A 25 años de recuperada la democracia en Chile, las normas institucionales de las universidades regionales del Estado mantienen su contenido marcadamente autoritario, pretendidamente neutro en su definición institucional e intervenido por el Gobierno Central en la designación de los integrantes de sus autoridades colegiadas superiores. En este contexto, el tránsito hacia la democratización de estas instituciones, y su legitimación como instrumentos de desarrollo regional, pasa necesariamente por la derogación de tales cuerpos normativos y su sustitución por otros que les aseguren un funcionamiento democrático, orientado hacia fines y valores construidos a través de procesos deliberativos y participativos.25 years after democracy was restored in Chile, institutional rules of regional state universities still keep their content markedly authoritarian, allegedly neutral in its institutional definition and intervened by the Central Government in the appointment of the members of his superiors collegiate authorities. In this context, the transition towards democratization of these institutions and their legitimacy as instruments of regional development, necessarily involves repealing these regulatory rules and their replacement by others, ensuring their democratic performance; oriented goals and values built through deliberative and participatory processes. Also, the entire university community is called to a transformation process under rational values of the university institutional system, involving goals of rational actions. The purpose of this paper is then to describe procedures and mechanisms that would let major institutions to be legitimized development tools , endowed with decision-making systems that could guarantee democratic, transparent processes and an effective relationship with the environment. 

Universidad de Chile. Facultad de Derecho