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The executive director of the Fulbright Commission in Chile, Antonio Campaña, gave an informative speech at the UFRO Faculty of Law and Business about the existing international student mobility programs with the United States. |
The Fulbright Commission offers numerous programs and scholarships for research, educational, technical and professional exchange between Chile and the United States, for example with the well-known Harvard University or Georgetown University, among others. In order to disseminate these opportunities, the executive director of the Fulbright Commission in Chile, Antonio Campaña, gave an informative speech at the Faculty of Law and Business of the Universidad de La Frontera (UFRO) about the Fulbright Specialist Program and the U.S. Scholar Program. The informative speech addressed the two main areas of work of the Fulbright Commission, which are scholarships for Chilean citizens who want to go to the United States, mainly to obtain academic degrees, and the different programs the Chilean academics can apply to in order to bring visiting professors to Chile. “These programs are extremely important for our Chilean universities, because they allow us to build partnerships with North American academics and to promote mutual research and future publications, and even to think about future double degree programs. They are very important for making progress with the internationalization of the Chilean universities,” Campaña explained. It is worth mentioning that the visit of Linda Sheryl Greene, the dean of the Law School of the University of Michigan (USA), was also organized with the help of this program. “We consider the visit of the dean as very significant, since she is a constitutional expert who is working with the Universidad de La Frontera, especially with the Faculty of Law and Business, regarding issues that are a priority for Chile, such as the Constitutional Convention.” The dean of the Faculty of Law and Business, Dr. Paulina Sanhueza, emphasized the visit of the dean Greene and the opportunities the Fulbright Commission offers for the development of educational mobility and research. “Through her visit, we want to initiate a cooperation with the Fulbright Specialist Program in order to give our academic body the possibility to carry out an exchange with universities in the United States and to strengthen our research,” she commented. Click here for more information about the Fulbright programs and scholarships: https://www.fulbright.cl/
Written by: Karen Campos Reyes |
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Francisco Mejías and Eduardo Salas of the Agronomy Program and Gastón Sepúlveda of the Doctorate in Agri-food Sciences and Environment at UFRO will spend a semester at KU Leuven in Belgium, starting in September. |
The Project of Institutional Strengthening of the State Universities is financed by the Chilean Ministry of Education and provides an important international mobility initiative that allows students of the Universidad de La Frontera (UFRO) to spend a semester at KU Leuven in Belgium. “We know how important this experience is for our students’ academic career, as well as for their personal life. This is the beginning of our international mobility program and we hope to be able to add more opportunities to study abroad,” commented Dr. Adison Altamirano, the dean of the Faculty of Agricultural and Forestry Science at UFRO. The internship program includes the basic expenses for a stay in Belgium for one semester, the flight tickets, as well as an English course with a special focus on this international mobility program, organized by the Faculty of Agricultural and Forestry Science. THE STUDENTS Francisco Mejías and Eduardo Salas of the Agronomy Program and Gastón Sepúlveda of the Doctorate in Agri-food Sciences and Environment at UFRO are the first beneficiaries of this internship program, an initiative that will hopefully allow more undergraduate and graduate students to spend a semester abroad in the future. Francisco Mejías studies Agronomy and is very happy about this opportunity, which, according to him, is key in his professional training. “I will be able to learn new techniques before I graduate and I hope that other students of the different programs at my university will also get such a great opportunity to study at a prestigious university such as KU Leuven. I am also very grateful for all the support of my family, friends and tutors who helped me to take this chance and to go to Belgium at the end of the year,” he said. His fellow student, Eduardo Salas, also feels that this experience will be challenging and enriching at the same time. “The possibility to develop myself in a foreign country, socially and academically, is a unique experience that will expand my horizons and which I will benefit from for the rest of my life,” he explained. Gastón Sepúlveda is a student of the Doctorate in Agri-food Sciences and Environment at UFRO. He explained that this benefit will allow him to make important progress with his research. “This opportunity is very important for me, since I will be able to get to know another reality after such a long time with curfews because of the pandemic. That will also give me new impulses regarding my doctoral thesis. And I found a professor at KU Leuven with whom I can expand my knowledge and explore new areas in my field of work,” he added. Written by: Valentina Duarte Sánchez s |
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The business incubator and accelerator of the Universidad de La Frontera, IncubatecUFRO, was invited to the Annual Investment Meeting (AIM Congress) and the Global Business Forum Latin America (GBF LATAM), being considered as one of the best business incubators and accelerators in South America. |
IncubatecUFRO of the Universidad de La Frontera (UFRO) participated as one of the best business incubators and accelerators from South America in this event in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), in order to find new opportunities that favor the incubated small and medium-size businesses in the international market. “The Ministry of Economy and the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the United Arab Emirates invited us as one of the outstanding incubators and accelerators in Latin America. We want to use this opportunity and get to know different alternatives for our start-ups to enter the market of the Dirham, which is the currency in the United Arab Emirates, as well as trading opportunities with the Middle East and the possibilities regarding Latin America,” said Cristian Campomanes, the executive director of IncubatecUFRO. The business incubator and accelerator of the Universidad de La Frontera was present at the Global Business Forum Latin America (GBF LATAM), within the Expo Dubai 2022 and the Annual Investment Meeting (AIM Congress). “The first one provided a global vision of the economy and businesses, while the second one was specifically dedicated to opportunities of investment in start-ups and SMEs, with cycles of investment and conferences,” Campomanes explained. CONCLUSIONS Cristian Campomanes appreciated the opportunity to participate with IncubatecUFRO in the exhibitions, but he came to the conclusion that it is necessary to do some adjustments, so new businesses in the UAE and the corresponding region could find interest in the Chilean start-ups and SMEs. “We had meetings with actors of the whole entrepreneurship chain, where investors, entrepreneurs, chambers of commerce, incubators, accelerators, and co-work and innovation centers participated. In addition, we were able to visit some technical facilities of the sector, what leaves us a lot to work on in order to make use of all the opportunities we were able to get to know in this visit,” explained Campomanes. The aim of the participation of IncubatecUFRO in the UAE was to promote business opportunities between public and private businesses in the Arabian Gulf countries and their peers in Latin America and the Caribbean. For the business incubator of UFRO, this was an important opportunity to show themselves and their associated businesses and to get to know and get access to this new market. WHY THE UNITED ARAB EMIRATES? The United Arab Emirates are a bridge for international commerce between countries from the Middle East, Africa and Asia, incorporating different countries from Latin America in its international forums for some years now, so that growing ventures and companies can expand into these markets. “In the United Arab Emirates, they are always looking for new opportunities and new markets. For them, the consumers in Latin America are an unexplored market. At the same time, they are interested in being present in the logistics market, in which they have a lot of experience and are willing to invest,” emphasized the executive director of IncubatecUFRO. This year, the event brought more than 800 representatives of institutions all over the world together, including Jair Bolsonaro, the Head of State of Brazil, and Iván Duque, the Head of State of Colombia, as well as over 50 delegates from different countries. Among such a big and important audience, it was an honor for IncubatecUFRO to be in the select group of institutions that participated in these events.
