Commission for Links with the Environment
The seminar "Integrated Diagnosis of Community Engagement in CRUCH Universities: Findings and Best Practices," held at the University of Concepción, provided an opportunity to share the main results from the Council's 30 member universities. The event included expert panels where best practices and strategies for strengthening governance and evaluation systems in this area were shared. Available at [link to seminar]. CRUCH YouTube channel.
Furthermore, the board for the 2026-2028 term was formalized, to be headed by Claudia García, Vice-Rector for Community Engagement at UTEM. The new authorities defined as priority challenges the analysis of the gaps identified in the diagnostic assessment and the mainstreaming of community engagement across research, innovation, and teaching. UCSC and UBB also hosted the working sessions of the CRUCH Community Engagement Commission.
The Community Engagement Commission (VcM) of the Council of Rectors of Chilean Universities (CRUCH) organized the seminar "Integrated Diagnosis on Community Engagement in CRUCH Universities. Findings and Best Practices" this Wednesday, December 3, at the University of Concepción. The objective was to present the main results of the report of the same name, which characterizes the management, administration, and contribution models of community engagement in the thirty universities that are part of CRUCH.
The event was inaugurated by the Rector of the University of Concepción (UdeC), Carlos Saavedra, who is also the rector in charge of the commission. The authority pointed out that the Council has a set of commissions that carry out specific tasks in different areas and highlighted that the Community Engagement Commission, despite being recently created (in May 2023), is one of the most active in terms of progress and systematization, especially in understanding how this strategic area of the universities' mission has evolved.
“There are challenges arising from the changes in the National Quality Assurance System and the incorporation of community engagement into Institutional Accreditation for all universities.» He added that «the work carried out by this Commission is essential for this systematization, for this holistic view of our universities” work in the area of community engagement and how it relates to the other core missions and areas of institutional support. Therefore, it is an enormous contribution, and we are very happy to host a portion of the work from these workshops at our university,” stated Rector Saavedra.
Meanwhile, the Ximena Gauché, president of the CRUCH Commission on VcM and vice-rector of Institutional Relations and Community Engagement at UdeC, presented the most relevant aspects of the report «"Integrated Diagnosis of Community Engagement in CRUCH Universities: Models, Strategies, and Best Practices for Institutional Strengthening"», which was developed from an instrument that was applied during the first four months of 2025 to the 30 universities and “allowed us to reach the nine categories that the instrument has, which range from policies, models, the organic structure to identifying incentives, identifying good practices in linking with the environment in matters of governance, measurement, contribution, reporting.”. See related news.
The vice-rector explained that the report "contains a systematic overview of the general state of community engagement at the 30 universities of the CRUCH (Council of Rectors of Chilean Universities). To this end, the diagnostic tool was developed based on two sources: firstly, information compiled from the websites of the CRUCH member institutions, and secondly, a self-administered instrument developed by a methodological team from the universities of Concepción, Católica de Temuco, and Valparaíso, with additional input from the Federico Santa María University.".
Watch the full seminar at the CRUCH YouTube channel.
Exchange of experiences and best practices
The seminar continued with two panels focused on good practices in community engagement from different universities.
In the first panel, the experiences of four universities were presented: Francisca Barros, representing the Pontifical Catholic University (UC), presented the "UC Community Engagement Strategy Project"; Guillermo D'Elía, from the Austral University of Chile (UACH), shared the "New Community Engagement Policy"; Fabián Retamal, from the University of Chile (UChile), shared the "Extension Activities Feedback Strategy"; and Enrique Riquelme, from the Catholic University of Temuco (UCT), referred to the "UCT's Community Engagement Experience with the Pedro de Valdivia Sector of Temuco".
In the second panel, the representative of the Alberto Hurtado University (UAH), Joaquín Cortés, participated with the presentation "New software for registering community engagement activities"; from the Pontifical Catholic University of Valparaíso (PUCV), Jaqueline Páez, with "Development of the contribution evaluation system: methodology"; and from the Catholic University of the Most Holy Conception (UCSC), Andrés Varela, commented on the "Three 60° contribution evaluation system".
The first panel was moderated by Daniela Bass Le-Fort, head of the Linkage Assurance Department at the University of Talca (UTalca), while the second panel was led by Sebastián Pérez Bannen, one of the directors of the CRUCH VcM Commission and director of Linkage with the Environment at the Diego Portales University (UDP).
New directive 2026-2028
On Wednesday afternoon, the VcM commission met at the Catholic University of the Holy Conception (UCSC), where it held a discussion panel on "Experiences of recent accreditations with new criteria," moderated by Enrique Riquelme, who is also one of the directors of the CRUCH VcM Commission and Vice-Rector of Community Engagement and Public Commitment at the Catholic University of Temuco (UCT).
On Thursday, December 4, the commission continued its work at the University of Bío Bío (UBB), where the new board for the 2026-2028 period was formalized and the priority lines for the management of the next two years were agreed upon.
The The new president of the commission is Claudia García, Vice-Rector of Community Engagement at the Metropolitan Technological University (UTEM).; The vice president is Enrique Riquelme, Vice-Rector of Outreach and Public Engagement at the Catholic University of Temuco; the director of the Northern Zone is Alexis Rojas, Director of Outreach and Communications at the University of Atacama; the director of the Central Zone is Sebastián Pérez Bannen, Director of Community Engagement at Diego Portales University; and the director of the Southern Zone is Andrés Varela, Vice-Rector of Community Engagement at the Catholic University of the Most Holy Conception.
The new president expressed her gratitude for the appointment and acknowledged the progress made by the previous management team. Along with highlighting the importance of the integrated diagnostic report, she mentioned the «"Glossary of strategic terms for the university mission of Community Engagement of CRUCH Universities"».
“In the integrated diagnosis, as we were able to see, we know that community engagement is quite heterogeneous in terms of governance, results, structures, and even focus. Therefore, we believe that the diversity of community engagement is also a strength. Each university, in a specific territory, engages with its preferred stakeholders by adapting or aligning its institutional development plans, and they always share the common focus that community engagement is an essential and cross-cutting function across all mission functions,” said Claudia García.
Regarding future plans, he stated, “I believe the major challenge now is to thoroughly analyze this integrated assessment, identify common gaps, and discuss them with the management team, because we were recently elected and are still in the process of forming the leadership. In my opinion, one of the biggest challenges is mainstreaming community engagement, not only into teaching, but also how we contribute to ensuring that research, innovation, entrepreneurship, and creative work are also relevant, because I believe community engagement is what gives the university its relevance.”.
Vice-Rector Ximena Gauché, while thanking the teams from the host universities for their collaborative work, positively valued the commission's agreement to meet in person at least once a year. She noted that these in-person working sessions "help strengthen ties and provide spaces that foster the exchange of ideas and reflections on the role of universities in their communities." Finally, she thanked her colleagues for their support in electing her in 2023 to lead this first term of the commission and emphasized the learning and rigorous work undertaken to contribute, as a commission, to the functions and decisions of the Council of Rectors.
As part of the visit of the members of the CRUCH Community Engagement Commission to the city of Concepción, a tribute concert to Concepción rock music was offered at the UCSC with musicians from the UCSC's own groups and from the universities of Concepción and Bio Bío.
Text: CRUCH Communications and UdeC Community Engagement
Photographs: Communications and Community Engagement Office, UdeC
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