Protests have ‘substantial impact’ on Chilean rectors’ tenure

University rectors in Chile are significantly more likely to step down if they have been the target of street demonstrations from students or faculty, according to a study that suggests how higher education leaders are held to account in the country.

The paper, published in Higher Education, analysed data on 236 rectors from 60 universities between 1990 and 2019 to determine why some leaders remain in office while others involuntarily step down.

It finds that university leaders are likely to stay in post longer if their institution is accredited, older and state-owned, with presidents in public universities surviving 75 per cent longer than those in private ones.

The research also shows that rectors have a longer tenure if they are not the target of street protests.

Every demonstration against a sitting president reduces their survival time in office by 66 per cent, on average, according to the study. The paper adds that it is “perhaps one of the predictors that has the most substantial impact on survival”, but it is a significant factor only for presidents who have been in office since 2005.

Christopher Martínez, associate professor of political science at Temuco Catholic University and co-author of the study, said this finding was likely attributable to the lack of other university data before 2005, meaning that other factors could not be removed as variables rather than an indication that protests had become more frequent or impactful.

The data register that 41 protests against university presidents occurred between 1990 and 2019, with most of these relating to financial mismanagement.

An example of the impact of protests on university leaders’ tenure occurred as recently as this month. Óscar Galindo resigned as rector of Austral University of Chile on 14 January, just days after two staff unions voted to go on strike, following the publication of an audit revealing several administrative and financial irregularities.

Dr Martínez said that while student protests in Latin America were “very common”, the data showed that demonstrations against rectors specifically were not frequent. However, the findings suggest that their impact is still significant. He said this could be related to a lack of accountability within institutions in Chile.

“There is some kind of accountability when people go to the streets, in most cases peacefully, and say a university president should step down because there are serious economic troubles with the university. That’s a way to keep a president accountable for their actions,” he said.

“At the same time, it also shows that the institution is failing to deal with these issues.”

At most Chilean public universities, a governing council has the power to ask the rector to resign, but Dr Martínez said this happened very rarely.

ellie.bothwell@timeshighereducation.com