Development of traditional careers at new universities. The case of medicine Creación de carreras tradicionales en nuevas universidades. El caso de medicina.

Abstract

In 1981, the educational system in Chile was diversified characterizing Universities, Professional Institutes and Technical Training Centers. The provincial seats of traditional Universities were transformed in independent universities, which strongly increased its number. A number of private universities also emerged. This strategy was quantitatively successful, duplicating the number of youngsters between 19 and 24 years old that were following superior studies (from 88 to 199 per 1,000) and duplicating the registers at higher education institutions (from 118,000 to 244,000). The quality of the education is a matter of concern at the present time. In the case of Medicine, the Medical Schools Association has proposed to the Higher Education Council an accreditation system for programs that pursue the M.D. degree, based on explicit standards for all medical schools. Considering that teaching, research, laboratory and library resources in Chile are limited, accreditation is even more im