The visit of the Association at the UFRO Faculty of Dentistry lasted three days, with a tight schedule full of work sessions, conferences and official visits, among others.

Dr. Maria Cristina Manzanares Céspedes, the Secretary General of the Association for Dental Education in Europe (ADEE), visited the Universidad de La Frontera for a series of activities. Her visit is the start of the preparation for curriculum revision in Dentistry at our university.

The visit of the Association at the UFRO Faculty of Dentistry lasted three days, with a tight schedule full of work sessions, conferences and official visits, among others.

According to the dean of the Faculty, Dr. Ramón Fuentes, it is important to have a reference like the Association for Dental Education in Europe. This is why the university, together with the Chilean Dental Network which is a network of different universities, invited Dr. Manzanares to Chile. This way, her stay at the Universidad de La Frontera was the beginning of the curricular revision in Dentistry.

“The idea is to get an insight into the current dentistry teaching development by the secretary general of the European Association, what gives us clear and specific guidelines for the preparation we have to do this year, in order to being able to start the revision of the curriculum in dentistry next year,” Dr. Fuentes stated.

Therefore, Dr. Manzanares met with the managing team of the Dentistry School and the committee that will be in charge of the curriculum revision. She also visited some of the senior students in their final internship and held a speech about ´The Creation of a Training Program for Dentist Competencies in Europe´, in which she went through the beginnings, processes and the evolution of the work that has been done in this field in the European Community.

Her visit responds to the four objectives of the ADEE: collegiality, cooperation, collaboration and consensus. This way, she is making a big contribution to the work the UFRO Dentistry Program is going to start in 2019.

The director of the UFRO Dentistry School, Mónica Silva, has appreciated the visit and stated that it was productive and profitable. “I think that it could not have been better. She is an excellent academic, very transparent and generous with her knowledge. This opens doors, and regarding any question we have, we can count on her help, orientation and experience; so the visit has been really excellent,” she commented.

After the meetings, Dr. María Cristina Manzanares stated: “The team I met was very dynamic, interested and committed to creating a new curriculum and that is fascinating.”

Besides, she pointed out that in this first meeting, a very interesting dialogue has been created. “It has been an extraordinarily rich conversation, extraordinarily enriching for me and it placed value on the contribution with my personal experience, my academic experience and my experience as Secretary General of ADEE in the process the UFRO is realizing,” she added.

During her visit at our university, she also met with the rector, Sergio Bravo, the elected rector, Dr. Eduardo Hebel, and the vice-rector of Undergraduate Affairs, Ana Moraga.

Apart from that, she also participated as a speaker in the Workshop on Discussion and Dissemination of the Donation of Human Bodies to Universities for Morphology Teaching and Research that has been organized by the Faculty of Dentistry. After her visit at the UFRO, Dr. Manzanares went to Santiago in order to participate in activities together with the Chilean Dental Network.

Written by: Soledad Millapán
Faculty of Dentistry