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The Executive Vice President of the Council, Emilio Rodríguez, and the Rector in charge of the Economic Commission, Carlos Torres, presented before the Fourth Joint Budget Subcommittee.
At the meeting, the university rectors proposed seven measures, including maintaining and expanding the use of surplus funds from the University Credit Solidarity Fund; restoring the Institutional Development and University Strengthening Funds; and strengthening the Regional Higher Education Fund.
Appealing to the will of political actors, the Council of Rectors of Chilean Universities (CRUCH), Emilio Rodríguez, put forward seven proposals for the 2023 Budget bill, which seek to guarantee the sustainability of the institutions.
The measures were announced at the Fourth Joint Budget Subcommittee, which reviewed the Ministry of Education's budget items this Wednesday.
Speaking from Valdivia, where the CRUCH's October session will be held tomorrow, CRUCH Executive Vice President Emilio Rodríguez highlighted the contributions of the Council's 30 member universities. “Our universities are featured in international rankings, are among the best institutions in Latin America, and the productivity of our scientific community is among the highest on the continent. Research and undergraduate education are highly valued, as is postgraduate studies, but to sustain this development, the institutions require resources.”.
Rodríguez asserted that there is awareness regarding the economic difficulties facing the country, so several of the proposals "imply political will and not necessarily more resources.".
For his part, Carlos Torres (University of Talca), the rector in charge of the CRUCH Economic Commission, explained that the situation of universities was affected by the health crisis. “This leads us to certain problems that we see deepening today, such as the emergency expenses and postponement of investments during the pandemic that we now need to recover,” he stated.
Torres also highlighted the financial difficulties that schools have had to face due to the application of articles 108, and 35 and 38 of Law No. 21,091, related to the benefit of free education.
Use of the FSCU
One of these measures is the maintenance and expansion of the use of surpluses from the University Credit Solidarity Fund (FSCU), applied in recent years due to the Covid-19 health crisis.
The rector of the University of Tarapacá assured that this does not imply any expenses for the State and "it is simply a matter of authorizing universities to use these resources. This is more a matter of political will.".
Specifically, the Council requests the use of the 50% from the FSCU surpluses of 2022, to finance the obligations associated with students benefiting from Free Tuition and which exceed up to one year of the formal duration of their studies (Article 108 of Law No. 21,091).
It is also proposed to use the 50% of the surpluses accumulated up to 2021 to cover the expenses associated with the aforementioned article, in addition to covering costs related to actions to safeguard the mental health of university communities, the implementation of Law No. 21,369, infrastructure and equipment for quality and deficits derived from the postponement of the implementation of the regulated fees.
Restoration of resources and support to state schools
Another proposal from CRUCH focuses on the restitution of the Institutional Development and University Strengthening Funds of Article 1 of DFL (Ed.) No. 4 of 1981, which were reduced to $0 in 2021.
Rodríguez emphasized that these are “resources that until a couple of years ago were allocated to the G9 universities, which are universities belonging to the Council of Rectors and which, although not state-run, have a public vocation absolutely demonstrated throughout their history and are truly very important for the development of the country.”.
On the other hand, regarding state universities, it is again proposed to postpone the entry into force of Article 48 of Law No. 21,094. "It is not something that means additional resources, but rather a matter of political will," explained the executive vice president of CRUCH.
The CRUCH also supported another aspiration of the state schools: to have tools that allow access to long-term debt with a state guarantee.
“There are institutions that are paying a significant amount of resources to factoring, which means they have to pay interest, when they could reschedule those debts in the long term,” Rodríguez said, assuring that this guarantee “which also does not require additional resources, it must be said clearly.”.
Resources for regional universities
Rector Rodríguez also stated that it is necessary to increase resources for regional universities by strengthening the Regional Higher Education Fund, given the higher costs assumed by the institutions in the context of the pandemic.
“This fund has a purely symbolic value; it's 10 billion pesos for 22 institutions. So, understanding that we must take gradual steps, we believe we could reach 14425 billion pesos within 3 years,” he stated.
It also proposes state financing instruments and resource transfers to cover the zone allowance that benefits officials of state schools, in order to equalize the payment method of the Extreme Zones Bonus with the rest of the public sector.
On the other hand, it is proposed to readjust the funds of the Direct Fiscal Contribution and other basic funds/agreements in a percentage equivalent to the CPI.
Adjustments to the free tuition policy
Likewise, CRUCH raised the need to modify article 108 of Law No. 21,091, so that the State assumes the financing of 50% of the value of the regulated fee and basic registration rights of students with free tuition who exceed up to one year the formal duration of the careers.
Regarding transitional articles 35 and 38, it is proposed to modify the readjustability of both rules and limit the gap between the growth rate of costs in universities and inflation.
Finally, Rector Rodríguez highlighted that the Council's proposals "are in dialogue with and coincide with the proposals being made by the other associations," referring to the demands in this area from the Consortium of State Universities of Chile (CUECH), the Network of Non-State Public Universities (G9), and the Association of Regional Universities (AUR).
The session of the Fourth Joint Budget Subcommittee is available here.
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