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With the signing of this agreement the UFRO is becoming the only strategic partner in Latin America of that university and the first Chilean institution for higher education to sign an agreement of academic cooperation with multiple projections with them. |
The Universidad de La Frontera (UFRO) is taking important steps towards internationalization. It has signed a new agreement with the Chinese Zhejiang University of Science and Technology. The agreement supports the links with the Asian country and is a recognition of mutual knowledge. A delegation composed by Fengmin Wu, the Council of Zhejiang Sci-Tech University (ZSTU), academic representatives and Xu Bu, the ambassador of the People’s Republic of China in Chile were present, together with the university president Dr. Eduardo Hebel, the vice-rectors, deans and directors of the nuclei, in order to make this milestone regarding international relations a reality. With the signing of this agreement the UFRO is becoming the only strategic partner of that university in Latin America and is the first Chilean institution for higher education to sign an agreement of academic cooperation with them. “Chile and China maintain good relations, a close friendship, and the signing of this agreement allows us to move forward regarding new cooperation strategies,” the authority of ZSTU said. Dr. Eduardo Hebel appreciates the link with this institution which is located in one of the most powerful regions in the world and which achieved a great development in the areas of teaching, education, science and technology. “This is one of the most important agreements we were able to concretize in the field of internationalization of the UFRO, not only because of the possibilities this implies regarding our academic activities, but also because of what this contributes to the Araucanía Region.” IMPULSE One of the benefits an international cooperation agreement offers is the possibility of doing student exchange, joint research and academic collaboration. This is also why the UFRO university community is very satisfied and motivated by this achievement. This agreement, which has just been signed, starts with the granting of two fully-funded scholarships for the UFRO, so the undergraduate and graduate students can study in Hangzhou or Anji during the second semester of 2020. For Dr. Lorena Vieli, the director of the International Affairs Office of the Universidad de La Frontera, this is a great achievement regarding the relations with Asia, and in this case China. “Our universities have common fields of interest and the announced scholarships will allow us to start with the first actions resulting from the agreement,” the university authority said. Zhejiang Sci-Tech University (ZSTU) is a multidisciplinary university with an emphasis on engineering and disciplines incorporated in science, fine arts, economics, administration and education. It combines the successful administration experience of the German universities for practical science with own experiences and explores ways to nurture international talents with innovative spirit and solid skills. The university has two campuses. The Xiaoheshan Campus is located in Hangzhou, a historical city full of culture and the capital city of Zhejiang, which is one of the most prosperous provinces in China. The other campus is located in Anji, in Anji County, and has been awarded with the UN-Habitat Scroll of Honour. Written by: UFRO Communications Office
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This new agreement with China converts the Universidad de La Frontera into the third university in Chile that will have a Confucius Institute, which is internationally recognized for the dissemination of the Chinese language and culture. In this context, the Chinese ambassador Xu Bu will be at the UFRO during this week for several activities. |
This is an important step forward regarding internationalization that will convert the Universidad de La Frontera (UFRO) into the third university in Chile that will have a Confucius Institute. Amongst others, this achievement was possible thanks to the good relations with the People’s Republic of China. The Confucius Institute has global presence and its objectives are the dissemination of the Chinese language and culture, the contribution regarding the development of partnerships in the academic field, as well as being a role model regarding international relations. This achievement was possible thanks to an important agreement of international cooperation signed by Dr. Eduardo Hebel, the university president of the Universidad de La Frontera, during his recent visit in China, where he carried out a series of activities with the aim of strengthening the university’s international networks. The agreement was signed with the General Office of the Confucius Institute (Hanban) – from where the Institute, which is present in 180 different countries, is managed – with the support of the Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China and the Communication University of China (CUC) as a counterpart. According to Dr. Hebel, “this is one of our most important agreements in the area of internationalization of the UFRO, not only because of the possibilities the academic and cultural activities of the institute imply, but also because we believe that this is an important step for our region, regarding the role of China in the world today.” This important milestone for the international relations of the Universidad de La Frontera has been achieved with the commitment and management of the UFRO Office of Outreach and Community Engagement, which together with the International Affairs Office will assume the institutional responsibility of carrying out the establishment of the Institute. OFFICIAL VISIT One of the concrete actions of this new alliance is that the Chinese ambassador in Chile, Xu Bu, will visit the UFRO and participate in a series of meetings in order to activate the opportunities that come up from bilateral relations, and to initiate the coordination the establishment of the Institute implies. This will be the second visit of the ambassador at the Universidad de La Frontera. His first visit was in April 2019.
