Abstract:

The aim of this paper it is present a critical review of the higher education funding in Chile, to have a perspective and an overview and analyze the changes in this area in a context of reforms to the higher education system and its public expenditure.
In this sense, higher education systems are in a period of transition around the world, experiencing a significant increase in the number of their enrollments and undergoing a series of structural reforms (Hearn et al., 2016). A crucial issue of public policy is how and on what basis to fund not only the essential expansion of the higher education system, the answers to this political question invariably involved, across the political spectrum and around the world, an emphasis on the increase of privatization and the reduction of public spending (Nixon, 2017).
The forms of public funding in higher education can be classified according to their orientation, that is, if it is oriented to the inputs or the results, and according to the type of allocation, that is if it is centralized regulated or if it is decentralized of market, obtaining different ways of financing the institutions (Brunner and Uribe, 2007). In Chile, the universities receive public funding, which consists of the amounts of money distributed in accordance with the established Budget Law. These resources are allocated directly and through competitive projects to which they postulate Institutions, and that the resources allocated to students and institutions (Contraloría General de la República, 2012). In this context, there is another instrument, the "framework agreement", which seeks to strengthen State Higher Education Institutions through the provision of financing necessary for state universities to fulfill their mission and the guidelines emanating from public policy. The framework agreement has a performance component for the transfer of resources to state universities. In the year 2015 were transferred approximately 54 million dollars between 16 state universities. Resources that are not stable, but vary from year to year, which means a challenge for the stability of public universities.

Keywords:

Funding, higher education, reform