An Innovative Model to Strengthen the Links Between the University and Society: the Case of the Catholic University of Chile

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1 IMHE 2010 General Conference Paris, September 2010 An Innovative Model to Strengthen the Links Between the University and Society: the Case of the Catholic University of Chile Alejandro Albornoz

2 The Catholic University of Chile (UC) - Founded in campuses located in Santiago, Chile. - Faculty: 2,789-65% Full time - Students: 22,848 Under graduate: Master`s students: Doctorate students 777 -Attracts 55% of the 1,000 best students in the country measured by the scores obtained in the national university selection test - Undergraduate student exchange: Students received: 1,350 Students sent: It produces 24% of the research projects and 23% of the ISI publications in the country: Current Research projects (2008): 569 ISI Publications (2008): 1,058 - According to the Times 2009 Annual University Ranking, the PUC is: 1st in Chile 2nd in South America 3rd in Latin America 277th at the world level

3 The Vicepresidency of Communications In 2000 a new Rector took office, and a new Vicepresidency of Communications was created, and all the central administration units in charge of promoting the university ties with society adhered to it. The core activities supported by the Vicepresidency are the following: Continuing education (including e-learning) University press Cultural and artistic activities Support public policy and social development Communications (internal and with the media) It has the following general objectives: Its services are completely integrated to the needs of the PUC. Its services have a solid competitive position within the market in terms of quality and cost.

4 General policy for extension activities As a general rule, the University do not allocate resources from the central budget to develop extension, continuing education or consulting activities. That means that all the direct costs of these activities have to be self financed. The initiative to develop an extension activity may come from the central administration of the University, an academic unit, an individual professor or from any unit of the Vicepresidency of Communicacions. Academis units are free to use or not to use the services of the Vicepresidency of Communitacions. However, the University s policy is that all the activities developed by the Vicepresidency must be endorsed by an academic unit in order to assure quality. Normally, the surplus of each activity is distributed equally between the Vice-presidency and the academic unit involved.

5 Organizational Chart and Financing Vicepresidency of Communications Annual Budget 2010 figures in euros ,0% 8,0% Convention Center Vice-President of Communications Information / Enrollment Technology/ Computing Executive Direction Finance / Administration Direction of Continuing Education and Extension Direction of Communications Direction of Public Policies Gray: financed by the university 5 Directors and 1 service platform Continuing Education University Press Culture and Arts Communications Center for Public Policy Yellow: self financed 9 service platforms Design Office

6 Financing Model Types of self financed units: External services units: these are the units that offer services mainly to persons and entities external to the University, for which reason they are under strong competition in the market. These are the following: Continuing Education University Press Culture and Arts Center for Public Policy External and internal services units (mixed): the purpose of these units is to offer services both to the units in the Vice-presidency and the University as well as to external entities such as nongovernmental entities, companies, etc. These units are also subject to market competition. They are the following: Convention Center Design Office Internal services units: the objective of these units is to offer services to the units of the Vice-presidency and to academic units of the University. They are the following: Office of Information and Enrollment Technology and computing Office of Financial and Administrative Affairs Cross subsidies: each unit may develop non profitable projects that are justified by their academic value but, to this end, they must also develop other projects which not only cover the costs, but also generate a surplus, making it possible to subsidy the non profitable projects. The existence of cross subsidies is frequent within each of these units. Use of the surplus of the Vicepresidency: Investments Annual Budget Subsidies to specific programs of high academic value Annual contribution to the General Budget of the University

7 Budgeting Model Forms and accounts: all the units in the Vice-presidency build their annual budgets based on the same criteria, accounts and electronic forms, with the option of consolidation at different levels. Full Costs: all the units must completely reflect their full costs, including: goods and services contracted from external suppliers, such as advertising in the press, teachers, coffee, printed material, etc. services offered by the internal units of the Vice-presidency for Communications Zero Base Budget: every unit, whether external, mixed, or internal services must built each year its zero base budget, considering its: Operational Budget: it includes all of the income and expenditure registered in the accounting of losses and earnings. Investment Budget: this groups includes all of the purchases of equipment, software, computers, furniture, and others. The investments are reported in a separate form that does not affect the operational budgets of each unit. The investment requests are approved or rejected at the central level of the Vice-presidency. The approved investments conform the investments annual budget of the Vicepresidency. Structure of projects: each unit, whether external, mixed, or internal services, must make a distinction in its operational budget between: The administration budget considers the fixed costs for each unit, including salaries and general expenses. In general, they don t have income. Several project budgets, each one including the income and direct costs of a specific activity. Therefore, each unit have the following structure of projects: 001 Administration 002 Project activity Project activity Project activity 3 : 999 Project activity N

8 Conclusions The advantages of this model are: promotion of entrepreneurship in academic units availability to all academic units of complex computing systems and high cost administrative platforms exemption of academics from routine administrative tasks the fostering of administrative efficiency and accountability in this area release of university resources to teaching and research The disadvantages of this model are: some attractive projects may not be developed because they are not valued by the market or government institutions, and therefore do not have enough financing some academic units considers expensive the services, since they are used to receive them at no cost

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