Chilean universities and institutional quality assurance processes
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/QAE-05-2013-0024 |
| Published date | 07 April 2015 |
| Date | 07 April 2015 |
| Pages | 166-183 |
| Author | Daniel A. López,Maria J. Rojas,Boris A. López,Daniel C. López |
| Subject Matter | Education,Curriculum, instruction & assessment,Educational evaluation/assessment |
Chilean universities and
institutional quality assurance
processes
Daniel A. López
Center for Advanced Studies, Universidad de Playa Ancha, Valparaíso, Chile
Maria J. Rojas
Faculty of Education, Universidad de Playa Ancha, Valparaíso, Chile
Boris A. López
Department of Aquaculture & Agrifood Resources,
Universidad de Los Lagos, Osorno, Chile and Faculty of Marine Sciences,
Universidad Católica del Norte, Osorno, Chile, and
Daniel C. López
Dacmal Consultants, Santiago de Chile, Chile
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to conduct a quantitative analysis of the university
accreditation processes in Chilean universities. The aim is to determine the effects of the different
variables, especially the type of institutions (state- and privately owned, with and without state
nancial support) on the results obtained.
Design/methodology/approach – Univariate and multivariate statistical analysis of ofcial data.
Findings – Results indicate consistency in the accreditation processes in Chilean universities, as those
variables directly associated with the processes accounted for approximately 70 per cent of the variation in
the length of accreditation periods (between 0 and seven years), these variables being the ones that dened
the type of universities. High dispersion was found in six state-owned universities that behaved as if they
were private universities and in two private universities that behaved as if they were state universities.
However, a high percentage of the universities included in the analysis maintained their afliation to their
corresponding legal group, when their performance in accreditation processes was analyzed.
Originality/value – The results of the university accreditation processes in Chile have been the focus of a
intense debate due to the legal and economic conicts between the different types of universities. This study
constitutes the rst scientic analysis of the results of these processes, especially in terms of the performance
of the different types of universities, thus enabling a better interpretation of the results. This information is
useful not only in the terms of the legal reforms that are being carried out in Chile, but they also help the
understanding of the processes of accreditation of higher education in other Latin American countries.
Keywords Quality assurance, Chile, Institutional accreditation, Types of universities
Paper type Research paper
The authors are grateful to the Center of Advanced Studies, the Higher Education Research Group
and the Doctorate Program in Educational Management and Policies of the University of Playa
Ancha, Valparaíso Chile. The collaboration of Jorge Ramirez, Cecilia Arriagada and Margarita
Rivas is also recognized. Finally, the authors thank the two anonymous referees, whose comments
contributed to improving the manuscript.
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0968-4883.htm
QAE
23,2
166
Received 29 May 2013
Revised 9 October 2013
19 May 2014
Accepted 11 November 2014
QualityAssurance in Education
Vol.23 No. 2, 2015
pp.166-183
©Emerald Group Publishing Limited
0968-4883
DOI 10.1108/QAE-05-2013-0024
1. Introduction
The concern for quality and management in higher education institutions (HEIs) has
become a widespread phenomenon (Harvey and Knight, 1996). Improvement and
quality assurance processes in universities have been implemented in nearly every
country of the world, following different procedures and achieving different results (e.g.
Kells, 1992;Van Vught and Westerheijden, 1993;Frederiks et al., 1994;Ratcliff, 1996;
Thune, 1998;Shore and Wright, 2000;Brennan and Shah, 2000a;Yonezawa, 2002;Mollis
and Marginson, 2002;Schwarz and Westerheijden, 2004;Brooks, 2005;Al Bandary,
2005;Hoecht, 2006;Gvaramadze, 2008;Michavila and Zamorano, 2008;Huusko and
Ursin, 2010;Cret, 2011;Hou, 2011;Shah et al., 2011).
In nearly all Latin American countries, substantial progress has been made in terms
of the development of a “culture of evaluation in HEIs”, largely overcoming the conicts
raised in the early 90’s due to the inevitable trade-offs between university autonomy,
assessment and accreditation (Fernández-Lamarra, 2007;CINDA, 2007;De La Garza,
2008;Espinoza, 2010). Institutional accreditation has been promoted as a quality
assurance mechanism conceived to avoid proliferation of new universities.
Trends in quality assurance combine self-evaluation, external peer evaluation and
the use of performance indicators (Harvey and Knight, 1996). Self-evaluation processes
have evidenced contradictory results in terms of the benets achieved, often even
leading to resistance in certain academic sectors (Brennan and Shah, 2000b;Salter and
Tapper, 2000;Newton, 2002;Hoecht, 2006). In terms of external evaluation, the effects of
the different methods used and the perceptions of their impact in different areas have
been evaluated (Stensaker et al., 2011). Finally, in terms of the use of performance
indicators, accreditation in HEIs emerged in response to specic political and economic
circumstances that emphasize the importance of assessing the quality of services
through performance indicators (Power, 1997). However, this was also in response to the
rapid expansion of higher education.
In Chile, quality assurance processes through accreditation of HEIs began in the late
1990’s with the implementation of an experimental trial in the absence of a national
regulation framework. Despite this, most of the universities participated in the process
(CNAP, 2007). In 2006, to regulate both the organization and procedures of the
accreditation process, the bill creating the national system of quality assurance was
passed. Institutional accreditation in Chile was conceived as an analytical process for
evaluating the procedures existing in educational institutions to assure quality,
considering both the mechanisms, their applications and their results (Bernasconi and
Rojas, 2004;Lemaitre, 2009;Espinoza and González, 2013). Over the past 30 years, the
number of universities in Chile has increased (from 8 to 60), resulting in a consequent
exponential increase in the number of programs and students (Bernasconi and Rojas,
2004;Brunner, 2009;Espinoza and González 2011,2013). The most relevant event
inuencing this increase was the creation of “new private universities” which, unlike the
existing ones, i.e. those belonging to the Council of Rectors, which are traditional, and
those derived from traditional universities, both public and private, do not receive direct
nancial support from the government. These new private universities are very
heterogeneous in nature, provide a wide range of formative programs, and their
admissions have exceeded half of the total admissions at national level.
A decade after the beginning of the formal institutional accreditation process, the role
of the different types of universities and the factors determining the results of
167
Chilean
universities
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