Chile

Partners situated in Chile

None.

Chile in a nutshell

Chile, officially the Republic of Chile (Spanish: República de Chile), is a country in South America occupying a long and narrow coastal strip wedged between the Andes mountains and the Pacific Ocean. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage at the country's southernmost tip. It is one of only two countries in South America that does not have a border with Brazil. The Pacific forms the country's entire western border, with a coastline that stretches over 6,435 kilometres. Chilean territory extends to the Pacific Ocean which includes the overseas territories of Juan Fernández Islands, the Salas y Gómez islands, the Desventuradas Islands and Easter Island located in Polynesia. Chile claims 1,250,000 square kilometres (480,000 sq mi) of territory in Antarctica.

Higher education

Universities in Chile

(sourced from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilean_Traditional_Universities)

In Chile, the term universidades tradicionales ("traditional universities") is used to denote the group of universities founded before the 1980s. This term usually includes derivative universities, which are not really traditional but were derived from traditional ones. Therefore, a more precise term is Universidades del Consejo de Rectores (Universities of the Rectors' Council [of Chilean Universities]).

These universities can be divided into two groups:

• Properly traditional universities, the eight universities existing in 1981: Universidad de Chile, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Universidad Austral de Chile, Universidad Católica del Norte, Universidad de Concepción, Universidad de Santiago de Chile (formerly Universidad Técnica del Estado) and Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María.
• Derivative universities: universities formed by separating a faculty or campus from a traditional one or by merging two campusses, one belonging to Universidad de Chile and the other, to Universidad Técnica del Estado. For example, what now is the Universidad Metropolitana de Ciencias de la Educación in 1981 was the Education Faculty of the University of Chile; the present-day Universidad de La Frontera in 1981 was the University of Chile, Temuco Campus, and the Technical University of the State, Temuco Campus; and the present Universidad Católica de la Santísima Concepción in 1991 was the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Talcahuano campus. The Universidad Tecnológica Metropolitana (known by its acronym, UTEM) was founded on August 30, 1993.

Currently, there are two main types of universities, classified according to characteristics:

1. State-owned universities (universidades estatales). These are the Universidad de Chile, Universidad de Santiago de Chile and derivative universities, which in the 1970s were constituted from the regional campuses of the former two.
2. Private non-profit universities, of two types:

• Universities of the Catholic Church. Similarly to the regional estatales, most of these were created from the regional campuses of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile in the 1970s.
• Three private universities, owned by non-profit foundations. These are the Universidad Austral de Chile, the Universidad de Concepción (founded by the citizens of Concepción), and the Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María, created by the last will and testament of Federico Santa María Carrera.

Twenty-five traditional universities are today grouped in the Consejo de Rectores (Rectors' Council). Since the 1970s, these universities have managed a common higher education admissions test known as the Prueba de Aptitud Académica ("scholastic-aptitude test") and, since 2003, as the Prueba de Selección Universitaria ("university-selection test").

Higher education reform

The Bologna Process

(very important for European countries)

Virtual Campuses in HE

Interesting Virtual Campus Initiatives

Only one university appears to have significant e-learning, UNIACC.

Interesting Programmes

DOUC UC

Founded in 1968, DUOC UC (DuocUC, Instituto Profesional y Centro de Formación Técnica DuocUC) is the technical education branch of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (UC), Chile. It is one of the largest private technical education providers in the country, with multiple campuses and enrolment of roughly 42,000 students in 2007.

Many technology training certificates are available online. For example, as reported in a "Sun Academic Initiative" newsletter in October 2007 (http://www.sun.com/featured-articles/2007-1023/feature/index.jsp?intcmp=hp2007oct23_edu_read):

At Fundacion Instituto Profesional DuocUC, a technical and vocational school in Chile, 1500 students use the "Fundamentals of the Java Programming Language" course materials. The DUOC UC web site is at http://www.duoc.cl/ (Spanish only)

UNIACC

(sourced from http://uniacc08eng.uniacc.cl/)

UNIACC has over 3000 students in three Campuses interconnected by multimedia technology. It grants diverse academic degrees, and teaches thirty one Academic Programs, Diplomas and Masters.

Communication is the heart and articulated axis of its educational project. Over 5000 students, with diverse specialties have graduated from UNIACC. Its institutional educational strength has been recognized on national and international level not only by European and Latin American Universities, but also by international organizations which, knowing its academic and executive capacity, support and cooperate with UNIACC in the areas of different Undergraduate and Postgraduate Academic Programs, and Continuous Training in the areas of Art, Communication, and New Multimedia Technologies.

UNIACC has its own Radio and TV Station (channel 34 on VHF band), that broadcasts educational and recreational programmes. It offers a Virtual Campus with a Modern Technological Platform of Distance Learning called eCampus, through which a complete university training is provided. In order to do so, on-line interactive mechanisms of study, evaluation, and self-learning through the Internet, with the most demanding educational quality standards is used. Nowadays 6 majors and 18 on-line courses are provided.

Re.ViCa Case-study

None.

Lessons learnt

None so far.

References

1. Reviews of National Policies for Education: Tertiary Education in Chile, OECD, 2009, http://browse.oecdbookshop.org/oecd/pdfs/browseit/9109011E.PDF

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