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In the framework of the commemoration of the institution's 65 years, its executive vice president, Aldo Valle, said that the Council of Rectors has been “a recognized interlocutor in public policies of higher education, before the Government and other types of interests and corporations ”.
"We must contribute to enrich the imagination that we need for the development of the country," said Aldo Valle, executive vice president of the Council of Rectors of Chilean Universities (CRUCH), in the act of commemoration of the 65 years of the creation of the collegiate body.
On the occasion, the also rector of the University of Valparaíso reviewed the trajectory of CRUCH and assured that “we have played a substantive and significant role as a recognized interlocutor in public policies of higher education, before the Government and other types of interests. other types of corporations ”.
In this context, Valle highlighted that during the last decade the CRUCH has contributed in different areas of higher education. He pointed out that as of 2012, it was defined to expand the participation of universities in the admission system, "resulting in 41 universities participating in the Single Admission System today."
He added that "also in these years we have joined causes and demands of national interest and the common good, such as providing the system with a new institutional framework, with a regulatory framework capable of guaranteeing the public faith and the social function of higher education, as well as how to equip it with new instruments for student financing, more inclusive and egalitarian in a society that still presents serious structural asymmetries ”.
The authority of the Council of Rectors also referred to Law No. 21,091 on Higher Education, highlighting that “beyond the will of its authors and the legislative or jurisdictional processes that influenced their designs, (and that we support in their great strokes), they left us more than one economic uncertainty ”.
In this area, Valle regretted that it has not yet been possible to reach a consensus with the political system on a response that allows solving these problems. “Our responsibility, more than prosecuting governments, is to persevere in the task of dissipating threats and giving sustainability to the development of the country's university system. It is not up to the CRUCH to join or oppose governments, but to make a permanent effort to enrich the options of the public hearing with the best reasons that hopefully always precede the political decision.
Future challenges
Regarding the next challenges of the Council, the executive vice president of CRUCH said that one of these is that the universities that make it up "play a more relevant role, not only in the training of professionals and in the development of scientific research, but also in the production of ideas for a more enlightened sphere of public deliberation, with more plurality and autonomy in intellectual approaches to various conflicts or problems ”.
Valle also stated that the Council should actively contribute to introducing substantive changes in the teaching processes and methods at all levels of the educational system; along with trying to strengthen the transversal presence of the humanities and civic virtues in the higher education curriculum. "And, with equal urgency, we need to move decisively to improve admission systems to higher education both in the university sector and in the professional technical field."
Commemorative act
CRUCH celebrated its anniversary with an academic event at the National Library, attended by the rectors of the U. Católica del Norte and president of the G-9 Network, Jorge Tabilo; from the U. de Playa Ancha and president of the Association of Regional Universities (AUR), Patricio Sanhueza; from the Metropolitan University of Education Sciences, Jaime Espinosa; from the U. Católica del Maule, Diego Durán, and from the U. Alberto Hurtado, Eduardo Silva.
The vice-rector for Academic Affairs of the University of Chile, Rosa Devés, the academic vice-rector of the University of Magallanes, José Maripan, and the counselor of the National Education Council (CNED), Cecilia Sepúlveda, among other representatives of houses also attended. of studies and institutions of higher education and students.
On the occasion, Elizabeth Lira, 2017 National Award for Humanities and Social Sciences and Dean of the Faculty of Psychology of the Alberto Hurtado University, offered the conference entitled “Education and Memory: what is the contribution of the Council of Rectors to the construction of a more inclusive society? ”.
Career and public role
The CRUCH was created on August 14, 1954 and its first session was held on December 28 of that year, in which the rectors of the U. de Chile, the Pontificia U. Católica de Chile, the Pontificia U. Católica de Valparaíso, the Federico Santa María Technical University, the Austral University of Chile and the State Technical University (UTE).
During its 65 years of experience, the Council has made important contributions to the university environment, such as the establishment of a system for selecting and admitting students to the universities that comprise it, through the creation of the University Selection Tests, a unique standardized test. in Latin America.
Additionally, the Council has made important contributions in the creation of laws related to higher education, such as the “Law on Quality Assurance of Higher Education” (Law No. 20,129), the generation of the “System of University Credit Solidarity Funds ”(Law Nº 19,287) and the Law of Higher Education (21,091)”.
