University Of Chile Research Articles

Does Quality Matter? Quality Assurance in Research for the Chilean Higher Education System

This study analyzes the research quality assurance processes in Chilean universities. Data from 29 universities accredited by the National Accreditation Commission were collected. The relationship between institutional accreditation and research performance was analyzed using length in years of institutional accreditation and eight research metrics used as the indicators of quantity, quality, and impact of a university’s outputs at an international level. The results showed that quality assurance in research of Chilean universities is mainly associated with quantity and not with the quality and impact of academic publications. There was also no relationship between the number of publications and their quality, even finding cases with negative correlations. In addition to the above, the relationship between international metrics to evaluate research performance (i.e., international collaboration, field-weighted citation impact, and output in the top 10% citation percentiles) showed the existence of three clusters of heterogeneous composition regarding the distribution of universities with different years of institutional accreditation. These findings call for a new focus on improving regulatory processes to evaluate research performance and adequately promote institutions’ development and the effectiveness of their mission.

Satisfaction level and correlation between performance and self-evaluation of physical therapy students in an objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) designed to assess clinical reasoning

Introduction: The Objective Structured Clinical Evaluation (OSCE) is an instrument that allows evaluating clinical reasoning among physical therapy students, considering that knowing the correlation between their performance and their self-evaluation, as well as their level of satisfaction with this instrument, is essential. Objectives: To determine the correlation between performance and self-evaluation (perceived performance) of physical therapy students in an OSCE designed to assess clinical reasoning, and to evaluate their level of satisfaction with this instrument. Materials and methods: Analytical cross-sectional study conducted in 159 physical therapy students from a university in Chile who participated in an 11-station OSCE. Performance checklists and answer sheets were used for performance evaluation (passing score: 70% of the maximum score per station and in the OSCE). Two perception surveys were also used, one for self-evaluation of performance (for each station) and another to determine the students’ level of satisfaction with the OSCE. The correlation between performance in the OSCE (overall score, score by station, and score by type of station) and perceived performance was determined using the Spearman’s correlation coefficient. Results: The level of satisfaction with the OSCE was high in 57.23% of the students. The correlation between the total score in the OSCE and perceived performance was significant, but weak (Rho=0.31; p<0.001). In students with a low satisfaction level with the OSCE, the correlation between performance and perceived performance was not significant (Rho=0.15; p=0.23), while in those with high satisfaction level it was significant and moderate (Rho=0.48; p<0.001). Conclusions: Most students reported a high level of satisfaction with the OSCE. However, in most stations, the correlation between observed and perceived performance was weak and very weak.

Psychometric validation and gender invariance analysis of a revised version of the attitudes towards research scale (EACIN-23) in a Chilean university student sample

Psychometric validation and gender invariance analysis of a revised version of the attitudes towards research scale (EACIN-23) in a Chilean university student sample

What do STEM+ Students from Two Chilean Universities do with their Teachers’ Written Feedback Comments Recorded in their Drafts and how is this Related to their Final Grades?

Feedback is crucial for assessing and learning; thus, teachers usually provide written feedback comments (WCF) to students. The purpose of this study is to identify what students do with the written feedback in tasks from the STEM+ discipline area and how it is related to the result of their grades, identifying the type of genre in each discipline. Participants were 5 university teachers and 57 students studying marine biology, phono audiology, and nutrition who performed 671 actions in authentic materials previously given by teachers from an intact class categorized in a corpus analysis. For this reason, this research follows a correlational longitudinal non-experimental approach. To achieve the objectives, the study uses Gardner and Nesi’s genre theory (2012) for text classification and a modified version of Faigley and Witte’s taxonomy (1981) to compare the decisions made by students concerning feedback comments made by teachers. Thus, the study compares the initial and final versions of each text based on teacher comments and correlates these findings with students’ grades. Results of this study indicate a significant correlation between students’ adoption of feedback and their grades. Furthermore, the two main life sciences genres from Gardner and Nesi’s study (2012) were found in the corpus.

