• Damian Clarke, Associate Professor at the Faculty of Administration and Economics of Universidad de Santiago de Chile, together with Sonia Bhalotra, Professor of Economics at the University of Essex, conducted a study that relates maternal mortality to education.

In 2015, the World Health Organization estimated that 830 women died every day at childbirth. These numbers could have been prevented with timely access to contraceptive methods and obstetric care, as a result of the policies established by the Millennium Development Goal (MDGs) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The goal was to reduce maternal mortality by at least 75% over a 30-year-period. In spite of the progress in this field, the MDG was not achieved; therefore, implementing new policies is urgently required.

In view of this situation, Damian Clark, PhD in Economics from the University of Oxford and Associate Professor at the Faculty of Administration and Economics of Universidad de Santiago, together with Sonia Bhalotra, Professor of Economics at the University of Essex, decided to study the reduction of maternal mortality caused by education. They conducted the study “Maternal mortality and Education,” in which they established an empirical relation between both factors.

The World Institute Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER), in Helsinki, prepared a video that summarizes this important study in order to disseminate it worldwide through different media. 

UNU-WIDER is a unique blend of think tank, research institute, and UN agency that provides a range of services from policy advice to governments as well as freely available original research coordinated by a core group of resident and non-resident researchers and undertaken by a global network of collaborators.

The study

In the study, the researchers suggest that together with the typical policies of birth attendance, prenatal care and the status of health services, an increase in the level of education of women reduces the probability of dying at childbirth.

“Policy papers on maternal mortality rarely suggest the lack of education as a cause for maternal mortality. Academic and public policy literature has little to say about this issue. But in Economics, there is living literature that documents a positive correlation between education and other health indicators,” Clarke says.

They analyzed cases in countries like Kenya, Nepal and Cameroon and considering the question why education reduces maternal mortality? they found that women who have received education are more likely to avoid pregnancy complications like pre-eclampsia, bleeding and infections by adopting simple and low-cost practices to maintain hygiene, reacting to symptoms like bleeding or high blood pressure and having qualified birth attendance.

Besides, women with more education are more likely to use public health services, they have delivered their children at an older age (not during adolescence) and have had less children.

These results suggest that the levels of education attained by women in any country have significant effects on maternal mortality rates.

Translated by Marcela Contreras

• Richard Yelland, Head of the Policy Advice and Implementation Division in the Directorate for Education and Skills at the OECD, met with different members of Universidad de Santiago’s community, authorities and President Juan Manuel Zolezzi Cid.

​

Richard Yelland, Head of the Policy Advice and Implementation Division in the Directorate for Education and Skills at the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), met with different members of Universidad de Santiago’s community, authorities and President Juan Manuel Zolezzi Cid.

The purpose of the meeting was to discuss different matters in the context of the study “Reviews of National Policies for Education” that seeks to identify changes in the Chilean education system since 2004. The study was requested by the Chilean Ministry of Education (Mineduc, in Spanish).

“I am glad that he came to Universidad de Santiago de Chile, so that he was able to learn about the reality in the past few years, about what is happening now and what we expect to happen in the future,” President Zolezzi said.

For his part, Richard Yelland said that Universidad de Santiago “is a university with a historical commitment to the country, something that you can see in its students, professors, the President and his team. And it is good to see that. What I have seen here (at the university) has contributed to complement the information gathered at the Ministry of Education, the Congress and other institutions.”

Changes in public policies

After the meeting, President Zolezzi said that, on several occasions, university authorities are ignored and he regretted that every time the government or the ministers change, public policies change too.

“Priorities are defined depending on each government. We have tried to define them, but there are not guidelines at a national level. As this is a State university, the State should be the one to define the problems that we need to solve, but we have never received such information,” President Zolezzi said.

The country requires a vision

Richard Yelland expressed his agreement on these ideas and he said: “Before strengthening the State higher education system, the country needs to have a vision, a strategy for higher education and innovation and determine how this will contribute to the development of the Chilean society and economy.”

He insisted on the need to develop country guidelines first, and then to determine the role of private and State universities. “This means to make long-term decisions, what is difficult for there are ideological divisions; but there are people who are willing to do it. So it is important to try to get out of such a politicized education,” he said.

He finally said that education changes slowly and that it involves different parties, and that legislating is only a part of the process.

