• On February 28th, the University’s President submitted the statutory documents to Paula Beale, the Executive Secretary of the National Accreditation Commission. The dossier was delivered previous to the Institutional Self-Evaluation Report, which will be submitted by the end of this month, to subsequently have the visit of the external peer reviewers. President Zolezzi invited the University’s community to face this process with the maximum commitment and to stress our University’s strengths, both quantitatively and in terms of values.

On February 28th, President Juan Manuel Zolezzi arrived into the National Accreditation Commission (CNA, in Spanish) offices to submit to Paula Beale, its Executive Secretary, the documents included in the “institutional file” of our University.

Submitting the dossier is the starting point for the process through which our University seeks to renew the institutional accreditation, which is valid until October, for the maximum period of seven years.

“That is what I expect and many people at the University expect it too. We do not see any obstacles to proudly consider that possibility,” President Zolezzi said.

President Zolezzi invited the University’s community to participate in the process and to wait for the visit of the external peer reviewers that could be scheduled for the beginning of the second term. “No matter what the circumstances may be, the University’s community spirit should be the best and we would expect that the academics, the administrative staff and the students consider the University as a priority,” he said.

“We are entering the last stretch (of the process); there is no way back. We have been working for a while and the deadlines have been met,” he added. The goal is to focus the efforts “for the University to be the best institution possible.”

The institutional file contains a letter of introduction by the University’s President, the University’s Strategic Plan, the balances of assets and liabilities for the past three years and the organization chart, besides basic statutory definitions regarding the Institution’s statute, the way of appointing the University’s President, the University’s constitution and several productivity indicators regarding the number of students and academics and the proportion between them.

The purpose of all this quantitative information is to offer a picture of the different dimensions of Universidad de Santiago. The next step is the submission of the Self-Evaluation Report, on March 28th, so that the CNA calls the external peer reviewers that will visit our University.

The time for the visit

Although 2013 was marked by the institutional work towards renewing the accreditation, this year there will be an election process at the University: something that could affect the peer reviewers’ visit.

“We think that elections days are not a good time for the visit of peer reviewers. And in case that we have a new President and new authorities, we think that a visit after those changes is not optimum either. Therefore, the best time would be July-August this year. We have pointed out this situation and I think that the CNA will take it into consideration, due to the changes in the University’s environment,” President Zolezzi said.

Strengths of our Institution

President Zolezzi explained that, even though it is still necessary to fix some details of the Self-Evaluation Report, there are important strengths that should be stressed, like the University’s social commitment, and in this regard, the defense of public education that defines Universidad de Santiago’s spirit through its institutional management. He also highlighted the University’s competitiveness in the field of research, particularly in innovation and patenting, and in the area of outreach and engagement, “in which, for example, our radio station has shared the University’s way of feeling with the community that listens to it,” he said.

President Zolezzi concluded by emphasizing the University’s performance regarding our undergraduate and graduate programs, considering that the students of our Institution graduate in a reasonable time and become part of the world of work a few months after graduating, getting paid accordingly. “This is an example of the design and the product that the University is developing, including all our support to students, not only from the technocratic point of view but also from the human one, what allows us to say that we will have positive data regarding this aspects.”

Translated by Marcela Contreras