Until the higher
education reforms of 1981, Chilean higher education was composed of
eight homogeneous, government subsidized universities: two of them
public, three Catholic, and three secular private. Intent on expanding
enrollments, differentiating the higher education system, and bolstering
competition, and inspired by a "neo-liberal" economic agenda,
the 1981 reform authorized the creation of new private universities
and non-university tertiary level institutions (called professional
institutes and technical training centers), while the regional colleges
of the two public universities were transformed into 14 separate public
universities.
The eight universities
(publics and "old privates") predating the reform, along
with their former regional colleges and branch campuses (now numbering
25), are commonly called "traditional" universities. Aside
from these institutions, another 39 universities, created after the
reform, conform the "new private" university sector. They
don't receive operational subsidies from the government.
On the non-university
side, sixty professional institutes offer four or five year degrees
in fields not reserved for universities. They can grant professional
diplomas but not academic degrees. Additionally, 116 technical training
centers offer two-year technical and vocational programs and diplomas.
All the non-universities are private, unsubsidized institutions.
Undergraduate
programs, 4 to 6 years long, are directed towards professional training,
and lead to a professional diploma that entitles the bearers to practice
their professions and to the academic degree of Licenciado,
or only to the professional diploma in the case of the professional
institutes. Technical training centers grant vocational and technical
diplomas. Master's programs are typically 2 years long, and doctoral
programs have a teaching component lasting two years, plus a research
component leading to a dissertation.
All institutions
of higher education in Chile, private and public, charge tuition fees,
which represent on average 30% of the revenues of the subsidized universities
and 95% of the income of new private institutions. Overall, private
expenditures account for ¾ of the 1.85% of GDP that Chile spends
in higher education. Total public expenditures in higher education,
science and technological development amounted to US$ 530 million
in 2000.
Chile generates
0.2% of the world's science, and 10% of the mainstream scientific
literature originated in Latin America. Public and "old"
private universities carry out almost all research and doctoral training,
although "new" privates have made headway in these fields
since the late 1990s.
