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In the session of the Education Commission of the Chamber of Deputies, the alternate executive vice president of the Council of Rectors, Darcy Fuenzalida, highlighted that the Executive collected the recommendations of the CRUCH in the initiative that modifies paragraph 5 of the transitory provisions of the Law No. 21.091.
He also stated that the success of the transformations will depend on the effectiveness with which the changes are implemented, in particular, that the actions are oriented and reflect the different institutional projects, that they respect institutional autonomy, that allow the full development of the institutions, and that are relevant to the needs of different educational contexts.
The alternate vice president of the Council of Rectors, Darcy Fuenzalida, presented the proposals of the body before the Education Commission of the Chamber of Deputies, which processes the project that modifies paragraph 5 of the transitory provisions of Law No. 21,091, on Education Superior, referring to the transformations of the Quality Assurance System.
In the session that took place this Monday, March 4 at the headquarters of the Congress in Santiago, the rector Fuenzalida highlighted that the Executive's bill includes the proposals contained in the document “Proposals and recommendations of the Council of Rectors for the Implementation of the Law No. 21,091 ”that were presented to the Mineduc in December of last year.
What the Executive proposes is to extend the term of approval and publication of the criteria and quality standards, from January 1, 2020 to September 30, 2020, together with extending the term for the application of the new criteria and standards to the accreditation processes initiated 24 months after its publication, which would imply that as of September 30, 2022, institutions would begin to be accredited with new criteria and quality standards.
On the other hand, it effectively grants validity to the processes initiated with private accreditation agencies; re-establishes the power of the National Council of Education (CNED) to resolve appeals of the accreditations of careers that are presented; and introduces a transitional period for the accreditation of doctoral programs.
It should be remembered that Law No. 21,091 introduces substantive changes to the quality assurance system, including a reform to the National Accreditation Commission (CNA); changes in the accreditation of undergraduate and graduate programs and careers; and modifications to institutional accreditation, establishing new criteria and standards, making it mandatory and modifying the evaluation of institutions based on levels and not on years; among other.
En la sesión de la Cámara de Diputados, que contó con la participación de la ministra de Educación, Marcela Cubillos, y el jefe de la División de Educación Superior del Mineduc, Juan Eduardo Vargas, también presentaron sus observaciones al proyecto el presidente del Consorcio de Universidades del Estado de Chile (CUECH), Ennio Vivaldi, y el vicepresidente de la Comisión Nacional de Acreditación, José Luis Martínez.
Additional considerations
Although the Government's bill contains the most urgent recommendations, the CRUCH insisted on the need to reformulate the Quality Assurance System, taking into account the deficiencies in its operation. The foregoing, considering that national specialists and international organizations, such as the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the International Network for Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher Education (INQAAHE), among others, have established critical nodes of the system and proposals to improve it.
On the other hand, the alternate vice president of the CRUCH and rector of the Technical University Federico Santa María expressed that the transformation should not only encompass the reconfiguration of the evaluation dimensions, but also a larger conceptual change that identifies what is understood by quality in higher education.
Finally, the rector Fuenzalida stated that the success of the transformations will depend on the effectiveness with which the changes are implemented, in particular, that the actions are oriented and reveal the different institutional projects, that respect institutional autonomy, that allow the full development of institutions, and that are relevant to the needs of different educational contexts.