Description of Educational Models of Chilean Universities: Configuration of their Foundational Dimensions

Abstract

The social demand for restructuring the formation of professionals for the knowledge society promotes the updating of the Educational Models (EM) of Higher Education Institutions (HEI), whose diversity prevents obtaining a panoramic view of the trends in Chile. In Chile, state universities have experienced public policies such as the one in the 1980s that have promoted liberal practices in Higher Education and reduced the State's commitment to them. This study characterizes the EM of traditional Chilean universities, identifying their foundational dimensions and their configuration. A content analysis with a descriptive and inferential level of depth, it is carried out by reviewing the models of a sample of 15 traditional universities with national representativeness. Among the results is determination of five dimensions as a map of key factors for the understanding of how learning takes place, how the curriculum is managed and what resources are prioritized by HEIs. At an inferential level, the homogeneity generated between public and private universities is observed, in addition to the emphasis on implementing accountability mechanisms to the detriment of their territorial linkage.