Richard Yelland gathered together with professors and students at Universidad de Santiago in order to learn their points of view. He also met with professor Saúl Contreras, Head of the Department of Education of the university.

The study “Reviews of National Policies for Education” seeks to identify the main changes in the Chilean education system between 2004 and 2014 and to describe its current state. 

Translated by Marcela Contreras

• In a presentation given at Universidad de Santiago a few days ago, Iván Núñez Prieto, recipient of the National Award of Education 2015, emphasized that he still shares “the utopia” that education contributes to “build a fairer and more caring society, regardless of the fact that it may be a difficult task that requires many years, and maybe, there have been some mistakes in viewing the difficulties at its implementation.” The renowned researcher and state professor of History, Geography and Civic Education addressed these issues in his presentation “Two moments at teacher training in Chile: 1928 and 1974: Present echoes.”

On October 28^th, at the Armando Quezada Auditorium, the recipient of the National Award of Education 2015, Iván Núñez, gave the presentation “Two moments at teacher training in Chile: 1928 and 1974: Present echoes.” The activity was organized by the Faculty of Humanities and the Department of Education of Universidad de Santiago in the context of the Teachers’ Day celebration.

Professor Núñez was presented by Dr Jorge Rueda, Vice-Dean for Academic Affairs of the Faculty of Humanities. The director of the Department of Education, Dr Saúl Contreras also addressed the audience.

Dr Rueda emphasized the role of education as the driving force for human development and better communal living, in the midst of the individualistic and discriminatory society of current days, as well as the educational role that our university has played through the School of Arts and Crafts, the Pedagogical Institute and the State Technical University (UTE, in Spanish).

For his part, Dr Contreras highlighted the importance of the visit of professor Núñez at a critical time for Chilean education, as well as the contributions made by the university to teacher training, one of the core components of the university development. 

Inconsistent development

Professor Núñez started by mentioning that the development of Chilean education has not been progressive or linear: it has moved forward and backward through history. 

In his presentation, he deeply analyzed two significant moments in the history of teacher training: the closure of teacher training schools (escuelas normales, in Spanish), for different reasons, in 1928, under Carlos Ibáñez del Campo’s dictatorship (1927-1931), and in 1974, under General Augusto Pinochet’s regime.

He reminded the audience that teacher training schools started in 1842, when they were created by the Argentinean Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, under the conservative oligarchic government of Manuel Bulnes, who was able to recognize the importance of peoples’ training. Bulnes founded Universidad de Chile, among others. The first escuela normal was located in the vicinity of Matucana Street.

At that time, teachers did not only receive free training but they had free accommodation and free meals, though they were separated by sex. In return, the had to work for seven years at public schools, but many did not fulfill that commitment and engaged in other crafts and professions.

The first rebellion

He said that later, the saltpeter boom allowed bringing a group of German teachers at the beginning of the 20^th century. At the same time, a combative teachers association was created. They criticized teacher training as they considered it “authoritarian.” Núñez remembered that one of its weaknesses was pedagogical training.

In 1928, there were 15 escuelas normales. Under the pressure of teachers grouped together in the General Association of Teachers (AGP, in Spanish) for an “integral reform of Chilean education”- the escuelas normales included- Ibáñez decided to close them (he closed the Pedagogical Institute of Universidad de Chile too) and appointed its principal leaders to the Ministry of Education, “so that they could implement the reform” that they were demanding.

Although this situation did not last long, as the Government in the end decided to appoint a “commission of experts” to solve the problems, many of the association’s demands were subsequently taken up. For example, the minimum requirement to enter the school changed from four to six years of primary education.

The 60’s

During the following years, the escuelas normales increased their number, but they underwent some changes, especially in the 60’s, during the Education Reform of President Eduardo Frei (1964-1970), when the requirement to enter the school was completing secondary education. Although there was a co educational boarding school in Chillán, the boarding facilities were closed for financial reasons. On the other hand, an evening teacher training school was created at that time.

After the military coup, when there were more than twenty public and private (owned by the Catholic Church) escuelas normales, General Pinochet closed them for considering them “a focus of rebellion.”

The dictatorship imposed that, from then on, teacher training was to be part of university education. In spite of its controversial nature, professor Núñez considers that this action established “a common institutional framework, with the most similar bases possible.” In 1976, during the dictatorship, professor Núñez was detained and tortured.

