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Thousands of female students are occupying facilities at Chilean universities up and down the country, demanding non-sexist education and an end to sexual harassment and abuse. The first of these protests was triggered several weeks ago at Universidad Austral de Chile (UACh) in Valdivia in southern Chile by the transfer to another post of a researcher at the Institute of Biochemistry and Microbiology, found guilty of gravely harassing a female administrator. Students are asking for him to be dismissed.

The spate of financial scandals that are rocking Chile have stirred a wholesome debate in the country on the importance of ethics in the teaching of economics. The Pontifical Catholic University of Chile’s economics and administration faculty has been under the spotlight since three of its former students, previously hailed as 'star students', were prosecuted and jailed for a week pending trial for tax fraud and other financial crimes

Thousands of students marched through the streets of Chile's capital Thursday to protest recent corruption scandals and to complain about delays in a promised education overhaul. Police said about 20,000 people took part, while student organizers estimated the crowd at about 150,000.

Chile's newly appointed Minister of Education will face a formidable challenge despite her impressive credentials. Long-standing public anger against Chile's education sector has brought students and their families into the streets on numerous occasions since 2011, demanding free education and an end to for-profit universities. Recently, student protests have ended in violent clashes with police.

The Chilean government's Lower House has rejected the findings of a report investigating allegations of educational profiteering in seven private universities. Student leaders and opposition politicians criticized this ruling, claiming that the government must not ignore illegal educational profiteering in Chile.