On Wednesday, July 24, of the current year, 27 academics from Aysén University (located in the city of Coyhaique) they will decide who will lead – for the next four years – the institutional processes that will consolidate the installation of the “state and public” study house in Patagonia. Teresa Marshall, current appointed rector – and registered with three supporting signatures – would represent continuity, and on the other hand, Natacha Pino, academic of Civil Engineering – and registered with fifteen supporting firms – change.
Teresa Marshall is Social Assistant of the Pontifical Catholic University and Natacha Pino Industrial Civil Engineer of the University of La Frontera, both with significant experience in the field of management and the university world. The candidates have made efforts to socialize their navigation charts whose proposals converge and diverge in different aspects, that is why here we are synthetically about to see similarities and – mainly – differences from their campaign speeches, and thereby help to highlight the essential distinctions between the proposals.
The main similarities relate to the institute of a strategic plan, make improvements to internal administrative-bureaucratic processes, institute formal governances (such as the University Senate), consolidate academic body and give economic sustainability to generate adequate conditions for institutional accreditation processes. Other shared concerns concern the provision of careers relevant to the territory, implementing postgraduate programs and generating better strategies for linking with the environment. As a whole, the similarities – it should be noted – become more homogeneous in terms of objectives, but not identical in their operational forms (actions).
At the level of speeches outlined in public activities with the community, the fundamental differences between the Marshall and Pino candidates can be evident in different dimensions. With regard to leadership, the former proposes an exercise of “centralized” power based on personal experience, support networks and links with political power; For its part Pino, proposes a democratic-decentralized leadership, based on the articulation of local actors, anchored to the university community and the academic body. In terms of processes, Marshall’s eye is geared towards internationalization, the attraction of advanced human capital and participation in macro-level research networks; For its part Pino, proposes to prioritize and consolidate internal processes, organization chart (which does not exist), management with a focus on quality and open spaces with the local community strengthening the regionalist identity/vocation – leaving internationalization not to personal networks but to those of all the academics of the house of studies.
Regarding the programmatic axes, Teresa Marshall emphasizes “Accreditation, Infrastructure, University Government, Students and Internationalization”. For its part, Natacha Pino focuses on “A renewed university management and participatory government, institutional planning and quality management with an approach of excellence, efficient people management and economic sustainability strategy, Consolidation and integral application of the institutional educational model, Research as the central axis of institutional development, Positioning of university activity and professional capacities”.
In this context, both nominations – from different perspectives and priorities – propose strategies aimed at improving a myriad of deficits and institutional gaps, the approach of immediate needs. Improve and build trusts with key players in the territory and university community, consolidate institutional processes that ensure quality education and research, and create institutional development conditions towards an increasingly are key tasks to deepen over the next four years.
“More University for Aysén” (Marshall) and “Let’s build together a pluralistic, dialogueal and regional-going university” (Pino) are two proposals that are distinguished in priorities, form of leadership, institutional management, articulation with actors from the territory and vision for the future. The historic election of a first woman as rector of a public and state university will be in Patagonia, and the choice of continuity or change will determine whether Marshall closes his professional career with a brooch or whether Pino enters the story as a scenario of innovation of the higher education management model.
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