Exploring Democracy Beyond the State: Students’ Union Democracy in Chilean Colleges

Political scientists have studied state democracy for decades using sophisticated methods for conceptualization and measurement to evaluate the explanatory power of various theories. They have paid little attention, however, to democracy in nonstate political systems. This paper fills this gap by characterizing democracy in college student government and investigating the factors affecting the levels of students’ union democracy (SUD) in Chilean colleges. Utilizing concepts from political science and sociology, the study identifies different dimensions of SUD with data from 162 campuses in 2018. The dimensions are aggregated to build an index of democracy for students’ unions. Although the majority of Chilean university students attended colleges with democratic unions, our findings reveal a deficit in democratic student representation in most institutions. The article also draws from the comparative politics, trade union democracy, and higher education literatures to explore the factors that vary by institution that could explain differences in levels of SUD. Ordered logistic regression analyses suggest that SUD is associated with institutional quality, membership in inter-university organizations, and student body size and socioeconomic makeup. The results increase our understanding of the features, status, and correlates of democracy beyond the state.

Tutorias universitárias em períodos de interrupção acadêmica: um relato a partir da experiência

ABSTRACT The social crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic represent periods of academic interruption that will affect the learning of Higher Education. Given this panorama, university tutors will acquire relevance as a strategy to be able to face this crisis and allow an exchange of experiences and emotions. The objective of this report is to present a tutorial strategy developed between the years of 2019 and 2020, in the context of an academic and psychoeducational support program of a state university in Chile. This strategy consists of six phases: (1) Initial meeting; (2) Diagnosis; (3) Planning; (4) Implementation; (5) Evaluation; (6) Close the process. The development of this proposal demonstrated the emotions importance, dialogue and the valorization of the student’s experience in their learning process and adaptation to the university. In addition, it provides an action framework for academic and psychoeducational support linked to university tutoring programs.

Employment of accounting professionals: A descriptive analysis for Chile

Purpose: The objective is to descriptively analyze the employment of accounting professionals from a university in Chile, contrasting their situation with the national average.Methodology: The analysis employed frequency distribution tables, contingency tables, Chi-square tests, and correlation coefficients. Data were obtained from a survey administered to 184 accounting graduates between 2012 and 2021 from a university in Chile.Results: The findings indicate that employability is higher among graduates from the studied university; however, their gross income is lower compared to the national average.Implications: The results are useful for improving aspects of the curriculum to better align with current and future labor market trends for accounting professionals. Additionally, it calls for an exploration of the determinants that explain the employment situation, with the aim of identifying potential areas for professional development.Value: Although there are existing studies on the employability of accounting professionals, this work contrasts a local reality with the national average to identify differences that can be translated into curricular improvements and public employment policy to balance labor market conditions.

Comparison of the level of direct contact with the natural environment in Chilean university students according to the geographical area where they live

Introduction: Contact with nature is essential for the physical and mental health of people, especially in university students. However, this link has been lost in recent decades due to the growth of cities. The objective of this study was to compare the level of direct contact with the natural environment in Chilean university students according to the geographic area where they live.Methods: Quantitative research was carried out with an analytical descriptive design. 272 students from 6 Chilean universities located in different geographic areas (north, center and south) participated. The scale of contact with nature was applied online. The Kruskal-Wallis test was used to determine significant differences between the response distributions according to geographic area.Results: Students from the central area reported greater contact with nature in their daily lives (45.40% in levels 4-5). On excursions, those from the south led (45.16% in levels 4-5). In physical activity, those from the south also had the highest percentages (58.06% in levels 4-5). Significant differences were found between zones in all dimensions (p<0.05).Conclusions: In general, students have little contact with natural environments, with those from the north reporting the lowest levels. This shows the need to include more green areas in educational institutions, especially in the north and large cities, to promote the link with nature and its benefits for the health and development of students

Comparison of Critical Thinking Skills between students studying the first year and the fourth year of Nursing at a Chilean university

Introduction: Critical thinking is recognized as an essential competence in 21st century education, especially in the health field, where it is required for complex clinical decision making. This study seeks to measure and compare the levels of critical thinking in students from different academic years.Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional design was used with a sample of 162 students, applying a 30-item survey with a Likert-type scale. Six dimensions of critical thinking were assessed and the Mann-Whitney U test was used to compare scores between groups.Results: First-year students reported higher critical thinking skills (average 3.69) compared to fourth-year students (average 3.45), with the difference in the dimensions of "Dialogic Reading" and "Dialogic Listening and Speaking" being statistically significant. Fourth-year students identified more areas for improvement in their skills.Conclusions: As students progress in their training, they become more critical about their critical thinking skills. Although both groups identified similar skills, fourth-year students showed greater awareness of their limitations, especially in the dialogic and substantive dimensions. This suggests the need for specific approaches in teaching critical thinking in nursing education.

