The diplomat met with young students to talk about the current reality of the Palestinian people.

Within the visit of the Palestinian ambassador in Temuco, the diplomat, Imad Nabil Jadda, met with young students of Palestinian origin at the Direction of Outreach and Community Engagement of the Universidad de La Frontera.

In this opportunity, the ambassador offered a talk about the current reality of the Palestinian people within the armed social conflict that takes place in the country and he encouraged the new generations to join the global defense of Palestinian rights and to work on peace in that territory.

In this respect, the director of the Outreach and Community Engagement Office, Dr. Nelson Araneda, performed a protocol greeting. “This is one of the most important visitors we received this year, offering a space to meet and who we received particularly well, as it is our spirit of pluralism and our policy of open doors for the social world”, he said.

Nabil Jadda was invited by the Arab Center of Temuco. This invitation included a series of activities, beginning with a Mass in the morning of Monday, 27th of November, officiated by the bishop of Temuco, as part of the Memorial of the “International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People”, introduced by the UN in 1977.

IGLU is a program for authorities, executives and academic staff of higher education institutions, to perfect their skills in university management and leadership and, at the same time, to generate instances of mutual cooperation.

High Authorities and scholars of different Latin American Universities from Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Brazil and Argentina visited the Universidad de La Frontera within the Institute for University Management and Leadership (IGLU) Program, which is organized by the Inter-American Organization for Higher Education (IOHE).

On this occasion, the Los Lagos University was the headquarter and host of a series of management and leadership activities that have been developed within the IGLU Program, which includes classes and on site experiences at institutions with good practice. The IGLU Program is one of four development programs (CAMPUS, COLAM, EMULIES) the IOHE offers.

UNIVERSITY MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP

The IGLU Program is offered by the Institute for University Management and Leadership, which is distributed in Regional Centers of the Americas. One of those Centers is at the Los Lagos University, which chose the UFRO in order to show the work of a public, regional and state university with good practice and auspicious projections.

In this context, the rector, Sergio Bravo, pointed out that “the Los Lagos University thought of this institution as an example for an important delegation with people from universities who have come to get to know the implementation of different programs, having in mind that we work corresponding to the Chilean education policies, which can be quite different compared to other countries.”

According to Dr. Julio Crespo, the director of International Relations of the Los Lagos University, the visit at the UFRO meets the objective of observing the work of universities, with regard to leadership and academic development. “This is why university executives and managers participate in this program: to obtain new experiences, make synergies with universities, and to strengthen their own institutions through an innovation project.”

Some of them have similar cultures, we have cooperation agreements with some of them and with others not. This is why the rector, Sergio Bravo, said that there is no doubt that this encounter supports our work of internationalization, and the experiences we presented address the management of research, the creation and development of the scientific nuclei, the fields of technology transfer and innovation, and the connection with graduates.

UFRO EXPERIENCE

At present, the Osorno Campus and the International Affairs Office of the Los Lagos University have been receiving participants since 2016 and are the headquarter in the south of Chile this year.

Against this background, the Universidad de La Frontera enabled them to get to know other university realities and educational contexts.
“We wanted to show this delegation of foreign universities the evidence of our strategic guidelines that positioned us among the 10 leading universities in Chile”, said the director of the International Affairs Office, Dr. Pamela Leal. She also explained that this visit opens doors to Latin America, since it helps to establish new cooperation networks and to strengthen the internationalization of our institution.

Dr. Leal added that the main interest was to get to know the work in the areas of innovation and technology transfer, monitoring of graduates and scientific and technology nuclei. “There is no doubt that this experience will provide new tools that can be used in each of the institutions.”

This activity was organized by the Student Mobility Office of the Vice-rectorate of Academic Affairs with cultural and food presentations, contests and information about foreign universities.

The first “International Fair” 2017 was a valuable space of cultural exchange, where exchange students shared their different experiences and cultures with our university community.

This activity was organized by the Student Mobility Office of the Vice-rectorate of Academic Affairs, where national students that have made a student exchange at foreign universities and foreign exchange students at the Universidad de La Frontera participated.

The event included cultural and food presentations, contests and information about foreign universities. The main actors of this event came from Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, Chile, the USA, Spain, France, Belgium, Portugal and Italy.

The “International Fair” was a great occasion for UFRO students who have participated in an exchange program, to share with their fellow students and tell them about the advantages and the things you might need to keep in mind if you want to do a student exchange.

During the first semester of 2017, 31 undergraduate students of our six faculties went to foreign universities and 68 students from ten different countries came to the Universidad de La Frontera.

“We are happy about the good reception of this event and that the UFRO students used the opportunity to get to know the experiences of the students who participated in our mobility programs and the international students at the UFRO. We think that events like this motivate our students to make their own cultural exchange experiences”, said Antonia Espinoza, who is in charge of the Student Mobility Unit.

	Paula Salvado. Spain. Rovira i Virgili University “I like the people here. The UFRO sponsor program is very good. It helped us a lot. I heard very good commentaries about the mobility programs here and that is why I chose the UFRO. I think this activity is very good, so the students get to know us and might get interested to go there, too.”
	Georgina Roig. Spain. University of Girona “Besides of the landscape, the people in Chile are the best. I came here because of the recommendations of a fellow student at my university who had been here before. This is a great opportunity to show our different cultures and also for the Chilean UFRO students to get to know other countries and other cultures.”
	Andrea Ramírez Rico. Mexico. National Autonomous University of Mexico. “It is very great and fun to be here at the UFRO. It has been a pleasant experience to be able to share with the people of Chile, because everybody is very nice. An activity like this helps us a lot to share and learn about other cultures.”
	Elliot Isaac. France. Institute of Political Studies of Rennes. “I came to the UFRO three months ago and I am going to stay until July of 2018. I think it is a very good idea to organize meetings like this between the students who come from other countries. This way, we can share our experiences and customs.”

As part of his tour of Chile, the Dutch ambassador, Harman Idema, visited the UFRO together with the consul, Germán Nicklas, to meet with the rector, Sergio Bravo, and to get to know the work of this public and state university.

The Dutch ambassador, Harman Idema, and the consul, Germán Nicklas, met with the rector of the Universidad de La Frontera, Sergio Bravo, and the director of the International Affairs Office, Dr. Pamela Leal, for one of the first meetings of rapprochement between the university authorities and the diplomatic representatives, who are starting their first period of office in Chile.

The ambassador, Harman Idema, took office four months ago and one of his first actions is a tour of Chile, to meet with different counterparts in order to start and maintain cooperations and close relations with the different regions of Chile.

“The main objective of my visit is to get to know the honorary consul, Germán Nicklas, since I came to this country only four months ago and it is important to me to know what is happening in this region with regards to business, politics and social issues”, he said.

This is why the diplomats organized meetings at the Regional Government and the Diocese of Temuco. The Universidad de La Frontera is the only higher education institution they visited to see the development and the regional expectations.

COOPERATION

The ambassador also appreciated the cooperation agreements the UFRO has with two Dutch higher education institutions in the areas of teaching and research.

“For us, making use of our link with two Dutch institutions – especially two agreements, with the University of Groningen and Maastricht University, initiated in 2015 and 2016 – helps us to move forward with the consolidation of institutional relations, in the aspects of collaboration and academic mobility”, explained the director of the International Affairs Office, Pamela Leal.

The ambassador, Harman Idema, also commented that one of the purposes of his visit is to be present at the inauguration of a new Dutch enterprise for sustainable salmon production that will open in Catripulli.