Written by: UFRO Communications Office
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At the national level, the Universidad de La Frontera achieved an approval rate of 56%, being the best university in Chile among the universities that sent in more than four project proposals. |
Lyophilizate with honey-flavored propolis, a platform to manage the work environment, the elaboration of healthy legume-based snacks and an innovative solution for osteoarthritis of the temporomandibular joint – these are some of the issues these eight project proposals of the Universidad de La Frontera (UFRO), that have been approved in the VIU (Valorization of Research in Universities) Stage 1 competition 2019 of FONDEF (Scientific and Technological Development Support Fund), deal with. These projects allow the UFRO to be in third place at the national level regarding the number of approved projects, and to value the theses and ideas of its undergraduate and graduate students. The VIU 2019 Stage 1 competition of FONDEF focuses on the elaboration of a work plan, a business plan, the formalization of an intellectual property agreement and the project preparation and defense, which will take place in December 2019 at the CONICYT (National Commission for Scientific and Technological Research) office in Santiago de Chile. Each of the projects received funding of 2 million Chilean pesos and has a 3 months completion deadline. The initiatives have the support of the Office of Innovation and Technology Transfer (DITT), through the Unit of Technology Transfer (UTT), regarding the development of business and work plans, as well as the implementation of a series of workshops, which aim at strengthening the innovation and entrepreneurship competencies of the beneficiaries. The eight projects are led by: Claudio Rojas, Fabiola Valdebenito, Consuelo Arias, Verónica Iturriaga, Joaquín Rilling, Cristina Mardones, Jennifer Silva and Matías Hernández. THE PROJECTS “Supplemented hyaluronic acid as a solution for osteoarthritis of the temporomandibular joint (TMJ)” is the name of the project led by Veronica Iturriaga, who is a dentist, specialist in TMJ disorders and a graduate of the UFRO Doctorate in Medical Sciences. She explained: “The objective is to address the treatment of joint diseases, in this specific case of TMJ, having in mind that the population is getting older and older. The idea is to promote a drug that is already available on the market – hyaluronic acid – and to add another compound to it, in order to improve its effects on the jaw.” Cristina Mardones, a psychologist with a Master in Total Quality Management Systems, leads the project called “Wave: Work environment management platform for complex organizations and universities”. Regarding the objectives of the project, she explained: “I am passionate about institutional management and its continuous improvement. That is why I am developing a software that efficiently measures the work climate and helps to manage it at the same time, so the organization gets healthier and the people who work in it feel better.” Project name: Hidatest: A fast, sensitive and specific diagnostic test for the diagnosis of hydatidosis Project name: Additive to improve the rheological properties of asphalt binders based on corn leaves and oat hulls Project name: Propo Health: Lyophilizate with honey-flavored propolis from the Araucanía Region Project name: Supplemented hyaluronic acid as a solution for osteoarthritis of the temporomandibular joint Project name: Development of a bioinoculant for wheat of easy traceability and colonization monitoring using CRISPR genes Project name: Wave: Work environment management platform for complex organizations and universities Project name: Elaboration of healthy snacks with high protein content and high amino acid quality based on the processing of flour from legume sprouts with quinoa and brown algae Project name: PhysLav VR: Interactive and immersive simulator for physics experiments
Written by: UFRO Communications Office
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This new online portal is the most important space to access the scientific production of the Universidad de La Frontera. |
The Office of Libraries and Information Resources (DIBRI) of the Universidad de La Frontera (UFRO) launched the online portal of academic journals, a new digital space that is meant to function as a unified and standardized access to all scientific journals developed at this university. The portal can be accessed through the website revistas.ufro.cl or through the website of the unit. “The Office of Libraries and Information Resources now also supports the work of the scientific journals of the university, as it also is the case at other important institutions for higher education in the world. Our purpose is to turn this unit into a legitimate internal interlocutor by specializing in the access and administration of top-level scientific production,” Dr. Carlos del Valle, the director of the Office of Libraries and Information Resources at the UFRO, said, and also thanked everyone who has been part of the development of this project. The website has been developed by the Office of Libraries and Information Resources within the framework of a Conicyt (Chilean Commission for Scientific and Technological Research) Project and includes three scientific journals: Journal of Soil Science and Plant Nutrition, Cubo. A Mathematical Journal, and Perspectivas de la Comunicación (Perspectives of Communication). In this regard, Dr. Alex Seguel, who is in charge of the project, explained: “This project has been financed by the Fund for the Publication