The new Community Engagement Commission will work to reaffirm the commitment to public service of the CRUCH universities.

In its first session, held this Tuesday, May 23, at the University of Concepción, the Community Engagement Commission of the Council of Rectors defined a work agenda for 2023 and a transitional directive.

The rector of the University of Concepción, Carlos Saavedra, highlighted that the creation of this body strengthens the construction of a university system of excellence distributed throughout the country.

The new Community Engagement Commission of the Council of Rectors and Rectors (CRUCH) was established this Tuesday, May 23, at the University of Concepción (UdeC) with the participation of representatives from the area of the 30 universities of the Council, headed by the rector of UdeC, Carlos Saavedra, and the General Secretary of CRUCH, María Angélica Bosch.

“The presence of this entire team demonstrates the commitment of each of the institutions represented here today,” Rector Saavedra noted, while emphasizing the important task ahead for the commission: “to gather experiences and best practices from each institution and share them to promote projects that generate synergies between our institutions.”.

The initiative to create the commission was unanimously approved in March of this year by the full assembly of university presidents, based on a proposal led by President Saavedra. “Community engagement is one of the core missions of all our universities and is also part of the quality assurance mechanisms for the higher education system in our country,” stated the president, referring to the new accreditation processes that begin in October of this year. He added that, with the creation of this body, “our institutions grow and we reaffirm our commitment to public service in this task of building a university system of excellence distributed throughout our country.”.

Relevance of the commission for the CRUCH

During the event, the Vice-Rector for Institutional Relations and Community Engagement at the University of Concepción (UdeC), Dr. Ximena Gauché Marchetti, spoke about three main aspects for the creation of this initiative. First, she emphasized the importance of community engagement for higher education and accreditation in Chile; second, she highlighted the value and coordination of community engagement among universities, both internally and with other organizations; and finally, she noted the institutional framework at the university level, specifically the Council of Rectors of Chilean Universities (CRUCH), most of which have a community engagement policy.

In this context, the commission's initial objectives are four: to identify successful experiences and best practices in community engagement from all CRUCH universities; to establish a space for joint reflection on such experiences and best practices and the strengthening of the university's mission of community engagement, within the framework of the dynamism of engagement with the external environment and its relevance in each university's territorial reality for the impact on its environment (local, regional, national, international); to develop suggested lines of action for the promotion of community engagement and the measurement of its impact by CRUCH universities; and to monitor the policies, criteria, and standards of accreditation in the community engagement dimension.

For her part, the Secretary General of CRUCH, María Angélica Bosch, presented the regulatory framework of the commissions, their operation and organization, as well as the coordination and support role of the General Secretariat.

First agreements of the commission

In this first meeting, held in a hybrid format, the members of the commission emphasized the importance of working on this issue to define common criteria and tools. They also established a work agenda for 2023 and a transitional directive.

Initially, the board will be chaired by representatives from the northern, central, southern, and extreme regions of the country. Thus, during 2023, the commission will be led by Olga Valdés de la Torre, Director General of Community Engagement at the Catholic University of the North; Matías Vial Valdés, Director of Innovation at the University of the Andes; Ximena Gauché Marchetti, Vice-Rector of Institutional Relations and Community Engagement at the University of Concepción; and Felipe Lagos, Director of the Center for Regional Studies and Project Coordinator for the Vice-Rectorate of Community Engagement at the University of Magallanes.

Regarding the work agenda, the commission established a schedule of regular sessions, which will be held on the last Wednesday of each month. Additionally, two extraordinary sessions will be held during 2023, on dates to be determined soon. The final board will be elected at the last extraordinary session at the end of this year.