Reform, Modernization And Political Conflict At Universidad De Chile, 1963-1973

Abstract

The present article is a historical study of the “university reform”
at Universidad de Chile, which has been seen in the
historical perspective of the 1963-1973 decade. We will try to
correctly interpret the institutional particularities of the process
from the revision of the Acts of the Honorable University
Council, the testimony of its most relevant actors and the information
given by better informed authors.

It is very common to read and listen to references of the “university
reform” as if it was a univocal and homogeneous process
in every university in which it took place. However, the
particularities of each experience support the singularity of the
process at Universidad de Chile.

We will take a look at the evolution of the reform process at
Universidad de Chile starting from an institutional modernization
stage, going through a corporation’s structural reform
that eventually ended in a growing political conflict stage that
could not be overcome before the 1973 breakdown. We will
try to show the institutional structure of Universidad de Chile
establishing the transformations that arose as a result of the
university reform process.

Keywords: University reform, Universidad de Chile, modernization,
reform, political conflict.