The second version of the Seminar about the Internationalization of Higher Education, named “Regional Platforms and National Policies in Latin America”, took place in the O´Higgins room of the Ministry of External Affairs, on November 24th. The activity was organized by the Council of Rectors of the Chilean Universities (CRUCH), through their General Secretariat and the Advisory Committee of Internationalization, together with the Energy, Science, Technology and Innovation Division (DECYTI) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Chile (MINREL). The event was sponsored by the University of Chile and the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, via an Internationalization Agreement of the Chilean Ministry of Education (MINEDUC).

The objective was to continue the dialogue that started in the first version of the Seminar about the Internationalization of Higher Education in October 2016, and to respond the fundamental questions about the internationalization of higher education in this region. This meeting brought authorities together that are in charge of issues related to internationalization, scholars, students and researchers of Chilean and international higher education institutions.

This seminar took place between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. in the O´Higgins room of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with the participation of the ambassador Gabriel Rodriguez, DECYTI director and MINREL representative; Aldo Valle, the Rector of the Valparaiso University and CRUCH Executive Vice-president; Ennio Vivaldi, the rector of the University of Chile; and Fernando Alvarado, the director of the International Affairs Office of the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, representing the Rector Ignacio Sanchez.

The program consisted of two panels. The first one analyzed the “Regional Platforms” of internationalization, with the panelistsAna Maria Portales, representative of the International Cooperation Agency of Chile (AGCI); Oscar Garrido, rector of the Los Lagos University and president of the Inter-American Organization for Higher Education (IOHE); Carlos Antezana, rector of the Oruro University and president of the Rector´s Council for the Integration of the Subregion Central-West South America (CRISCOS); and Waldo Albarracín, rector of the Universidad Mayor of San Andrés, Chile, and president of the Association of Universities of the Montevideo Group (AUGM).On this occasion, Tito Flores, director of the International Affairs Office of the Chilean Metropolitan University of Technology (UTEM), was the moderator and Carol Johnson, director of the International Affairs Office of the Universidad de Santiago de Chile (USACH), was the reporter.

The second panel was about “National Policies” of internationalization, with participation of José de Santana, director of Institutional Relations of the Ministry of Science, Technology, Innovation and Communication of Brazil (CNPQ); Elizabeth Orjuela of the Colombian Research Promotion Office of COLCIENCIAS; Christian Nicolai, executive director of the Chilean Commission for Science and Technology (CONICYT); and Alejandra Contreras, director of the Chilean Higher Education Division (DIVESUP). The moderator of this panel was Julio Crespo, director of the International Affairs Office of the Los Lagos University, and Marcela Fuentes, director of the International Affairs Office of the Chilean Metropolitan University of Educational Sciences (UMCE), was the reporter.

The presentation of Michael Peak, Senior Advisor on Education Research at the British Council, named “Internationalization and Integration of Higher Education in Europe: Lessons for Latin America”, was also part of the seminar.

The seminar also provided simultaneous interpretation and was streamed live on the website www.cruch.cl. To see the whole conference, please click on: https://youtu.be/Hyf_FNUF634.

Source: CRUCH Communications Unit