He concluded by saying that, for his part, he still shares “ the utopia” that education contributes to “build a fairer and more caring society, regardless of the fact that it may be a difficult task that requires many years, and maybe, there have been some mistakes in viewing the difficulties at its implementation.”

“History has left us a few things and, in the midst of the battle of daily life, we should take a look at them,” he finally said.

Translated by Marcela Contreras

• In order to have feedback from her European peers, Claudia Córdoba, professor at the Department of Education of Universidad de Santiago, presented the progress of her study “Analysis of the school socioeconomic segregation in primary education” (Fondecyt Initiation Project 11130149) at Universitá degli Studi di Cagliari (Sardinia, Italy) and at the Complutense University of Madrid (Madrid, Spain). The study analyses the socioeconomic segregation in geographically close schools, considering residential segregation, family preferences, and the barriers imposed by schools with regard to payments and student selection.

In September, Claudia Córdoba, professor at the Department of Education of Universidad de Santiago de Chile presented the progress of her research study “Analysis of the school socioeconomic segregation in primary education (Fondecyt Initiation Project 11130149)” at two European universities.

Her first presentation was at Universitá degli Studi di Cagliari (Sardinia, Italy), on September 21^st, and then she showed her work at the Faculty of Education of the Complutense University of Madrid (Madrid, Spain), on September 24^th.

On both occasions, she presented the progress of her work in the context of the project that she leads, receiving feedback and suggestions for its continuation.

The study is focused on the phenomenon of socioeconomic segregation in geographically close schools, considering three concurrent factors: residential segregation, family preferences, and the barriers imposed by schools with regard to payments and student selection.

“Doubtlessly, in our country, the phenomenon of school segregation is stronger than in countries like Italy and Spain; however, it is always interesting to appreciate that some dynamics can also be noticed in school systems which are very different from the Chilean one,” Professor Córdoba said.

In this regard, some Spanish professors said that, in their country, it is possible to notice big differences in the social composition of the student body of public schools, even when they are geographically close.

In the case of Italy, the families there also seek to ensure that their children learn some skills that can give them an advantage over their peers (learning English, for example), and that it is possible to see big differences in the socioeconomic composition of the student body in different types of high school.

Some of the preliminary results were particularly interesting, For example, the fact that children in Santiago seem to travel much longer distances than the ones travelled by children in Madrid or Cagliari.

Translated by Marcela Contreras

• The participants evaluated the meeting very positively, as it provided constant feedback and the possibility to learn about new teaching methodologies from concrete experiences in the Centre for Vocational Training Tknika, in Spain. Tknika is well positioned and has a long experience in the field of technical vocational training.
• Antonio Gil and Víctor Arias, experts in project-based learning, were the keynote speakers. This method is focused on the student’s performance and it encourages his/her to lead his/her own progress. The researcher Kitte Marttinen, a Finnish expert in educational innovation, also participated in the activity.
• “The concept of challenge is interesting. I think we are going to see the way of implementing this method that involves making students to face a challenge that demands their intellectual and practical efforts,” Gabriel Bosque, director of Liceo Industrial de Nueva Imperial, said.

 

When technical vocational training is getting increasingly stronger, our University contributes with new knowledge for the directors of technical vocational schools managed by Universidad de Santiago (under the system of delegated administration) who participated in an intense activity, in order to learn innovative methodological experiences in the field of technical education. The activity was held on July 8th, here, in Santiago.

Some of the participants were: Patricia Silva Sánchez, director of Instituto Comercial Eliodoro Domínguez Domínguez, Santiago; Marcelo Riquelme, director of Liceo Industrial de Angol, Angol; Gabriel Bosque, director of Liceo Industrial de Nueva Imperial, Nueva Imperial; and Aliro Ramírez León, director of Liceo Industrial Presidente Pedro Aguirre Cerda, Rancagua. The heads of the pedagogical and vocational training units of these schools also attended the activity.

They all learned about the experiences and new methodologies presented by Antonio Gil de Gómez y Víctor Arias Rodríguez, Spanish experts from the renowned Centre for Vocational Training Tknika, Basque Country, and by Dr Kitte Marttinen, Finnish researcher with a long experience in educational innovation.

This valuable initiative is part of the school directors’ training program coordinated by the academic in charge of the administration of these institutions, Jorge Torres Ortega. He said that it was a rewarding activity because it was focused on concrete actions to improve technical vocational education, in a context in which a lot is spoken but little is done. “I do not know if someone in Chile is working on this at the level we are at the University,” he said.