Design and validation of a self-perception scale of basic knowledge about telehealth and digital skills for students in the area of Health Sciences

Introduction: the characteristics of telehealth and telemedicine pose a challenge for its successful insertion into the professional training curriculum in the areas of health. To date, no research has been carried out that addresses the integration of telehealth and telemedicine in the academic curriculum of Chilean universities.Objective: design an instrument that allows measuring the self-perception of students in the area of health sciences in relation to their level of knowledge of basic aspects of telehealth and digital skills.Method: a 12-item instrument was designed with a Likert scale from 0 to 7, made up of two dimensions: Basic elements associated with telehealth (7 items) and skills associated with the use of technologies (5 items). It was applied to 308 students from five Chilean universities in the area of health sciences, the sample was intentional non-probabilistic.Results: a Cronbach's Alpha of 0,9035 was obtained for dimension 1 and 0,9729 for dimension 2. The factor analysis confirmed the existence of the two proposed dimensions.Conclusions: the instrument designed allows us to measure the perceived level of health sciences students in relation to the basic elements associated with telehealth and the skills for using technologies

Chilean Universities in the main international rankings: Critical review of the results

Chilean Universities in the main international rankings: Critical review of the results

Stress, repetitive negative thinking, and mental health in Chilean university students: an ecological momentary assessment study.

Mental disorders in university students are a growing attention problem in the international community due to their high prevalence and serious consequences. One possible reason is university students' difficulties in coping with stress. Repetitive negative thinking (RNT) is a transdiagnostic process that, when combined with stress, can lead to the development of various disorders. We aim to determine the effect of stress and RNT on predicting various mental health syndromes in university students across 7 days. Prospective observational study using Momentary Ecological Assessment (EMA) with the OURMIND Mobile App. On day one, 238 university students responded to the SCL-90R questionnaire for symptoms of depression, anxiety, hostility, obsession, psychoticism, paranoia, somatization, and interpersonal sensitivity; RNT styles questionnaires, RRS for rumination and negative reflection, PSWQ for worry; SISCO-II for term academic stress, and sociodemographic. EMA consisted of five assessments a day for 6 days; each time, the students answered items about academic and non-academic stress (EMA-stress), reactive RNT duration and intrusiveness (EMA-RNT process), and reactive RNT rumination, reflection, and worry (EMA-RNT content). On day eight, symptoms were re-assessed. Seven hierarchical stepwise linear regression models were used to test the predictive power of the study variables in the development of SCL-90R symptoms. When comparing models, adding baseline symptoms increased the models' predictive power in all symptom groups. In most cases, including EMA-stress generated greater predictive power, except for paranoia and interpersonal sensitivity. Adding the EMA-RNT process increased the prediction of paranoia and obsessive symptoms; for hostility symptoms, RNT styles increased predictive power. For the final regression models, considering the initial symptoms, the EMA-RNT process predicted the progression of symptoms in six out of eight groups, while EMA-non-academic stress predicted the remaining two. Additionally, living with other relatives or friends was a predictor of depressive symptoms. The stress of university life impacts the development of psychiatric symptoms in university students. These results provide evidence of RNT as a transdiagnostic process in several syndromic groups. Universal preventive programs should consider the impact of academic and non-academic stress on university students' mental health. Targeting RNT would also benefit selective preventive interventions.

