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Marisol Durán and Elisa Araya participated in the CRUCH session, after assuming at the beginning of the month in the rectories of the U. Tecnológica Metropolitana and the U. Metropolitana de Ciencias de la Educación, respectively.
At its meeting today, the plenary session of rectors and rectors reviewed a diagnosis prepared by the Committee of Academic Vice-Rectors of CRUCH, which addressed the projections of the universities regarding the return to presence.
This Thursday the rectors of the U. Tecnológica Metropolitana (UTEM), Marisol Durán Santis, and of the U. Metropolitana de Ciencias de la Educación (UMCE), Elisa Araya Cortez, participated in their first plenary session of the Council of Rectors of the Universities Chilenas (CRUCH), developed electronically.
The instance, corresponding to ordinary session No. 625, was headed by the alternate executive vice president of CRUCH, the rector of the Pontifical Catholic University (PUC), Ignacio Sánchez.
In her first speech at the plenary session, Rector Durán assured that "it is an honor to join this collegiate body." She added that "I am incorporated after an election process in my academic community and I am proud to have been endorsed by an important group of academics who believed in me."
For her part, the rector Araya said that "I am very happy to participate in this instance, which has a great social value and therefore has a great responsibility as well." He also assured that "I represent an institution that has a specificity, which is the training of teachers and we are very interested in discussing the fundamental role of public education in what can be projected on education in the new constitution."
Marisol Durán is a food engineer from the University of La Serena and a master's degree in Food Technology from the University of Chile, with a professional career of more than 28 years. In 1994 she joined the UTEM and since then she has held various positions, such as academic and director of the Department of Biotechnology, director of the Center for the Development of Agroindustrial Technology and Academic Vice Chancellor.
Elisa Araya is a Physical Education teacher, psychomotor, and a PhD in Educational Sciences, with training in Pikler Pedagogy. She developed and delivered a training program for directors and supervisors in integration pedagogy (based on a competency curriculum) in the Republic of Angola, between 2009 and 2013. She was director of the After-School Education Department of the Chilean Ministry of Education (2004 -2007) and has advised various state agencies. Since April 2019 she was director of the Department of Physical Education, Sports and Recreation of the UMCE.
Diagnosis on teaching in pandemic
In this Thursday's session, the plenary session of rectors and rectors analyzed the situation of the CRUCH universities in this scenario, based on a document that addressed experience and recommendations for the return to presence in the institutions, prepared by the Commission of Academic Vice-Rectors (COVRA) of the Council.
The document was presented by David Figueroa, academic vice-rector of the Catholic University of Temuco and president of COVRA, who highlighted that, in the context of the Coronavirus health crisis, between 2020 and 2021, the instance developed guidelines to address teaching to emergency distance, and implement conditions for a safe return.
These guidelines and the autonomous work of the universities made it possible to approach the 2020 academic year efficiently, safeguarding the quality of training through an important transformation in the way of developing teaching and the implementation of educational innovations to ensure the learning committed in the plans. and programs for each of the races.
Meanwhile, for this year, COVRA conducted a survey between July 12 and 21, to the Academic Vice-Rectors and their teams, to find out how the CRUCH houses of studies have faced the pandemic and how they project the second semester of 2021.
The survey was answered by 25 institutions and in general terms, during 2021 the main obstacles that teaching has faced in universities has been the learning evaluation process (45.8%), access to the Internet connection (20.8% ) and the adjustment to the instructional design of the subjects (12.5%).
On the other hand, the 48% of those who participated in the survey consider that first and second year students are the ones who have been most affected by the pandemic; while the 36% estimates that the most affected have been those who are in the fifth year of their degree or higher.
Regarding teaching, the 80% of the classes has been developed online, the 14% has been face-to-face and the 4% in hybrid mode.
Projections for the return to face-to-face
In relation to the projections for the second semester, the diagnosis prepared by COVRA determined that the 64% of the institutions that participated in the survey intend to develop hybrid teaching; the 16% will do it virtually; the 6% will do it in person and a 16% had not made a decision on the matter.
Meanwhile, the 28% of the institutions will prioritize the face-to-face return of students of all levels; 16% will prioritize first and second year students; while an equal percentage of universities will prioritize students in fifth year and higher courses. On the other hand, the 84% of the houses of studies will concentrate efforts on academic activities.
Regarding the internal facilitators for face-to-face treatment, the universities consider as such health protocols, technology for hybrid teaching and coordination at the managerial level, mainly. Regarding external facilitators, there are practice centers, clinical campuses, and regional ministries of Health and Health services.
Regarding the main internal or external limitations that the institutions warn for the face-to-face return, the institutions point out the capacity, fear and uncertainty that the pandemic implies and the difficulties of displacement that students from rural areas or from other regions have .
In the session, Roberto González, a doctor in Social and Academic Psychology from the Catholic University, also spoke about the challenges posed by the pandemic when returning to face-to-face classes in the higher education system.
On the other hand, the rectors and rectors reviewed a report on the Resolution for the Determination of Vacancies - provided by Law No. 21,091 on Higher Education - prepared by the Economic Commission of CRUCH.
Likewise, the plenary also had the participation of the Undersecretary of Higher Education, Juan Eduardo Vargas, and the national director of the National Agency for Research and Development (ANID), Aisén Etcheverry, who spoke about the progress in the installation process of the National Infrastructure for Access to Scientific Information.
Durán rector photography source: UTEM.
Araya governing photography source: UMCE.
