CRUCH's 2024 work agenda will be marked by the commemoration of its 70 years of history

As part of the anniversary of the Council of Rectors of Chilean Universities (CRUCH), which will be celebrated on August 14, various activities will be carried out throughout the year.

At the first meeting of the CRUCH Executive Committee this year, the Rector of the University of the Andes, José Antonio Guzmán, was welcomed as a new member. The plenary session will be held on March 21 at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile.

With the first meeting of the Executive Committee of the Council of Rectors of Chilean Universities (CRUCH), on March 4, the 2024 work agenda was launched, a year that will be marked by the commemoration of the Council's 70th anniversary.

The Secretary General of CRUCH, Angélica Bosch, stated that “to highlight the institution’s current work and future challenges, as well as to emphasize its history, we are preparing a diverse agenda of activities to be held throughout the year, including seminars, talks, discussions, the redesign of our website, and more. This entire agenda will be shared through our website and social media.”.

The first activity on the agenda was the workshop “Challenges of Higher Education,” held in January at the University of Tarapacá in Arica. A second milestone will take place at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile on March 21, when the report “Teaching Changes Lives: CRUCH Proposals for Strengthening Initial and Continuing Teacher Training in Universities and the Education System,” prepared by the Council's Commission for Strengthening Pedagogies, will be presented to the Minister of Education.

New member of the Executive Committee

The first 2024 session of the Executive Committee was held on March 4th, during which the topics for the upcoming CRUCH plenary session were discussed, and a new member was welcomed: Rector José Antonio Guzmán of the University of Los Andes. He represents the three universities that joined CRUCH under Law 21.091 (the other two being Diego Portales University and Alberto Hurtado University). Rector Guzmán will replace former Rector Eduardo Silva of Alberto Hurtado University, whose term recently ended.

It is worth mentioning that the Executive Committee is currently led by the rector of the University of Tarapacá, Emilio Rodríguez, in the position of executive vice president; and by the rector of the Austral University of Chile, Hans Richter, as alternate executive vice president.

In addition, the following individuals are part of this body: Osvaldo Corrales, president of the Consortium of State Universities of Chile (CUECH) and rector of the University of Valparaíso; Cristhian Mellado, president of the Network of Non-State Public Universities (G9) and rector of the Catholic University of the Holy Conception; and Rodrigo Alda, president of the Association of Regional Universities (AUR) and rector of the Catholic University of the North. Also participating are Eduardo Hebel, rector of the University of La Frontera, representing CUECH; and Carlos Saavedra, rector of the University of Concepción, representing G9.

Regarding the 10 plenary sessions scheduled for the period, the new development is that three will be held virtually, in May, July, and September. The other sessions will be hosted by the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile (March); the University of Magallanes (April); Diego Portales University (June); the University of Chile (August); Federico Santa María Technical University (October); the University of Concepción (November); and the University of Tarapacá (January 2025).