Impact of university academic performance on financial returns to education in Chile

This article examines the relationship between graduates' academic performance and the financial returns of their university education in Chile. By Analyzing data from 784 students who graduated from 10 selected Chilean universities between 2010 and 2016, this study utilizes linear and quantile regression to estimate returns. The results indicate that returns range from 4.9% to 15.0%, depending on the specifications and estimation methods employed. While linear regression suggests no significant association between academic performance and returns, quantile regression reveals a positive impact for lower and medium salary ranges, reducing the income gap with higher earners. The results of this study can be helpful in achieving a better understanding of the factors that influence returns to education.

Managerialism, accreditation and insecure academic employment across different higher education traditions

ABSTRACTThrough multilevel regression analysis, we examine the impact of managerialism, particularly accreditation practices, on the increasing job insecurity in universities. We find that universities that are accredited, private, secular or non-Catholic are more likely to offer insecure jobs, but that the relevance of these factors depends on each country’s academic tradition. Universities in the USA tend to offer more job security, whilst those in Chile are the only ones with a trend toward increasing the proportion of permanent positions. Accreditation is a good predictor of job insecurity in the USA, yet it is unrelated in Colombia and Germany, and it has an inverse effect in Chile. In the USA, we argue that accreditation serves as a conduit for managerial pressure, forcing universities to invest more in administrative bureaucracies to legitimise their academic quality, often at the expense of job stability. In Colombia and Germany, we argue that universities may hire administrators responsive to accrediting agencies that do not promote nor strengthen the academic profession. The concept of decoupling allows describing these countries' inverse relationship, or lack of direct relationship, between accreditation and job security. In contrast, Chilean universities show an integration between accreditation rituals and contracting practices aimed at job security. Our findings advance our knowledge of managerialism and higher education expansion by revealing its links to academic employment.

The Persistence of the University Dream: Class and Social Mobility as Projected by Students at a Chilean University

Higher education is considered an important dimension for building more egalitarian societies. However, despite the social value assigned to it, international evidence indicates that the social status of students’ families continues to prevent significant mobility in the social structure. In Chile, despite policies to increase access to higher education, the university system continues to reproduce inequalities of origin through selection, separating elite students from low-income students. In this context, little is known about the perception that university students have of the role that these institutions play in social mobility, especially for those of more disadvantaged social origins. This article explores and describes the persistence of the university dream among Chilean’s students at the Catholic University of Temuco, the Chilean educational institution with the highest percentage of poor students in the country, analyzing it on the understanding that aspirations represent idealist targets of the desired social class, while expectations represent realistic goals regarding the expected social class. Based on a statistical analysis of survey data from 209 students, results show that students’ family origin does not prevent them from projecting themselves as part of a higher class, with the university acting as an agent that dynamizes positions to favor greater homogeneity in the future social structure. In addition, postgraduate degrees are defined as a catalyst for future social mobility. Finally, the future tensions between the still-hegemonic meritocratic discourse and the reality of the social space that these students will occupy are discussed.

Emotions, subjective well-being and gender in basketball learning in teacher education: a case study

The narrative study of emotions in Physical Education teacher training allows us to approach the associated personal and social meanings. The first objective of this research was to understand in a Chilean context the emotional meanings of university Physical Education students in their learning of basketball. Secondly, the objective was to interpret these emotional meanings from a gender perspective. A qualitative, interpretative, and phenomenological methodology was used. Four women and seven men from the Physical Education Pedagogy program at a private Chilean university in the Metropolitan Region participated in the study. The data were collected through personal diaries, which were subjected to a deductive-inductive content analysis with the Atlas.ti 22 program. The results show 14 categories referring to four positive emotions and six negative emotions for subjective well-being. There were nine shared and five separate categories between male and female gender. It is concluded that the recognized meanings can be used to favor subjective well-being by means of didactic adaptations in basketball learning.

Educación sobre las disciplinas del dolor en las carreras de kinesiología en Chile: necesidad de un cambio

Pain is a major public health concern associated with emotional disorders and physical disability and generates increased sick leave and healthcare expenditures. However, despite its social impact and the high pain-related costs, the training of healthcare professionals, such as physical therapists, in pain management is insufficient, leading to an inadequate therapeutic approach. This study aimed to determine the existence of a specific program on pain within the curricula of physical therapy careers in accredited universities in Chile. Out of 40 physical therapy careers, we analyzed 38 curricula. None of them had a specific discipline on pain management in their curricula. Although there is no concrete definition of the best modality for pain education in undergraduate students, it has been shown that following the International Association for The Study of Pain curricula improves students' knowledge and awareness of pain management.

