Higher Education approves closure of Mathematics Pedagogy in Linares

The Undersecretary of Higher Education approved the Closure Plan for the Pedagogy in Secondary Education in Mathematics - Linares program at the University of Talca, through exempt resolution No. 6,393, dated September 15, 2026. The administrative act was published in the Official Gazette No. 44,560, on Monday, September 28, 2026, in Section II, with the official reference CVE 2873697. The decision formally terminates a program that has had no enrolled students since 2024.

The resolution was issued by the Undersecretary of Higher Education, a body dependent on the Ministry of Education, and bears the signature of the Undersecretary Fernanda Valdés Raczynski. It is based on Article 25 ter of Law No. 20,129, which requires higher education institutions to submit a Closure Plan to said Undersecretary, and on Supreme Decree No. 29 of 2021 from the Ministry of Education, which regulates these processes. The regulation specifies that the institution may only execute the plan once it has been approved.

The file began with official letter Ext. No. 73/2025, dated June 9, 2025, through which the Rector of the University of Talca submitted the plan for approval. The University Education Division of the Undersecretary reported the fulfillment of the plan’s elements via internal memorandum No. 06/901, dated September 8, 2025.

The internal agreement that originated the closure

• The Board of Directors of the University of Talca resolved the closure, among other programs, in agreement No. 2,047, adopted in session No. 277, on March 31, 2023.
• That agreement was promulgated by resolution No. 500 of the same educational institution.
• The plan attributes the decision to the decrease in enrollment and retention, and to the labor context for future graduates.

No current students or faculty

• The plan reports that it maintains no current students, which coincides with the Higher Education Information System (SIES).
• Since 2024, there have been no enrolled students, and no students with pending processes are recorded.
• The last students graduated in 2023; three students with the option to rejoin did not enroll.
• During the second semester of 2023, students with the possibility of rejoining were notified, and the transfer of 3 students to new programs was authorized in 2018, 2020, and 2023.
• There are no academic hires in the program: the person serving as Director of the School of Pedagogy in Mathematics performs duties in the Faculty of Education Sciences, and the remaining academics, whether on a fee-for-service basis or dependent on another unit, were reassigned.
• The Program Assistant was terminated in 2023.

Deadlines, records, and labor rights

The plan sets the closing date of the program for the second semester of 2025, according to the Gantt chart in point 7. The University of Talca must inform the Undersecretariat regarding the execution, completion, and fulfillment of the plan within 10 business days of its termination, in accordance with Article 2 of the resolution.

Notification will be made by certified mail to the University of Talca, and a motion for reconsideration may be filed against the act before the Undersecretariat of Higher Education within five days of notification. The university committed to the safeguarding of academic records through systems such as the Curricular Management Information System (SGC).

The approval formalizes the University of Talca’s exit from mathematics teacher training in the province of Linares, within a context of sustained low enrollment. Although the plan leaves no current students or academics, the closure reduces the local offering of pedagogy and transfers initial teacher training in the area to other campuses and universities.

Source: Official Gazette of the Republic of Chile, No. 44,560, September 28, 2026, Section II, pp. 1-4 (official reference: CVE 2873697).