of Science Journals of the Conicyt Program for Scientific Information. The idea was to strengthen three scientific journals of the Universidad de La Frontera through the increase of their international visibility, of the quality of the papers and to strengthen the publishing entities by improving the strategies of publication, especially by using the journal management and publishing system Open Journal System.” The Open Journal System (OJS) has been developed to expand and improve the access to research and allows to control the whole publication process, from the dispatch of the manuscripts, the revision by peers, the correction, diagramming, publication, indexing of the data bases and search engines, to the open access for any user. THE JOURNALS The recently launched online portal already contains fifteen journals of different fields of knowledge and even some historical publications, which have been recovered and digitalized for this purpose. It is a documentary and historical heritage that is now available for all users of the internet. According to the librarian Nicole Drouilly and the computer engineer Cristian Martínez, who have presented the characteristics of the portal and the way it works, the purpose is to nurture it with new publications that are going to be developed or already exist within the university. “It is in our interest that the editors and our team use the OJS tool. Therefore, we will make sure that they get the support they need. Some of the journals that are on the online portal are also on SciELO and other sites. In coordination with the editors, we care about including or duplicating them in this system, what will allow us to improve the communication and to make visible that they come from our university,” the librarian Nicole Drouilly explained. At the launching ceremony the director of the Scientific and Technological Bioresource Nucleus (BIOREN), Dr. Maria de la Luz Mora, was also present and said: “Since we started this project together, the idea has always been to get where we are now, with our work reflected on the online portal, having all publications in one place, visible for the whole world, thanks to this great initiative of DIBRI.” The editor of “Cubo. A Mathematical Journal”, Dr. Ruby Rodríguez, also referred to the online portal as “an excellent initiative” and added that they “have been working with the journal for a long time. We are very glad that we were able to establish this group within the university and that we could bring our scientific production together at one place.” Cubo is one of the oldest journals of the university and “thanks to this initiative, we were able to digitalize all articles since 1986 and to increase their visibility within the national and international mathematical community, what leads to more and better articles,” Dr. Ruben Sanchez, who was part of the initial coordination team and presented the origin of the online portal, explained.
Journals of the online portal: Current Scientific Journals Historical Scientific Journals
Written by: Katherine Chávez
Office of Libraries and Information Resources |
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The Universidad de La Frontera offers 10 doctoral programs in different fields of knowledge, which are all accredited by the Chilean Accreditation Agency CNA. |
"We confirmed our position as a university of excellence", Dr. Renato Hunter, the Vice-rector for Research and Graduate Studies of the Universidad de La Frontera (UFRO), pointed out within the framework of the two new accreditations of doctoral programs that allowed this university to be one of the first ones in Chile to achieve to have all of its current doctoral programs accredited by the official Chilean Accreditation Agency CNA-Chile. The achievement of this goal confirms the capabilities of the university in the field of postgraduate studies and regarding the level of its researchers, academic staff and doctoral candidates. In this context, Dr. Mónica Rubilar, the Academic Director of Graduate Studies of the UFRO, pointed out: “With the recent accreditation of the doctoral program in Communication Sciences and the doctorate in Engineering Sciences with Specialization in Bioprocesses, all of our programs in the area of doctoral studies count with a public guarantee of quality. That does not only reflect the prestige this institution gained, but also the success of our processes of continuous improvement and quality.” Today, the law on higher education demands, amongst others, the mandatory accreditation of all doctoral programs and the Universidad de La Frontera achieved to comply with this obligation. But this achievement also implies certain responsibilities and new challenges. “Now we have to maintain the level of excellence we achieved and to do significant efforts in order to keep strengthening these programs, their academic staff, infrastructures, equipment and internationalization processes,” the Vice-rector Dr. Renato Hunter added. To reach 100% regarding the accreditation of the doctoral programs is a contribution to the decentralization of knowledge and of the training of qualified human capital, considering that this is a regional university that, from the Araucanía Region in the south of Chile, confirmed its commitment to quality and the link with the community. “But our social commitment is also to bring the research results associated with doctoral programs closer to the community and to see how we can contribute and broadly permeate society within the context we are living in,” Dr. Hunter explained.
Written by: Karimme Riadi
Vice-rectorate for Research and Graduate Studies |
