Chilean student leader Camila Vallejo accused Education Minister Harald Beyer of presenting a “contradiction” regarding the government’s stance on nonprofit higher education in his new higher education finance plan released on Monday.
Chile’s higher education sector is facing stiffer regulations after financial irregularities were discovered at Universidad del Mar, one of the country’s largest private universities. And education Minister Harald Beyer will introduce a bill later this year to drastically overhaul the institutional accreditation system.
The Chilean government’s parliamentary lower house has rejected the findings of a report investigating allegations of educational profiteering in seven private universities. Student leaders and opposition politicians criticised the ruling, claiming that the government must not ignore illegal educational profiteering, writes Mariana Zepeda for I Love Chile.
Camila Vallejo has come to the UK to deliver its students a message: learn from what privatisation did to higher education in Chile or your universities will suffer the same fate.
The Ministry of Education submitted its request to the National Council of Education (CNED) on Monday for the closure of Universidad del Mar, following a five-month audit. University officials, employees and students were not officially notified of the request and were instead informed of the possible closing upon reading local press publications.