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The Council of Rectors' authority participated in the start of the discussion of the bill that seeks to postpone until 2024 the entry into force of this rule that governs for educational institutions affiliated with free tuition.
On that occasion, Rector Juan Manuel Zolezzi raised concerns related to the new process of setting regulated fees, following the decision of the Undersecretary of Higher Education to challenge the technical bases published by the previous administration.
“It is necessary to guarantee the effective participation of the institutions,” said the executive vice president of the Council of Rectors of Chilean Universities (CRUCH), Juan Manuel Zolezzi, who spoke this Wednesday at the Senate Education Committee.
The parliamentary committee began discussing the bill that modifies the effective date of regulated tuition fees, basic registration fees, and graduation fees. These fees are established in Title V of Law No. 21,091, on Higher Education, for institutional funding to ensure free tuition.
In his presentation delivered remotely, Rector Zolezzi highlighted that at the CRUCH session in May, held at the University of Valparaíso, The plenary session of university rectors agreed to accept the invitation from the Undersecretary of Higher Education, Verónica Figueroa, to participate in a new process for setting regulated fees., after the authority decided to challenge the technical bases prepared by the previous administration.
“We accepted this invitation, with the expectation that this process will be participatory, because the previous one was not, and that, on this occasion, the proposals of the universities will be effectively heard,” said Zolezzi, who is also rector of the University of Santiago.
Guarantees of participation and economic solvency
The bill aims to postpone until the 2024 academic year the entry into force of regulated fees, basic registration rights and charges for the purpose of degree or graduation for institutions attached to the Free Tuition program, which were initially supposed to be in effect from 2023.
Although the initiative under discussion is more limited, the executive vice president of CRUCH raised proposals and concerns from the Council regarding the new process for setting regulated tariffs.
Rector Zolezzi stated that “it is necessary to guarantee the effective participation of universities, because the Comptroller General of the Republic indicated that what had been done (in the previous administration) was not correct and we had not had full participation.”.
The university authority also recalled that Law No. 21,091 establishes that the procedure to be established to set the values of the fees must consider beforehand a consultation process with the higher education institutions and the student federations of the institutions attached to the free tuition.
On the other hand, he argued that the new mechanism should commit and consider greater resources and thus "avoid the increase in transfers for some institutions and the decrease in others, better known as a zero-sum game.".
Zolezzi argued that the procedure should promote solvency and guarantee minimum income for educational institutions, establishing a principle of non-detriment to higher education institutions, because since the law establishes a calculation based on historical costs, the regulated fees should not be reduced.
This is vital so that "the universities of the CRUCH and other institutions do not experience a decrease in transfers for tuition-free contributions.".
The executive vice president of the Council of Rectors added that “while the tuition-setting process is suspended, it is essential to consider options that support the financing of institutions.” He suggested that among the options that could be considered is requesting the repeal or modification of Article 108 and Transitory Articles 35 and 38 of Law 21.091.
Methodological concerns
Rector Zolezzi also raised concerns about methodological aspects related to the tuition-setting procedure. He explained that the mechanism adopted by the previous administration was based on a limited view of the funding system, excluding research, postgraduate studies, and community outreach costs from the teaching function.
“Today, teaching, research, and community engagement cannot be separated,” he said, adding that “undergraduate programs require other activities to be of high quality, such as research and community engagement, so these costs must be included in the calculation of regulated fees for their proper functioning.”.
The CRUCH authority also stated that the procedure established in the previous administration defined "costs linked to the infrastructure of the institutions was established in favor of the strategy of renting buildings over owning them.".
He added that "costs cannot be inferred solely from expenses because these do not necessarily reflect the cost of the material and human resources required to teach a particular course.".
Zolezzi warned that “the regulation of fees must provide certainty to the Higher Education System regarding the effects of the regulation of fees, certainty that has to do with what will happen to the institution in the short, medium and long term,” which is not possible with the current bases.
The rector of USACH also urged compliance with “the legal mandate regarding the grouping of careers by their cost structure and not based solely on their curricular structure, which was previously noted by the Comptroller's Office.”.
The session included the participation of the Undersecretary of Higher Education, Verónica Figueroa, the new president of the Consortium of State Universities (CUECH), the rector of the University of Valparaíso, Osvaldo Corrales; the president of the Network of Non-State Public Universities (G9), the rector of the University of Concepción, Carlos Saavedra; and the vice-rector of Economic Affairs and Institutional Management of the University of Chile, Heidi Berner.
Rector Zolezzi's address to the Senate Education Committee is available at this link.
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