Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile: Aliro Bórquez rector of the UCT assumes the presidency of the G9 Network

At the biweekly board meeting, held this Wednesday, April 14 in videoconference format due to the pandemic, the Network of Public Universities grouped in the G9 made the election of the new president of the group.

Rector Aliro Bórquez, new president of the G9 Network. UCT Photo
photo_cameraRector Aliro Bórquez, of the Catholic University of Temuco, is the new president of the G9 Network. Photo UCT.

The rector of the Catholic University of Temuco Aliro Bórquez will lead the group for the period April 2021-April 2022. The new authority had words of thanks for his predecessor, the rector Diego Durán, of the Catholic University of Maule , and made a recognition of the work carried out in the presidency, noting that during his tenure it was possible to significantly position and validate the contributions of the G9 Network to higher education and the development of the country.

“This year the work of the group will be dedicated to promoting the path already traced by the previous presidencies. It will be our task to continue contributing to the development of higher education and the country from the broad capacities installed in our universities and to contribute to the discussion of the major issues that are debated and affect the public agenda of the country, ”said Rector Aliro Bórquez.

Regarding the challenges that he has assumed since the presidency of the G9, Bórquez comments that “without a doubt we must focus on the pandemic, a health contingency that afflicts us as a society as a whole; the constituent process and the rights that must be guaranteed and in the installation of Law 21.091, an issue that affects the higher education system today.

“It will be our task to continue contributing to the development of higher education and the country from the extensive capacities installed in our universities and to contribute to the discussion of the major issues that are debated and affect the public agenda of the country” – Aliro Bórquez, new president G9 network.

Higher Education Law
One of the issues that worries the rectors of the G9 Network, and that they have expressed in various instances both to the executive and to the parliament, is the diversity of problems that they have had to deal with as a result of the implementation of the Higher Education Law. In one of the board meetings held in March of this year, the rectors raised with the Undersecretary of Higher Education, Juan Eduardo Vargas , the need to review the law and set up a work table to evaluate possible modifications. “We have raised our concern in this regard to the Ministry of Education , the Undersecretariat of Higher Education and in discussions within the Council of Rectors. We believe that article 108 of the law, the regulation of tariffs and what is established in article 102 of the law that relates to the definition of vacancies should be points of analysis. The underlying issue is how to recover the loss of autonomy of the universities to plan their own development in tune with the demands of the country. There are issues of financing, quality assurance and institutional management that must be addressed ”, said the president of the G9, rector Aliro Bórquez. And he added that they will continue to express their concern and willingness to dialogue with a view to improving a Higher Education Law that clearly needs a correction.

“The underlying issue is how to recover the loss of autonomy of the universities to plan their own development in tune with the demands of the country. There are issues of financing, quality assurance and institutional management that must be addressed” – Aliro Bórquez, rector of the Catholic University of Temuco.

Final thoughts

For his part, the rector Diego Durán, who led the group for the period April 2020-April 2021, thanked the entire team that makes up the network and especially all the rectors that make up the G9, “since they worked with a collective, supportive and united spirit ”. He added that 2020 gave a new impetus to the work of the commissions, especially in the cultural, academic, legal and economic areas. “Furthermore, the relationship work with government and parliamentary authorities was very positive because it allowed us to have a particular look always with the spirit of favoring the public character of our institutions and being able to support public policies from a reflective and critical perspective, looking for the best for our communities and for the country, “said Durán.