Career Development Positioned as Key Perspective for Higher Education in Times of Mass Access

Authorities from the most prestigious universities of Chile agreed that career development is a new perspective and need in the Chilean context and embraced its relevance for a better and sustainable relationship between higher education and the world of work.

More than 220 higher education policy makers, researchers and practitioners from Chile, México, Ecuador, Colombia and Argentina participated in the collaborative IV Biennial Encounter of Higher Education and the World of Work (BIESTRA 2017) held in Santiago, Chile from 19-20 October 2017. Authorities from the most prestigious universities agreed that career development is a new perspective and need in the Chilean context and embraced its relevance for a better and sustainable relationship between higher education and the world of work.

Organized by Universidad de Chile and OCIDES Organization with the collaboration of Universidad Diego Portales and Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, BIESTRA 2017 explored the relevance of career development and guidance in times of mass access to higher education in relation to the holistic development of students and graduates, and presented the outcomes and main recommendations derived from the International Symposium of Career Development and Public Policy (ICCDPP) 2017.

The keynote speakers were included the renowned expert on higher education research, Prof. John Brennan, Open University (United Kingdom); Daniel Pascoe, expert on career services and guidance at Ithaca College (United States); and Donnalee Bell, Managing Director at the Canadian Career Development Foundation.

The following local experts and authorities participated: Cristián Opazo, representative of HUMANIORA Network of Postgraduate Programs on Humanities, Arts and Communication Sciences; Kristen Sehnbruch, Director at the Public Policy Institute at Universidad Diego Portales; Danae de Los Ríos, Vice-rector for Undergraduate’s Programs at Universidad Diego Portales; and Rosa Devés, Academic Vice-rector at Universidad de Chile. Additionally, 16 higher education representatives presented examples of good practice and studies.

Natalia Orellana, BIESTRA Director at OCIDES Organization, commented that “we are highly satisfied to report that BIESTRA 2017 helped enormously to develop a deep awareness about career development and guidance in higher education in Chile and also in other Latin-American countries. The ICCDPP Communiqué 2017 (in Spanish) and its recommendations were a key aspect of interest among the diverse participants at the Encounter. For the majority of participants, it was their first introduction to career development and to the policy development work of ICCDPP. In fact, Universidad de Chile issued a public statement about the challenges that they face in integrating career development in their educational model”.

The event represented a consolidation of the largest of its kind in Chile, reinforcing a strong sign of inter-institutional collaboration within a market-oriented national higher education system with the participation of over 40 higher education institutions, public agencies of education-related matters as well as researchers. Some of the main discussion themes were:

• The relevance of career development and guidance in higher education,
• Integration and curricular relevance,
• The role of the humanities and the arts in holistic student development.

The BIESTRA Project was designed as a non-profit and collaborative initiative to foster innovative higher education strategies, in the framework of the DIES Programme of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and the UNILEAD programme from Oldenburg University. The first Encounter was launched in Valparaíso, Chile in 2011 by the Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María and Universidad de Talca with the collaboration of GUNi, DAAD, the International Centre for Higher Education Research INCHER-Kassel, and the MECESUP Programme of the Chilean Ministry of Education.

The organization of higher education professionals named OCIDES as the responsible body for the BIESTRA project, which was designed to allow different HEIs to be the host of the different versions of the Encounter. The objective of this particular mechanism is to promote inter-institutional collaboration among all the higher education system without segmentation of any kind (privates/public/university/non university institutions).

More information: www.biestra2017.ocides.org

List of Participating Institutions:

Centro de Formación Técnica ENAC

CFT Los Andes

DuocUC

INACAP

Instituto Virginio Gomez

Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile

PROANDES

UANDES

Universidad Adolfo Ibañez

Universidad Alberto Hurtado

Universidad Andrés Bello

Universidad Arturo Prat

Universidad Austral

Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana de México

Universidad EAFIT, Colombia

Universidad Católica de Concepción

Universidad Católica de la Santísima Concepción

Universidad Católica de Cuenca, Ecuador

Universidad Católica del Maule

Universidad Católica del Norte

Universidad de Antofagasta

Universidad de Bio Bio

Universidad de Chile

Universidad de La Frontera

Universidad de La Serena

Universidad de Las Américas

Universidad de Playa Ancha

Universidad de Santiago de Chile

Universidad de Talca

Universidad de Tarapacá

Universidad de Valparaíso

Universidad del Desarrollo

Universidad del Pacífico

Universidad Diego Portales

Universidad Finis Terrae

Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata, Argentina

Universidad Mayor

Universidad O’Higgins

Universidad San Sebastián

Universidad Santo Tomás

Universidad Tecnológica Metropolitana

Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja, Ecuador