, letting them be seen, and continuing to talk about them,” she concluded. She also highlighted the The importance of incorporating concepts such as neurodiversity, innovation, and entrepreneurship, and working on planning.
Last July, in Antofagasta, the academic vice-rectors and the Teaching Network of the Universities of the Council of Rectors met for the last time. In 2021, the meeting took place at Alberto Hurtado University; in 2020 it was not held due to the pandemic; and in 2019 it was held at Arturo Prat University.
Images from the meeting
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