Professor Torres invited the Spanish researchers to participate in the meeting to provide the above school directors with new methodological and management tools. With regards to Antonio Gil, Torres highlighted his experience using the project-based learning (PBL) approach that will provide and innovative view in the country, because it makes students to be protagonists of their own learning.

Universidad de Santiago has maintained a partnership with Tknika since last year. “Besides, in August there will be a scholarship competition for technical vocational schools’ teachers. That is why I particularly asked them to inform us about the specialization alternatives in the centres of the Basque Country,” he said.

The voice of the experts

The project-based learning (PBL) is a competence-based model for technical training teaching developed by Antonio Gil and Víctor Arias. Roughly, this method is focused on the student’s performance and it encourages him/her to lead his/her own progress.

According to Antonio Gil, the PBL means an evolution, a new way of facing the learning process, in accordance with current times.

“We have realized that education is evolving and shifting to this type of teaching. It is no longer the type in which the teacher knows his/her subject very well and then recites it to the student and, if the latter is paying attention, he/she will learn; and if he/she gets distracted, he/she will not learn that much,” he explained. 

In this sense, the researcher thinks that the student is the protagonist and the teacher should be a facilitator that provides the necessary tools for the student to have the results expected for the process. 

For his part, Víctor Arias highlighted that implementing these new technologies would involve big efforts. “Teachers need more training, and therefore, more resources are required,” he said.

The participants

According to Patricia Silva Sánchez, director of Instituto Comercial Eliodoro Domínguez Domínguez, “Listening to the experts from the Basque Country was an interesting experience, because they have had very good results with these innovative initiatives and good results in technical vocational education.” She highlighted the novel approach proposed by the PBL, in which the student is an essential agent in the educational process and which dynamics gives the student important tools for his/her professional development.

“The learning process is student-centred, as he/she starts looking for information; he/she plays different roles in the working groups and together they are able to reach the final results. This is the work that they have to face when they enter the world of work.”

Marcelo Riquelme, director of Liceo Industrial de Angol, said that the activity was important because it provided significant feedback on world-wide successful experiences that could improve the projects already implemented in Chilean institutions.

“It is really important because we are implementing projects in that direction. We still have work to do, but having this type of exchange and learning about these experiences will help us a lot,” he said.

Gabriel Bosque, director of Liceo Industrial de Nueva Imperial, said that the meeting was very significant. “The opportunity of having these experts here, listening to them directly and having the possibility of asking questions, generates a quite interesting interaction that will allow us to improve the implementation of our own projects.”

However, Bosque stressed that one of the main hurdles in introducing new pedagogical methodologies in the classrooms of our country is the paradigm change that it involves.

“This is the main problem posed by any deep, structural change in education, in general. We teachers were historically trained in one paradigm, so it is hard for us to change methodologies,” he said. However, he thinks that basing the educational process on challenges is really innovative and attractive.

“The concept of challenge is interesting. I think we are going to see the way of implementing this method that involves making students to face challenges that demand their intellectual and practical efforts,” director Bosque said.

According to Aliro Ramírez León, director of Liceo Industrial Presidente Pedro Aguirre Cerda, the activity was rewarding, because it opened paths to learn about state-of-the-art educational methodologies.

“For us, all training initiatives are welcome, because they allow us to compare what we are doing with what they are doing in Europe,” he said.

Finally, he described the occasion as a call for innovation. “We are completely aware that we must innovate,” he concluded.

 

Translated by Marcela Contreras

• The delegation, led by the Head of the Higher Education Division of the Ministry of Education, Francisco Martínez Concha, sought to learn from experiences in situ to implement and operate the 15 state Technical Training Centres that the Government is promoting in the context of the Education Reform.
• The agenda included visits to Santa Monica College, Los Angeles Trade- Technical College and Berkeley City College, among others, in San Francisco and Los Angeles, California, USA.
• According to President Zolezzi, learning about the experiences of these centres has been very interesting, especially because Universidad de Santiago will have the responsibility of implementing one of these state centres.

In order to collect information and experiences regarding the operation of some of the most renowned technical education institutions in USA, a delegation led by the Head of the Higher Education Division of the Ministry of Education, Francisco Martínez Concha, and formed by the President of Universidad de Santiago, Juan Manuel Zolezzi Cid, among others, visited a series of community colleges in California, USA, last week.

