Archival Education in Chile

A guest post, written by Valentina Rojas Rojo.

“In 2012, the then president of the Consejo para la Transparencia, the Chilean equivalent to the Information Commissioner’s Office in the UK, stated that the management of archives and records was the limping leg of the transparency law (1). This year, the current president of that same institution sustained that the archives of the Army contained important information about violations to human rights perpetrated during the dictatorship (1973-1990), that were still unknown due to the legislation that established their closure (2). How can these, as many other problems faced by the archival sector in Chile, be overcome?”

This is the opening paragraph of my dissertation on [the lack of] archival education in Chile, submitted in August 2015 for UCL’s MA in Archives & Records Management. That final question and, I rather say, the whole process of studying the MA and carrying out the research for the dissertation, was the beginning of a path that has started to give its first fruits, to grow and to spread in more directions.

Once I came back to Chile, I started to work on a project for the development of a programme of archival education. After one year of theoretical and practical work (including solving several difficulties derived from the challenge of coordinating two public institutions), in April this year the National Archives of Chile and the Universidad de Chile (the most important public University in the country), launched their eight-month Postgraduate Diploma on Archives, of which I became the Executive Manager (dealing with all practical things in relation to professors, students, resources for the lectures, etc.) and also a lecturer for some sessions.

The programme had more than 70 applicants for only 25 places, and I keep receiving e-mails from people asking for a new call for applications. The authorities from the University were happily surprised, while the authorities from the National Archives reinforced their belief in the relevance of developing archival education. As a result, we now have a good chance of continuing to grow and to improve the contents and the quality of the programme (may be transforming it into an MA?) and the National Archives is designating funding for developing another programme, this time for a technical level (3).

In all this process, I have had in mind and been inspired by what I learned at UCL, not only through the lectures and the readings, but also from my classmates and the many practical work experience opportunities included in the programme. In particular, I can tell that I have confirmed how crucial advocacy and project management are in our archival work; how vital it is to gain the confidence of and to communicate with our stakeholders; and mainly, how important it is to have the support of our colleagues, all those who have been involved with the endeavour as lecturers, advisors or simply by spreading the word and validating the project.

Even though the road is still long and we will need more time and effort, we will continue to persevere with energy and determination.

 

^[1] Ferreiro, A. Archivos, la pata coja de la transparencia. La Tercera 2012 October 9; Section Opinión:30 [online]. [Accessed 9 July 2015]. Available from: <http://diario.latercera.com/2012/10/09/01/contenido/opinion/11-120108-9-archivos-la-pata-coja-de-la-transparencia.shtml>

^[2] Cooperativa. Ex ministra: En archivos del Ejército aún encontraríamos información que no tenemos. 2015 July 30; Section País [online]. [Accessed 23 August 2015]. Available from: <http://www.cooperativa.cl/noticias/pais/dd-hh/judicial/ex-ministra-en-archivos-del-ejercito-aun-encontrariamos-informacion-que/2015-07-30/123929.html>

^[3] The Chilean education system gives two options for continuing studies after school: going to university to gain an academic degree or a professional qualification, or going to a technical institute to gain a technical qualification.