Held Wednesday, May 25, 2016
Professor of Education, Spanish, and Portuguese, University of California, Davis
Ph.D. in Science Education, M.S. in Science Education, Pontifical Catholic University of Chile
In their lecture, Professor Gonzalez and Professor Pedraja will discuss how Higher education in Chile warrants the attention of all who are interested in what the public university should and can be in the 21st century. Chile experienced the most deliberate and comprehensive university privatization experiment in the world, with tuition reaching the limit of what the public will tolerate. Intense student protests calling for greater educational access have brought the issue to the forefront of the nation’s political discourse. Indeed, President Michelle Bachelet recently promised to make higher education available free of charge. This presentation by Cristina González and Liliana Pedraja will review the recent history of Chilean universities and current debates there regarding tuition and inequality. While focusing primarily on the Chilean experience, the presentation will also address parallels with the U.S. experience, including the ongoing discussion here regarding whether higher education is a public or private good, and who should pay for it.