The program was directly managed by the Department of State of USA to support the Government of Chile in its initiative of implementing 15 technical training centres (CFT, in Spanish) associated to state universities- Universidad de Santiago de Chile will be responsible for one of them- in each region of our country. The program offered a wide and balanced variety of approaches to how this matter is included as a public policy in USA.

The Chilean delegation was also formed by Juan Oyarzo, President of Universidad de Magallanes; Álvaro Rojas, President of Universidad de Talca; and Marcela Arellano, Executive Secretary of the Vocational-Technical Division of the Ministry of Education. Last week, they visited Los Angeles Trade-Technical College; Santa Monica College; West Los Angeles College; Skyline College; Berkeley City College and the College of San Mateo, among other institutions in Los Angeles and San Francisco, California.

According to President Zolezzi, the experience was very valuable. “They invited us both to contribute from the situation in Chile and to learn about these “two-year colleges”, as they say, that area very similar to the idea of CFTs that the Chilean State will create. From this point of view, this is very relevant to what we are doing as University,” he said in a telephone interview from San Francisco, California.

The value of vocational-technical education

President Zolezzi said that, from his point of view, it was very interesting to learn of the experiences in areas like inclusion, teacher recruiting and the level of free education they have there.

He also found interesting the fact that “they serve a wide age range, including elderly people who want to pursue a specialization in two years and change their activity, or learn a trade.” “Here (in USA), I see that technical professions are more respected and more valued,” he added.

He highlighted that during the first part of the busy schedule that included the visit to almost 10 centres in 5 days, he saw community colleges that specialize in the transition of students to university programs, where they study two more years and get a first degree. Other centres are more focused on the working world

The Chilean delegation examined professional standards and qualifications, including skills certification and approaches that link education to the requirements of the country; best practices; curriculum flexibility; methodologies, and the linkage between the educational sector and the private sector, among other matters.

Translated by Marcela Contreras

• The president of Universidad de Santiago, Dr. Juan Manuel Zolezzi, signed the “Declaration of Santiago” (Declaración de Santiago, in Spanish), a landmark after three days of discussions and debates on the role of state universities. The “Latin American State Universities Conference” gathered together presidents and representatives of the main universities of the Region.
• “We want universities of high quality and excellence that get involved with society and with the projects related to the problems of the country. We want state universities to be committed to democracy and pluralism,” Dr. Zolezzi stressed.
• The document signed recognizes the contribution of non-profit private universities, but it explicitly questions “the sudden increase in the past few decades of private institutions with evident commercial interests that have directly or indirectly received government support for their expansion.”

The debate over public education in our country is in full swing and, in the following months, the Government is expected to present several initiatives to reform higher education. In this context, and for its 172^nd anniversary, Universidad de Chile invited presidents and representatives of universities of Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and Chile, among others, to the Latin American State Universities Conference for the purpose of discussing on the strategic role of these institutions.

The conference started on November 19^th and finished on November 21^st with the submission of the document “Las Universidades Estatales deben ser el eje de las políticas de educación superior en América Latina” (State Universities should be at the core of higher education policies in Latin America, in Spanish) - the “Declaration of Santiago”- in which the universities involved agreed on several issues that are essential to these institutions and demarcate their work in the public sphere.

The document was signed by 15 presidents and representatives of universities of all over the continent and it established, among other points, that “higher education is a social right, a human and individual right”; therefore, “the governments’ support for scientific research, technological innovation, artistic creation and the development of humanities is essential to build increasingly prosperous, democratic and fair societies

According to the President of Universidad de Santiago, Dr. Juan Manuel Zolezzi, the conference was held in a moment “close to a profound and philosophic debate, most probably in March, over the new regulations of the higher education reform. So we consider that it is very important for us to be present on behalf of Universidad de Santiago. It was also important to leave a mark with regard to what we understand as public universities in Latin America in our times.”

One of the points in the Declaration that President Zolezzi valued the most is the one that establishes that governments should “increase the resources for funding public higher education and prevent the funding systems from having incentives that may lead to inequity in the access (to higher education), in a sustained path to free education.”

“We want universities of high quality and excellence that get involved with society and with the projects related to the problems of the country. We want state universities to be committed to democracy and pluralism,” Dr. Zolezzi said. He valued the continental agreement because “we were able to standardize criteria by recognizing that public education has a sole origin: the State bodies. And, what is most important: the idea of free education was validated at a regional level.” 

