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
Official language main teaching language is Hebrew, English is taught as a second language, and most students learn a third language, usually Arabic but not necessarily. Other public schools have Arabic as their main teaching language, and they teach Hebrew as a second language and English as a third one. There are also bilingual schools which aim to teach in both Hebrew and Arabic equally. Some languages other than Hebrew and Arabic, such as English, Russian, Amharic, Yiddish and Ladino enjoy a somewhat special status, but are not considered to be official languages. For instance, at least 5% of the broadcasting time