The CRUCH Admissions and Enrollment Committee analyzes admissions for 2026 and makes progress in its work plan

During the meeting, held at the Santiago campus of the University of Los Lagos, discussions were also held on the new Grade Ranking system, which will begin in the 2028 admissions process, the CRUCH Youth Participation and Leadership quota initiative, and the members for the subcommittees of the Technical Access Committee of the Undersecretariat of Higher Education were defined.

With the aim of strengthening the processes of access to higher education and ensuring an informed transition for students, the Admission and Enrollment Commission of the Council of Rectors of Chilean Universities (CRUCH) held its first face-to-face plenary meeting on April 29.

The meeting, which took place at the Santiago campus of the University of Los Lagos, was attended by representatives from 29 of the 30 CRUCH universities, who analyzed the results of the 2026 admissions and discussed the changes and challenges for the coming years in terms of admissions and enrollment.

Ruth Candia, president of the Admissions and Enrollment Commission and Director of Academic Records at the University of La Frontera, highlighted the importance of this face-to-face meeting, emphasizing that "what we as CRUCH want to do is always be collaborators of the system (...) our role is to provide all possible information so that our rectors and rectors can make informed decisions in a process that marks the life of a student, but that is also very strategic for our institutions.".

For her part, the Secretary General of CRUCH, María Angélica Bosch, highlighted the work of the Commission with other organizations, such as the Technical Committee for Access of the Undersecretariat of Higher Education, with whom they met the day before the plenary session, and the Department of Educational Evaluation, Measurement and Registration (DEMRE), which was invited to speak about the new ranking.

“It is very important that these instances are like this, shared with the entire Commission, because that way common doubts arise, conversations are possible, and we can start thinking about what comes next,” Bosch said.

New Ranking

One of the central topics of the day was presented by the head of the Area, Analysis and Data Management of DEMRE, María Inés Godoy, who spoke about the new Grade Ranking system, which will begin to fully govern in the 2028 admission process.

This adjustment seeks to more accurately measure the relative position of each student within their educational context, eliminating socioeconomic distortions and valuing the student's historical academic performance in comparison with the last three generations of their institution.

In this regard, Ruth Candia sent a message of reassurance to families and students: “We want all potential applicants to rest assured that, as universities, we will be prepared to guide them in everything (…) so that their admission process and transition from secondary education is as easy as possible and that they make an informed decision for their professional future.”.

CRUCH Quota for Youth Participation and Leadership

Another topic addressed was the CRUCH quota for Youth Participation and Leadership, an initiative generated jointly with the Undersecretariat for Children, approved by the rectors of CRUCH in the plenary session of January of this year, and which would begin to govern from the 2027 admission.

At the meeting, Angélica Bosch presented the details and proposed implementation of the quota, which is voluntary for CRUCH universities. “As Secretary General, we participated by presenting the plenary agreement regarding this new special admissions pathway (…) which aims to recognize these trajectories of participation and leadership. So we are all very pleased and hope this can be implemented soon and in the most timely manner,” she stated.

In this regard, the Commission's president, Ruth Candia, highlighted that "the issue of commitment to the territory has been emphasized, how we are more inclusive in access, highlighting the leadership capabilities of high school students in recent years.".

Finally, the Commission agreed to meet monthly and defined the members for the four subcommittees of the Technical Committee for Access of the Undersecretariat of Higher Education: transition and preparation, processes and instruments, coordination and communication of the system, and information and studies.

“What we want is to organize ourselves so that these four subcommittees, which will work under the new guidelines of the Undersecretariat of Higher Education, are fully representative of the heterogeneity of our institutions. And we will also be working on this hand in hand with Rector Momberg (Catholic University of Temuco), who coordinates us as a committee and who will now also be part of the Technical Access Committee where the decisions are made,” Candia stated.

Text and photos: CRUCH Communications