Ennio Vivaldi, President of Universidad de Chile, the university that hosted the conference, also highlighted the activity, saying that through this, the continent commits to “the idea that the education provided by state universities should be free.”

He also acknowledged that, just like the document says, “the higher education system is diverse and we value the interaction with traditional private universities that contribute to the university system. But in turn, we are concerned that in this context, there are institutions that were conceived as business, something that is very sad sometimes, because they take money from poor people and provide in exchange a questionable no-quality product. We were very explicit regarding this point,” Vivaldi said.

In fact, the document states that “the sudden increase in the past few decades of private institutions with evident commercial interests or social biases undermines the idea of higher education as a social right.” Then, it states that “in some countries, these private institutions with commercial interests have directly or indirectly received government support for their expansion.” 

International views

One of the foreign representatives, María Andrea Marín of Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Argentina, said that although there are other opportunities in which Latin American universities gather together, like the Montevideo Group Association of Universities (AUGM, in Spanish) that groups together the Mercosur bloc universities, “these meetings organized with an specific purpose focus on an specific discussion: to establish the reason, the purpose and the extent to which we commit to as state universities. To establish what we intend as institutions and how we can contribute to strengthening the democratic states and the social development of our communities.”

Fernando Sempértegui, President of Universidad Central of Ecuador valued the fact that they “claimed the state’s constant attention to the needs of these universities, so that they can fulfil their mission: high quality scientific research work and professional training.”

He also highlighted the importance of state universities as “the leading agent in the approach to building equity.”

Education Reform

During the activity, Dr. Zolezzi, President of Universidad de Santiago and Executive Vice President of the Council of Presidents of Chilean Universities, also spoke about current events and commented on the pressures that the Christian Democratic Party allegedly put on the government to slow down the debate on the Education Reform, with the consequent delay in the deadlines.

“I would expect this time could be recovered in terms of a larger and better conversation, because up to know, there has not been a dialogue between the government and the universities, in general, or a dialogue with the state universities, in particular, about the development of this reform,” President Zolezzi said.  He added that he does not have any information regarding to what the government intends to implement or propose “in March, April or at any other time. I do not believe they have not done anything. I can scarcely imagine that in 8 months they have not made any progress.”

President Zolezzi finally said that he believes that the government should show itself “more convinced and that the president should be more present, to proceed with this.  Although President (Bachelet) has expressed her intention to do so, we expect the implementation of these policies become real, because in terms of budget, we did not see it.” 

Translated by Marcela Contreras

• The First Higher Education Inclusion Congress at our University gathered together international experts in this field, calling the attention of representatives of different universities, like professor and Co-director of the Center for Urban Education at the University of Southern California, Estela Mara Bensimon, who valued the “courage” that Universidad de Santiago de Chile has had to drive “transforming and exemplary” initiatives as the Propedéutico Program and the Grade Ranking, among others.
• The activity sponsored by the Embassy of the United States in Chile included presentations and workshops and concluded with a plenary session at the Enrique Fröemel auditorium.
• During this activity, Universidad de Santiago introduced its new inclusion initiative “Cupo Ranking 850” that will benefit “top one” students who take part in the Admission Process to Chilean Universities 2015.

With the purpose of promoting the development of innovative models for higher education access and retention and the generation of inclusive public policies that may be replicated in other universities, the First Higher Education Inclusion Congress was started at our University on November 06th.

The activity organized by Fundación Équitas, Universidad de Chile, Universidad Diego Portales, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Universidad Católica de Temuco and Universidad de Santiago de Chile was held at the auditorium of the Department of Mathematics and concluded on November 07th. The program included presentations and workshops to promote equal opportunities.

The Director of the Unesco Chair on Inclusion in Higher Education of Universidad de Santiago, Francisco Javier Gil, welcomed the international experts and representatives of different universities meeting at the congress and then described the goals of the activity to our institutional newsletter.

“During these two days, we seek to strengthen the network of universities committed to inclusion and to promote it in those institutions that have not understood yet the importance of generating inclusive systems. We also aim to train new young professionals so that they continue with this task, because the challenge posed by inclusion in higher education will not be solved in one day,” he said.

