MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Chile’s Piñera tries to appease student protests: 4 billion USD for higher education
Chile's President Sebastián Piñera, beset by mass student protests over education standards and costs which are threatening his legislative agenda, proposed a 4 billion US dollars fund for higher education. Read full article
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Disclaimer & comment rulesI thought everything was “ peachy” in Chile !!
Jul 06th, 2011 - 04:30 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Um, no. lol. It is interesting seeing the peaceful protests around Santiago today.
Jul 06th, 2011 - 09:14 pm - Link - Report abuse 0The students want free university education for all and better standards of teaching. They won't get it. In times when more countries are introducing tuition fees I cannot see Chile suddenly making their privately owned universities free for all. Private education is big business. However, the government could give more burseries for less weathy students. Or encourage the corporates to sponsor more students. Maybe.
I don't think it would be a good thing to make it totally free, due to the following reasons:
Jul 07th, 2011 - 03:05 pm - Link - Report abuse 01. it would attract students from abroad, which would be a big monetary load for a relatively small state like Chile.
2. Motivation to for personal effort would diminish, a big broad of students, who don't really care for studies would enter, just because its for free. You can see this in Germany, its a big debate due to the costs the “changers” do represent. They stay in university for 12 years, changing the subject every now and then, because they have no real aim.
That is an interesting point you make about the length of the degree courses. The average degree in the UK is, what, 3 years plus another for a masters? Some engineering courses are longer and, of course, medicine etc., longer still.
Jul 07th, 2011 - 04:16 pm - Link - Report abuse 0In Chile the minimum degreec course is 5 years at an average cost of $10,000 per year. Why can't the courses be condensed? I ask this question and was told that often secondary education is so poor that students arrive at university without basic skills. So really Pinera should be concentrating the money on improving secondary education. Just a thought.
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