 Written by:Abelardo Silva GarcíaIncubatecUFRO Translated by: Communications Office, UFRO |
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This agreement will allow to exchange knowledge, as well as to carry out student and academic exchanges between both universities. |
The Department of Forestry Science of the Faculty of Agricultural and Forestry Science of the Universidad de La Frontera (UFRO) signed a cooperation agreement with the Department of Forestry, Wood Sciences and Design (DEXYS) of the University of Thessaly (UTh) in Greece. The directors of the corresponding departments, Dr. Ricardo González Jiménez at UFRO, and Dr. Ioannis Papadopoulos at UTh, established this agreement and designated Dr. Rodrigo Vargas Gaete of UFRO and Dr. Dimitrios Samaras of UTh as coordinators of the agreement. Dr. Rodrigo Vargas explained that the main part of this agreement focuses on the exchange of knowledge with this important European university, which creates innovation and knowledge related to the design and optimization of timber resources. “At UFRO, we are working a lot in the field of natural resources and their conservation, starting with how we produce wood, including the economic aspects, but we have little knowledge regarding the added value at the industrial level or with respect to how we can be more efficient in the use of wood based on design,” explained Dr. Vargas. With the signing of this agreement, the two divisions agree on joint research and/or training activities; the exchange of knowledge, expertise and academic materials; the organization of conferences and/or events, and the promotion of other mutual activities.
Written by: Valentina Duarte SánchezFaculty of Agricultural and Forestry Science Translated by: Communications Office, UFRO |
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The next steps will include the active participation of the university community to receive some feedback before the approval and formalization process begins. |
Since the launch of the design process for the Internationalization Strategy of the Universidad de La Frontera (UFRO), the International Affairs Office and the Office of Innovation and Technology Transfer already made great progress with their work. In the first stage, they identified the key points and established a corresponding work plan. Some of the important steps in the development of this Internationalization Strategy so far were the work session in April 2021, where the Internationalization Committee of UFRO established the purpose of internationalization; the official launch of the design process for the Internationalization Strategy of UFRO in May 2021; and the trainings for the Internationalization Strategy Advisory Committee, carried out by the international advisor Marina Casals in June and July of 2021. “We started this process with the aim of developing a comprehensive internationalization strategy that includes international and intercultural dimensions in all of the university’s activities. We focused on what makes us special and unique, and on where we want to go, in order to identify and establish the main axes, objectives and actions for the next five to ten years,” said Franklin Valdebenito, the director of the Office of Innovation and Technology Transfer. “Therefore, we started with a self-diagnosis regarding the current degree of internationalization at UFRO, asked other universities with similar environments about their internationalization experiences, and had work sessions with advisors from Spain and South Africa,” Valdebenito added This way, despite of the two years of remote work due to the pandemic, the Universidad de La Frontera was able to keep to the schedule for the design of an internationalization strategy and made great progress within the expected time frame. Some of the steps in this process were the different work sessions with the Internationalization Strategy Advisory Committee to determine the axes, objectives and actions between July and September of 2021; the webinar “Internationalization of Universities in a Complex Cultural Context: The Case of South Africa” and a work session with the international expert Nico Jooste in November; as well as feedback activities with key actors of the university, regarding the development progress of the Internationalization Strategy. “We were able to prepare a first draft of the university’s Internationalization Strategy together with an Advisory Committee and key actors of the university. The next step consists of a public consultation within the university community, in order to get some feedback and to enrich our draft. We hope to be able to develop a strategy which everyone feels part of,” explained Dr. Lorena Vieli, the director of the International Affairs Office at UFRO. The current stage includes the development of a series of indicators for being able to monitor the implementation of the Internationalization Strategy, and the organization of training sessions for different groups of the university that will be carried out once the Internationalization Strategy is formalized. In addition, a public consultation will start this month, in which the whole university community gets the chance to leave feedback and ideas about the future Internationalization Strategy of UFRO.
Written by: UFRO Communications OfficeThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. |