Professor Gil said that once this network of universities becomes consolidated, they will try to change the academic requirements that are currently used in the country to award scholarships, loans and other benefits. “Today, the Ministry of Education awards scholarships and loans considering the PSU admission test results only and this should not continue to happen,” he said.

Regarding the high number of national and international institutions participating at this First Higher Education Inclusion Congress, Francisco Javier Gil showed himself very pleased and he specified that “inclusion should be a cross-cutting concern involving all universities, without distinctions.”

Exemplary initiatives

One of the keynote speakers at the congress was professor and Co-director of the Center for Urban Education at the University of Southern California, Estela Mara Bensimon. After her presentation, she valued the “courage” that Universidad de Santiago de Chile has had to drive “transforming and exemplary” initiatives, like the Propedéutico Program and the Grade Ranking.

“Universidad de Santiago has particularly done a transforming, revolutionary work regarding educational inclusion matters. In Chile and the United States, we need more initiatives, like promoting the Grade Ranking or the Propedéutico program experience of Universidad de Santiago,” she said, adding that “this university has become a model to follow for other institutions.”

Universidad de Santiago’s leading role

Another participant in this congress was Alberto Vásquez, Director of the Social Inclusion program of Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile that has the purpose of implementing the new inclusion policy enacted at that institution a few weeks ago.

“We expect to empirically demonstrate that the students’ entry to higher education through ways other than the regular system does not affect the academic quality of institutions; on the contrary, it contributes to better and more inclusive universities, Vásquez said.

He added that he “has been aware for a long time of the experience and leading role of Universidad de Santiago regarding inclusion matters.”

“This University has probably pioneered these matters in the country and I believe that it has persuaded all the other institutions to find ways to access higher education different from the PSU,” he concluded.

For further information on the First Higher Education Inclusion Congress sponsored by the Ministry of Education and the Embassy of the United States in Chile, check http://fundacionequitas.org/congreso2014/


Translated by Marcela Contreras

• At the Centro Educacional Pudahuel, President Bachelet initiated the Program for Accompaniment and Effective Access to Higher Education (PACE, its acronym in Spanish) for the Metropolitan Region, a measure that was inspired by the Propedéutico Program of our University and that seeks to restore the right to access higher education to students from vulnerable areas.
• In the company of Nicolás Eyzaguirre, the Minister of Education, and Dr. Juan Manuel Zolezzi, the President of Universidad de Santiago, President Bachelet said that the program “provides youngsters with what they deserve” and “rewards good students of municipal and subsidized schools.”
• President Zolezzi said that at the government making this initiative a public policy, the University “has responded once again to the country and to the most vulnerable Chilean people.”

By publicly recognizing our University, President Michelle Bachelet made official the Program for Accompaniment and Effective Access to Higher Education PACE/Usach for the Metropolitan Region, which she described as “extremely important” for the country.

This public policy was inspired by the work done by the Propedéutico Program –the Preparatory Program of Universidad de Santiago that started in 2007.

During the opening ceremony held on October 3rd at the Centro Educacional Pudahuel, with the presence of Nicolás Eyzaguirre, the Minister of Education, and Juan Manuel Zolezzi, the President of Universidad de Santiago, the head of state said that the PACE/Usach “provides youngsters with what they deserve” and “rewards good students of municipal and subsidized schools while it seeks to level up the students’ knowledge.”

She also said that the idea of implementing this policy arose from her visit to the Instituto Femenino Superior de Comercio last year, when President Juan Manuel Zolezzi informed about the successful experience of Universidad de Santiago’s Propedéutico Program.

The head of state explained that “In partnership with Universidad de Santiago, we have been working at the Metropolitan Region with public high schools in the municipalities of Pudahuel, Santiago, Lo Prado, Talagante, Estación Central y Maipú and also at schools in Región de O´Higgins, in the municipalities of Mostazal, Graneros and Rancagua.”

“In 2016 we will have the first PACE students’ class entering higher education and we will extend the support to 12th grade students,” she said. “During the next years, the program will continue growing: we will include 339 high schools in 2015, to reach 885 high schools by the end of my (presidential) term. Only in the Metropolitan Region we will cover up to 230 schools,” she added.

The PACE/Usach program for the Metropolitan Region will initially prepare students from twelve high schools and it will continue giving them support once they enter higher education by means of a leveling period that will enable them to stay in the system until they graduate.

