The seminar was organized by the Association of Municipalities of the Coquimbo Region and the University of La Serena, with collaboration of the Sapiens Educational Foundation.

“Challenges of Education in the Decentralization Process. A Look at Local Development", was the name of the seminar held by the Association of Municipalities of the Coquimbo Region and the University of La Serena, together with the Sapiens Educational Foundation, in which councilors and heads of the different departments of municipal education. 

The event, which took place in the Pentagon room of the Andrés Bello Campus of the ULS, was attended by the mayor of Vicuña, Rafael Vera, president of the Association of Municipalities of the Coquimbo Region; the Rector of the University of La Serena, Dr. Luperfina Rojas, and the president of the Board of Directors of the state campus, Ernesto Velasco, and the presentations were considered by the professor specializing in educational methods and techniques, Claudia Castillo and the consultant specializing in policies public, Jaime Rojas, from the Sapiens Educational Foundation.

On the occasion, Dr. Luperfina Rojas highlighted the fact of working in partnership with the municipalities to achieve sustainable development in the delivery of quality education in the Coquimbo Region, highlighting that the ULS, every year, graduates top-level professionals in the field of teaching. “It is imperative to recognize that the training of leaders is not limited only to the transmission of theoretical knowledge, but must foster critical thinking and the ability to envision a better future for our localities. In this regard, the commitment of the municipalities in this process is undeniable, and although the decentralization of education has posed new challenges, I am convinced that municipalities can and should play an active role in the construction of solid local educational processes," he added. the first university authority.

The mayor of Vicuña and president of the AMRC thanked the university for being able to generate this type of content that is so important for municipalities, since these instances allow the execution of new strategies to work on in schools. “This collaborative work is very valuable because I believe that we have to involve all the actors and listen to the doubts and ideas that each one has. The idea has always been to listen to know how we decentralize education and be able to improve what we have; Perhaps the problems that have come our way in this challenge have made the path slower, but there is no doubt that we must continue working for public education in Chile and our region. We must look outward and take good experiences as an example,” said the mayor of Vicuña.

The president of the Board of Directors of the University of La Serena, Ernesto Velasco, emphasized the importance of this type of spaces for education and decentralization, indicating that “it is very important that there is a strategic alliance between the Association of Municipalities of the Coquimbo Region and the ULS, with the purpose of promoting education, improving the quality of the territory's leadership and how that ultimately translates into good public policies in the educational field.

The seminar was led by the Sapiens Educational Foundation, an institution that aims to strengthen learning contexts, from planning, curricular management, teaching and data collection in the classroom.

On the occasion, considering the powerful contents of the presentations, the agreement was made by the Association of Municipalities of the Coquimbo Region to be able to do so in provincial meetings during 2024.

Written by Patricia Castro, DirCom