• Dr. Juan Manuel Zolezzi, Vice President of the Council of Rectors of Chilean Universities (Cruch, in Spanish) and Universidad de Santiago’s highest authority, remarked that criticism of the government proposal to appoint an intervention agent when a university commits a serious infringement, “is not justified if the bill´s content is analyzed in a less ideological and more objective way.” He expressed these ideas while he was participating in a special session held by the Chamber of Deputies’ Education Commission, to which he was invited. On the occasion, Dr. Zolezzi reiterated that the proposal -though it addresses a limited aspect of the educational problem- is positive and it “intends to protect the students’ rights and to guarantee that they continue studying when their universities commit acts in breach of law.”

As Vice President of the Cruch, Universidad de Santiago’s President, Dr. Juan Manuel Zolezzi, was invited by the Chamber of Deputies’ Education Commission to a special session held on May 12th. On the occasion, he expressed the Cruch’s support to the bill that creates the entities of “Provisional Administrator” and “Institution Closure Administrator” for Higher Education institutions.

During the session, Dr. Zolezzi said that some of the criticisms of the proposal presented by the government a week ago were “disproportionate”, “expressed in an alarming tone” and “are not justified if the bill is analyzed in a less ideological and more objective way.”

In this context, the Cruch said that the bill did not violate the Constitution, as the concept of Provisional Administrator “has already been recognized by Law 20.529.”

Education as a fundamental right

Also, Dr. Juan Zolezzi belittled the complaints about an alleged violation of universities’ autonomy by the bill and said that “when a higher education institution has a financial and academic disaster that may risk the continuation and quality of its programs, the law cannot allow that institution to hide behind the concept of university autonomy.”

According to Dr. Zolezzi, “the State has the obligation to create mechanisms that effectively protect the right to education as a fundamental right for all people.”

“The closure of Universidad del Mar, which had 16,907 students, is a paradigmatic case of the institutional crisis and the lack of legal protection for students (…) Up to now, we do not know about the situation of more than 8,000 students who did not continue in that institution and were not able to relocate to other universities. What happened to Universidad del Mar could happen to other universities too,” he said.

He said that the Cruch thinks that “instead of threatening the Rule of Law, the bill strengthens and legitimizes it.”

“It is indeed a bill that addresses a limited aspect of the higher education problem,” he said, but he added that the Cruch valued “an approach that is a way forward to recognize the significance of the right to education, and to take responsibility for the State’s obligation to strengthen institutionality and to allow the effective enforcement of this fundamental right.”

For his part, Deputy Mario Venegas, President of the Chamber of Deputies’ Education Commission, highlighted the Cruch’s presentation and explanations given during the special session.

“President Zolezzi gave an excellent presentation that answered to most of the criticisms of the government bill that come from sectors with conflicts of interests,” he said.

“The Cruch clearly expressed that all these criticisms lack serious foundation, as these new action would be taken under exceptional circumstances. The Ministry (of Education) would be the most interested party in having a permanent respect for ethical norms, with a strict compliance of legal regulations regarding education in the country,” Deputy Venegas concluded.

Mitko Koljatic, President of the National Accreditation Commission (CNA, in Spanish); Claudio Elórtegui, representative of the G-9 Group of Universities; Carlos Peña, President of Universidad Diego Portales and representatives of Fundación Jaime Guzmán and Centro Libertad y Desarrollo were among the presenters at the special session held by the Lower House’s Education Commission.

Translated by Marcela Contreras
 

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