Institutional leadership

During the ceremony, the Minister of Education said that this initiative is another example of the inclusion policies that the government is developing and he expressed his “particular gratitude to Universidad de Santiago de Chile, for its leadership.”

He also recognized the role of the director of the PAIEP Program of Universidad de Santiago, Francisco Javier Gil, as one of the Propedéutico’s promoters.

For his part, President Juan Manuel Zolezzi said to the young audience: “Today you have the possibility of starting a fruitful stage, full of opportunities, thanks to your own talent, effort and self-improvement spirit.”

“We will provide you with all the tools you require to become who you dream to be, in company of your families and your dear ones,” he said. “Our beloved Universidad de Santiago de Chile, heir to UTE and EAO, has responded once again to the country and to the most vulnerable Chilean people,” he added.

 

Translated by Marcela Contreras

[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_original","fid":"4172","attributes":{"alt":"","class":"media-image","typeof":"foaf:Image"}}]]

• Professor Saúl Contreras, academic at the Department of Education, is developing the Fondecyt Project “Early Teacher Training for Science Education” that seeks to analyze the academic performance of 1,200 Teaching Training Program students across the country to contribute with an explanatory model on how future teachers internalize and implement their curricular teaching knowledge.
• According to professor Contreras, this instrument will put a strain on the Inicia Test,” because the latter evaluates future teachers at the end of their training. “Our idea is to evaluate students during all their training process,” to obtain a comprehensive and timely knowledge about it.
• Professor Contreras presented the first results of this study at international conferences in Tarragona and Barcelona, Spain.

The quality of education is today a core topic in the public policies debate and it has become one of the key demands of different social sectors.

But this quality is affected by different variables, like the good or poor education received by those who will be responsible for teaching new generations, that is to say, Early Teaching Training, (FDI, in Spanish). This is why Dr. Saúl Contreras, PhD in Education of Universidad de Santiago de Chile is working on the project “Early Teaching Training for Science Education”, funded by Fondecyt, that seeks to create a model and an instrument to evaluate the training process of pre-service teachers. As a result, this would allow training institutions to review the decision making process regarding training matters.

The study considers a national sample of 1,200 trainee teachers in math and experimental science specializations. The research team led by Dr. Contreras will do the corresponding follow up for four years.

“We seek to create a model and an instrument to explain how students acquire teaching competences and skills. In the context of the study, we are going to provide important data to each participating institution,” Dr. Contreras says. He adds that this information will be very useful to correct the course of early teacher training.

“It will put a strain on the INICIA Test”

Professor Contreras claims that among the side effects of this study, “it will put a strain on the Inicia Test,” the voluntary test to evaluate graduate teachers in different contents. “It does not make any sense to expect a quality education by thinking that we can achieve it just through measuring instruments like Simce, PSU or the Inicia Test.”

Professor Contreras also stresses that the Inicia Test evaluates pre-service teachers at the end of their training programs. “We propose to have a systematic assessment instrument during the whole training process and not only at the end of it. Because we should ask ourselves if the results of the Inicia Test are not good and the students already graduated, what happen to them? Should we give them remedial courses? It is too late to do it”, he answers.

For all the above, the instrument studied by this researcher at Universidad de Santiago de Chile becomes essential, because, according to Professor Contreras, it is not about preparing students like pre-university schools do: it is “creating and applying an instrument to evaluate future teachers at certain time points during their training. And this is a decision of the institutions that internally choose to help their students.”

Regarding the assessment tests, Dr. Contreras says that he totally agrees with their application, “otherwise it would be impossible to know how we are doing,” but these instruments should be developed “together with the subjects and starting with them, because they also need to be relevant,” he explains.

Professor Contreras is so convinced of the effectiveness of his proposal that he does not doubt that, after applying the assessment instrument for four years, it may be applied at a national level, in the context of a public policy. He thinks that it “can also be implemented in the technical- professional formation.”

Although the first stage of collection of data was finished only a few weeks ago- with the collaboration of teacher training programs of universities from Arica to Punta Arenas- professor Contreras presented the first results of this project at the International Congress of University Teaching and Innovation (CIDIU, in Spanish), held at Tarragona, Spain and then, at the Edulearn VI International Conference on Education and New Learning Technologies, in Barcelona, Spain.

These first steps allow seeing significant changes in future teachers’ training that, in the end, will affect the quality of education.

 

Translated by Marcela Contreras