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Óscar Garrido, Universidad de Los Lagos, Chile

Vice-president of the Andean Country Region for the Inter-American Organization for Higher Education (OUI-IOHE) and rector of the Universidad de Los Lagos, Óscar Garrido talks with The PIE about the Chilean student protests and his optimism for the upcoming presidential elections.

The PIE: Chile’s education system is being fiercely criticized by its citizens, how did this situation come about?

In Chile all of the universities have very different ideas of how to relate to the rest of the world and collaborate with institutions

OG: If one looks at it from the point of view from its location in South America, Chile is an important country in terms of generation of knowledge and scientific development. It’s the only country in South America that is part of the OECD, along with Mexico. It is a competitive country compared with the other Andean countries. But there is a deep tension because of certain demand from civil society that feels that the issue of education hasn’t been resolved. There are serious iniquity problems- 86% of the wealth in Chile is the property of 10 families. I think in the global rankings, we’re 10th on the list of countries with the highest level of income extortion.

The PIE: Tell me about the conflicts.

OG: In 2011, there was a large social movement in Chile like never before seen since the end of the 60’s. Students from around the country went to the streets to show that they were unhappy and wanted a larger state and a smaller market. They wanted the state to guarantee quality education at a reasonable and accessible price and that the poorest students have access to free education, that nobody was making a profit and that public universities don’t co-exist with universities that make education a business.

What we’re going to do as a country in Chile is focus strongly on talented students whatever their origins

The PIE: What have been the effects of the mass student protests?

OG: They have pushed forward discussions on a national level. Up to 85% of the population, in which I include myself, completely identify with these changes and transformations. We have a presidential election on November 17th. The campaign proposals of all the presidential candidates will mark a before and after in the educational reforms that Chile needs. They have been arguing about what’s needed to create more state support, and more resources for poor families that want access to universities. Currently the environment is also more competitive because of universities and higher education institutions’ need to diversify their course offering not just in degree courses but also in technical education.

The PIE: In such an environment, is Chile ready to internationalise?

OG: It’s important to be prudent. Sometimes we tend to focus on overcoming one specific challenge and everyone gets on board, going in the same direction and all of a sudden they fall off the side of the cliff. I think it’s important to internationalise without a doubt, but first you have to match the two things. That means create baseline conditions that aren’t established in all developed Latin American countries. Currently we only hear opinions from developed countries and not from underdeveloped or developing countries.

We’re a small country of 17 million people with a GDP that I would say is modest, but we have a wealth of natural products enviable of any other country in the world

The PIE: How can efforts to gain access for poor students and internationalisation goals co-exist?

OG: It’s a question of unity. But there’s a problem with timing. Time is short and every day I’m aware that it’s getting shorter. What we’re going to do as a country in Chile is focus strongly on talented students whatever their origins. If they didn’t have the opportunity to be born into different families the state needs to give those families the guarantee of education as well. I’d say that the discourse in the current government is going in that direction. We have agreements with other countries that open the doors to strengthen the higher education system in Chile where the curriculum needs to internationalise. But we need to be careful to take care of our identity as a region and a country and a culture.

The PIE: What other challenges does Chile face to internationalise its education system?

OG: Public governance needs to be more transparent. This is the first fundamental condition for internationalisation. The second is to cultivate leadership skills in the directors. In Chile the universities have very different ideas of how to relate to the rest of the world and collaborate with foreign institutions. The director has to want it [internationalisation] but second they have to have the capacity to direct it and third have the tools and knowledge to make it happen.

And the third condition is observation. We need to observe what we’re doing. Look at the impact we’re making in Latin America and make sure it’s favourable. How much of these initiatives strengthen the identity of Latin America? In a logic of symmetry, how much do we win? How much do we lose? Or do we always win nothing?

The PIE: Does the future of Chile lie in creating an industry around taking advantage of those natural resources?

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