Comptroller General approves appointment of new CNA commissioner with reservations

The Official Gazette of the Republic of Chile published on Friday, September 25, 2026, Decree No. 130 of the Ministry of Education, which appoints Manuel Alejandro Luna Monsalve as a commissioner of the National Accreditation Commission (CNA). The Comptroller General of the Republic processed the appointment through official letter No. OF173925/2026, dated September 10, 2026, although with a formal clarification regarding the regulation cited in the decree. The act was issued on May 5, 2026, and signed by the President of the Republic, José Antonio Kast Rist, and the Minister of Education, María Paz Arzola González.

The CNA is an autonomous body with legal personality and its own assets, created by Article 6 of Law 20,129, responsible for evaluating, accrediting, and promoting the quality of autonomous universities, professional institutes, and technical training centers, as well as their degrees and programs. The commission relates to the President of the Republic through the Ministry of Education, whose head issued the appointment via the Undersecretariat of Higher Education.

A six-year appointment with Senate agreement

The first article of the decree appoints Luna Monsalve, RUN 14.902.702-5, as a commissioner of the CNA for a period of six years, without the possibility of being reappointed for a consecutive term. The appointment falls to a university academic of recognized prestige and extensive experience in institutional management, undergraduate teaching, or postgraduate training, linked to a university located in a region other than the Metropolitan Region.

The second article establishes that, for urgent reasons of good service, the appointee shall assume his duties as of the date of his appointment, without waiting for the full processing of the decree. The third article orders the notification of the measure to the National Directorate of the Civil Service, the National Accreditation Commission, and Manuel Alejandro Luna Monsalve himself.

Comptroller processes the decree with a clarification

The Comptroller General of the Republic took note of the decree as it conforms to the law, but pointed out that the appointment corresponds to one of the members under letter a) of the first paragraph of Article 7 of Law 20,129, and not to letter b) as stated in the decision section of the administrative act. The official letter was signed by Ariel Grinspun Siguelnitzky, Acting Head of the Public Service Division, by order of the Comptroller General.

The clarification does not alter the validity of the appointment: the Comptroller’s Office confirmed that the appointee was linked to an institution located in a region other than the Metropolitan Region, a requirement that places him under letter a) of Article 7 of Law 20,129.

The previous selection process

The appointment concluded a procedure regulated by Law 19,882 and Law 20,129, whose main milestones were:

• The Public Senior Management Council submitted the lists of candidates to fill four commissioner positions at the CNA to the President of the Republic, via official letter RES PIN-ORST-00026-2025, dated May 27, 2025, approved in its ordinary session 1,965 on May 13, 2025.
• Official letter GAB. PRES. 333, dated March 2, 2026, sent the candidates qualified as suitable and eligible to the President of the Senate.
• Official letter 89/SEC/26, dated March 25, 2026, informed the President of the Republic that the Senate gave its agreement to the candidate proposed in the shortlist.
• Ord. (D.J.L.) 468, dated March 26, 2026, from the Ministry General Secretariat of the Presidency forwarded the communication to the Ministry of Education to issue the supreme decree of appointment.

Law 20,129 provides that the CNA is composed, among others, of four academics of recognized prestige, of whom at least two must be or have been linked to universities located outside the Metropolitan Region. Three of these commissioners are appointed by the President of the Republic with the agreement of three-fifths of the Senate, based on a shortlist proposed by the Public Senior Management Council.

The appointment defines one of those responsible for overseeing the accreditation of universities, professional institutes, and technical training centers, an area of high impact for students, institutions, and the higher education system as a whole. The publication of the decree and the Comptroller’s ruling also provides public record of the criteria by which the oversight body interprets the membership requirements of the CNA.

Source: Official Gazette of the Republic of Chile, No. 44,558, Friday, September 25, 2026, Section I, pp. 1-3 (official reference: CVE 2873272).