Educación sobre las disciplinas del dolor en las carreras de kinesiología en Chile: necesidad de un cambio

Pain is a major public health concern associated with emotional disorders and physical disability and generates increased sick leave and healthcare expenditures. However, despite its social impact and the high pain-related costs, the training of healthcare professionals, such as physical therapists, in pain management is insufficient, leading to an inadequate therapeutic approach. This study aimed to determine the existence of a specific program on pain within the curricula of physical therapy careers in accredited universities in Chile. Out of 40 physical therapy careers, we analyzed 38 curricula. None of them had a specific discipline on pain management in their curricula. Although there is no concrete definition of the best modality for pain education in undergraduate students, it has been shown that following the International Association for The Study of Pain curricula improves students' knowledge and awareness of pain management.

Post-pandemic psychosocial variables affecting academic dropout in a sample of Chilean higher-education students

IntroductionUniversity dropouts are a problem in the Chilean higher education system, which causes psychosocial and economic damage and requires further studies to understand it comprehensively. This study aimed to determine the psychosocial variables influencing the risk of dropping out of the higher education system in a sample of Chilean university students post-pandemic.MethodsWith a sample of 655 students from the Chilean higher education system and with a cross-sectional study design taken in November 2022, a questionnaire was applied with sociodemographic and other variables of interest, the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale DASS-21, the EAC-19 Coronavirus Affect Scale, the ECE Emotional Exhaustion Scale; the Okasha Suicide Scale, and the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI). We performed descriptive, bivariate, and multiple logistic regression analyses through SPSS version 25. Variables with a value of p <0.05 in the final model were declared statistically significant. Odds ratios (OR) were adjusted to 95% confidence intervals (95% CI), which were used to determine the independent predictor variables.ResultsSignificant variables for the risk of dropping out of higher education were: failing four or more courses [AOR = 3.434; 95% CI: 1.272, 9.269], having depressive symptoms [AOR = 1.857; 95% CI: 1.214, 2.839], having suicidal ideation and thoughts [AOR = 2.169; 95% CI: 1.509, 3.118], having clinical insomnia [AOR = 2.024; 95% CI: 1.400, 2.927], low parental support [AOR = 1.459; 95% CI: 1.029, 2.069], impaired performance during the pandemic [AOR = 1.882; 95% CI: 1.317, 2.690], and impaired socioeconomic status during the pandemic [AOR = 1.649; 95% CI: 1.153, 2.357].ConclusionChilean higher education institutions should pay attention to the risk factors resulting from this research, such as students with more than four failed courses during their career, depressive symptoms, suicidal thoughts, clinical insomnia, low parental support, and affectation in performance and socioeconomic level during the pandemic, which could contribute to improving academic retention indicators.

Gender biases in university bibliography: an analysis in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Chile

Introduction: sexism in education contributes to perpetuate gender inequalities in the training of professionals. Despite institutional efforts to eradicate it, there is no evidence of results in formal curricula. This study seeks to evaluate the presence of sexism and androcentrism in the curricular undergraduate programs of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Chile.Methods: the curricular programs were compiled and a database was created with their compulsory bibliography, considering variables such as career, level, subject credits, gender of the teacher in charge of the course (PEC, Profesor Encargado del Curso in Spanish) and gender of the first authorship. A stratified analysis was performed to compare the number and proportion of authorships in the faculty, in addition to using a logistic regression model to identify the most influential variables.Results: we obtained 1 138 bibliographic references, mostly written by men (66,3 %; n=604). A predominance of male authors was observed in all areas of training, especially in Sciences. The careers with the highest proportion of female authors were those that are feminized. The level and credits of the subjects, the gender of the PEC and the year of publication, did not have a significant influence.Conclusions: the results indicate the presence of sexism and androcentrism biases in the mandatory bibliography of the undergraduate programs of the Faculty of Medicine. These findings highlight the importance of promoting more equitable and inclusive education, actively addressing the presence of gender stereotypes in curricular content