Chile: Jadue Announces First Popular University In Recoleta

Daniel Jadue, Mayor of the Recoleta comune in Chile's capital Santiago, announced Monday the creation of a new popular project from his municipality: the Open University of Recoleta (UAR). It will use the educational institutions owned by the municipality to start dictating classes and conferences beginning March 2019.

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The UAR initiative is created with the aim of encouraging people the ability to exercise a more critical, liberating, active and transforming citizenry in their day to day life. This comes in a country where the educational system is mostly private. Therefore, the project is not only for the residents of Recoleta, "but for all who wish to participate and join this new model of education, more democratic, free and transformative," stated Mayor Jadue.

This initiative is backed by several universities and institutions, both locally and internationally, like the University of Chile, the University of Santiago and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco). "This innovative idea, has the support of the University of Chile," said Daniel Jadue.

The project is based on the experience of other countries such as Spain, France and Germany, where popular universities are very well known and appreciated by citizens. In Germany alone, there are around a thousand popular universities, with more than 7 million participants.

Mayor Jadue also made an open call for teachers and professors, both locally in the commune but not exclusively, in order to contribute with the UAR. They have launched "an open call to professors, academics, professionals and technicians to join this initiative and share their knowledge with our future students, which has the particularity of being universal."

 

Wonderful answer! First activity of our #UniversidadAbierta (Open University) of Recoleta a success, thanks to the Open talk "Mars, the Next Frontier" by José Maza #VivirMejorEsPosible (Living Better is Possible).

The study programs will be put together through research on the necessities of the citizenship of the Recoleta comune, and to strengthen the collaboration with other communities in Santiago and other cities in Chile. The UAR will host classes in the 19 municipal educational establishments of the Recoleta commune, starting on March 2019.

Aiming for a more democratic access to knowledge that articulates different areas of expertise, the project is based on an educational model based on permanent pedagogic innovation, combining different modalities of presence for the students, from face-to-face to long-distance education.

Mayor Daniel Jadue, mayor of Recoleta, is a prominent member of the Communist Party of Chile. He is also known for implementing progressive social programs and successful development measures in Recoleta, such as the celebrated "Popular Pharmacy" which have in turn influenced national policies in an unprecedented way. He is also the first in Chilean mayor to implement laws to criminalize sexual harassment in the streets of Recoleta.