The Future of Education

 Why there’s not undergraduate distance programs in Humanities in Chilean Higher Education after the Pandemic?

The Pandemic forced the whole world to go virtual (1). Online classes, streaming courses, and formats that were incipient, innovations or novelties, became mandatory.

A growth in the offer of virtual programs was observed in Chile after the Pandemic. They seized the opportunity and learning. However, these offers are concentrated in postgraduate programs, certificates and some undergraduate courses. But all of this in other areas, not in humanities(2). It is intended to analyze in detail why in the areas of Humanities (OECD), in undergraduate, this learning was not taken advantage of.

The main hypothesis that emerges is that the humanities cannot be conveniently taught remotely. The humanities would require attendance as a sine qua non requirement. Is this a prejudice or a truth?

This research aims to contribute not only to research on the modality and management of higher education in Chile, but also to provide scientific criteria for decision-making on institutional policies regarding the modality of teaching-learning in higher education in the field of humanities in undergraduate programs.

It will be considered 1) a theoretical framework regarding the possibility of achieving a true education under the distance modality. It will be complemented by comparing examples of success in similar linguistic-cultural spectrums, such as that of the Tecnológico de Monterey, in Mexico, and the Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia, in Spain. . 2) The data available from government and accrediting agencies to verify the pre- and post-pandemic undergraduate offer in humanities in the existing modalities. Finally 3) explain why only one Chilean university maintained this online undergraduate humanities offer according to official data.

The hypotheses is around 1) that there is a prejudice regarding the teaching of undergraduate humanities in Chile. And 2) there is no scientific criteria for decision making, implementation and quality assurance.

Is there a prejudice regarding the teaching of undergraduate humanities under distance modality in Chile and what disadvantages did the higher education industry observe for not prospering in undergraduate studies in humanities?