The program for Improving the Quality and Equity of the Higher Education (MECESUP, in Spanish) is a policy instrument aimed at incorporating the tertiary education in the general process of education reform that began in the elementary and secondary levels. The general objective of the program is the improvement and consolidation of the higher education system. Also, it encourages its connection to the development of the country and its regions, within a framework of institutional autonomy, freedom of teaching and the adaptation of its answers to the requirements of the national development.
The general objectives
- Improvement of the under graduate, graduate and higher level technicians services.
- The generation of policies and instruments in a medium and long- term perspective.
- The connection to the regional and national development.
- Improvement of coordination and articulation.
- The consideration of internationalization.
The MECESUP program is financed jointly by the World Bank and the State of Chile through the creation of a Competitive Fund whose purpose is “To achieve central objectives of importance and quality, through projects of academic development, where the evaluation project is the expected improvement coherent with the strategic planning and not with the current levels of quality or institutional maturity. In these projects, the expected improvement of the teaching services and teaching-learning is the direct benefit of the students”.
Within the framework of the MECESUP objectives and according to the University’s strategic guidelines, stated in its Strategic Plan, the Institution has obtained eight projects to date; four of them are being executed and its results indicators clearly show their contribution to improving the quality of the University’s academic activity. During the current year, the execution of four projects obtained in the 2000 contest will be initiated.
In this site, a general description of each of these projects is presented: their general and specific objectives, a description of the main activities to be developed; for those projects already in progress the achievements and advances obtained during their operation are presented.
