University of Santiago, Chile University of Santiago, Chile The University of Santiago, Chile (Usach) () is one of the oldest public universities in Chile. The institution was born as "Escuela de Artes y Oficios" (Spanish "School of Arts and Crafts") in 1849, under the government of Manuel Bulnes. It became "Universidad Técnica del Estado" (Spanish "Technical University of the State") in 1947, with various campuses throughout the country. In 1981, as a consequence of a reform on higher education under the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, it became what is now known as "Universidad de Santiago de Chile", with all activities centered in a single
Chile groups, regardless of whether or not they maintained their culture, traditions and language, and 4.6 percent of the population (692,192 people) fitted that description of indigenous peoples in Chile. Of that number, 87.3% declared themselves Mapuche. Most of the indigenous population shows varying degrees of mixed ancestry. Chile is one of 22 countries to have signed and ratified the only binding international law concerning indigenous peoples, the Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989. It was adopted in 1989 as the International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention 169. Chile ratified it in 2008. A Chilean court decision in November 2009 considered to