Committee of Academic Vice-Rectors
Inclusion, good practices, academic integrity, artificial intelligence, contribution to the country's public policy and contingencies, are the six primary lines of action approved by the Commission in the second plenary session of 2023, which took place at the UCSC on October 12 and 13.
During the session, a new steering committee was chosen for the next two years, and topics related to changes in institutional accreditation guidelines, self-evaluation and peer visits, inclusion, academic integrity, and the responsibility of universities in integrating artificial intelligence and training professionals were discussed.
On October 12 and 13, the second annual plenary session of the Commission of Academic Vice-Rectors (CoVRA) was held at the Catholic University of the Most Holy Conception (UCSC). Authorities from universities belonging to the Council of Rectors of Chilean Universities (CRUCH) participated, electing a new steering committee and approving the strategic guidelines for the 2023-2025 period.
The new board was made up of the academic vice-rectors of the Catholic University of the Most Holy Conception (UCSC), María Graciela Badilla; of the Metropolitan Technological University (UTEM), Sandra Gaete; of the University of O'Higgins (UOH), Carlos Pérez; of the University of La Serena (ULS), Alejandra Torrejón; of the Catholic University of Temuco (UCT), David Figueroa; and presided over by Nelson Fernández of the Catholic University of the North (UCN).
On this occasion, six primary lines of action proposed by the new steering committee were also approved, which consider the themes of inclusion, good practices, academic integrity, artificial intelligence, contribution to the country's public policy and contingencies.
“As a committee, we have set ourselves challenges that complement the work plan and that will address the issues of inclusion, which we believe is a tremendous national challenge; academic integrity, which is a cross-cutting exercise that we have to develop at the system level because it involves cultural changes; good practices, so that we can share not only what we do here in Chile, but also abroad (…) and clearly the challenge of being able to work together, making ourselves available to this project, to generate joint synergies, thinking about how this space will contribute to the CRUCH and to the development of public policy,” said Nelson Fernández.
For his part, David Figueroa, Academic Vice-Rector of the University of Temuco (UCT) and President of CoVRA between 2021 and 2023, indicated that “the current board and Vice-Rector Fernández’s presidency already face challenges, but on the basis of an active, present CoVRA, very willing to collaborate among universities (…) these challenges have to do with the profile of the incoming students. This implies once again addressing all our support programs, how the curriculum is flexible in this regard, and the co-evolution of the academic staff (…) and ensuring the quality of the education we are providing is another challenge.”.
Regarding the achievements of the previous administration, Figueroa highlighted the activation of the commission in the complex context of the pandemic, to ensure the continuity of teaching during the emergency and then address the conditions for the return to in-person classes. “Thanks to the commission of academic vice-rectors, we were able to provide clear and specific guidelines for all universities to address the major problems of the pandemic and the implementation of emergency online teaching (…) then the return to in-person classes was an issue we had to work on very hard, often against the wishes of the students and faculty themselves,” noted the academic vice-rector of UCT.
The event also included the participation of the rector of the Alberto Hurtado University, Eduardo Silva, who is in charge of the Commission, and an initial greeting from the rector of the UCSC, Christian Mellado, who highlighted and valued the collaborative work carried out in these activities among the CRUCH universities.
Institutional Accreditation
The first topic addressed by the plenary session was on good practices in institutional accreditation, which included presentations by: Carlos Medrano Soto, Director General of Quality Assurance at Diego Portales University, who spoke about his institution's experience with the new evaluation framework; Paulina Rincón, Academic Vice-Rector of the University of Concepción, who shared her experience with self-evaluation and peer visits; and Erika Castillo, Vice-President of the National Accreditation Commission (CNA), who spoke about the new criteria and standards.
David Figueroa, academic vice-rector of UCT, pointed out that “uncertainty always arises when faced with something new. In this sense, there are many questions related to how this new process will be implemented, the changes, the criteria, the rigor of the peer evaluators' interpretation, and, in short, a series of qualitative elements that are important to discuss and bring to other forums.”.
In this context, the plenary session of academic vice-rectors agreed that a survey will be carried out by the commission regarding opportunities for improvement to the institutional accreditation process.
Principle of Inclusion for University Libraries
Another topic discussed during the day was Principle XII of inclusion, which was approved to be included among the fundamental principles for the standards of Chilean university libraries.
Karen Jara, president of the CRUCH Libraries Commission (CABID) and director of libraries at the University of Concepción (UdeC), explained that under this principle it is declared that “the university library contributes to an integral inclusion of its university community, through actions aimed at providing equitable access to its spaces, information resources, services and tools that contribute to academic progress, research and learning.”.
This principle is structured under four sub-principles: valuing the inherent richness of people's diversity and developing a model of inclusive social behavior; contributing to the inclusion, diversity, and equality of opportunities and conditions of its university community, providing information resources and services effectively and equitably; promoting alliances, projects, collaborative work, and institutional initiatives; and enhancing the continuous professional development of its entire work team, with an emphasis on diversity, tolerance, inclusion, respect, and pluralism.
Academic Integrity and Artificial Intelligence
Finally, another key theme of the day was academic integrity, which was addressed by the academic vice-rector of the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile (UC), Fernando Purcell., The UC director of teaching, Gonzalo Pizarro, spoke about the challenge that this implies in the training of students.
On this occasion, academics from the Catholic University of the Holy Conception (UCSC) and the University of Concepción (UdeC), Pedro Rossel and Guillermo Cabrera, also gave presentations, speaking about the responsibility of universities in the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the training of professionals and scientists at the national level.
Experts emphasized that while AI enables new forms of interaction, helps educators address variability in student learning, supports forms of adaptability, and improves feedback loops, it also increases existing risks and introduces new risks to consider, such as data privacy, security, and discrimination.
“We must consider that AI is the new electricity, that technological advances happen very quickly and in a very short time, that there is high AI competitiveness worldwide, in addition to the (dis)incentives to do research in AI in Chile (…) we need to attract and train advanced human capital and government-university-industry alliances,” the academics stated in their presentation.
Regarding academic integrity and the use of artificial intelligence in education, María Graciela Badilla, academic vice-rector of the UCSC and part of the new board of the commission, indicated that "these are areas of special relevance and interest for Chilean universities, cross-cutting issues present in our analysis and addressed in the plenary session.".
Main source: Catholic University of the Holy Conception.
Text editing: CRUCH Communications.
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