Students from the University of Talca, at the Santiago campus, expressed their concern regarding the closure of enrollment for 2 of the 3 careers offered by the state campus for the year 2023.
Mobilized are the students of the University of Talca (UTAL), Santa Elena campus in Santiago, following last August 9, the Academic Council of the state campus decided not to open enrollment in 2023 for 2 of the 3 careers that they teach on said campus, leaving them “in force without an announcement.”
During their presentation before the Education Commission of the Chamber of Deputies, the representatives of the students pointed out that the explanation given to them by the University of Talca to justify the measure was that the “campus would not be profitable”, opting for not open enrollment for Public Administration and Commercial Engineering careers, as Josefina García pointed out.
The undersecretary of Higher Education, Verónica Figueroa, pointed out that since they found out regarding the situation in the Santa Elena campus of the University of Talca, even though the control corresponds to the superintendence, they contacted the rector, Carlos Torres, to learn more regarding the background and monitor the situation, confirming that the closure of these careers has not been formally requested.
From Utal, the General Secretary, Isabel Hernández, assured that these “are not strange decisions in higher education institutions and are taken as a self-regulatory measure when a decreasing evolution in enrollment and in general in vacancies is noticed, which is what has happened in the Santa Elena campus”, in Santiago.
Regarding the possibility of reversing the measure, Hernández maintained that it is something that must be evaluated, in a more future analysis.
In the Santa Elena campus of the state campus there is also a Law degree, which at the moment was not considered within the measure.
Remember that in 2020 the University of Talca decided – in a controversial and questioned measure – to close the Faculty of Forestry Sciences also due to a sustained drop in enrollment. Students from the University of Talca, at the Santiago campus, expressed their concern regarding the closure of enrollment for 2 of the 3 careers offered by the state campus for the year 2023.
