Australia, Brazil, Belgium, the Netherlands and Colombia are the countries with which the UFRO is creating or renewing its double degree agreements.

Thanks to the signing of new double degree agreements and the renewal of the existing ones, the Universidad de La Frontera (UFRO) keeps being a leader in the training of advanced human capital in the south of Chile and achieving that its international alliances have a positive impact on its doctoral programs and research teams.

Dr. Berta Schnettler, the director of the UFRO International Affairs Office, affirmed: “One of the greatest demonstrations of institutional trust between foreign universities is when they establish and maintain double degree agreements, what confirms the academic quality of the programs that are in alliance with each other. In this context, the partnerships with institutions in Australia, Brazil, Belgium and the Netherlands represent privileged relations and links with high-prestige universities around the world.”

BRAZIL

In 2018, a group of academic representatives of the UFRO went to visit different universities and research centers in Brazil and achieved to strengthen and expand cooperation and partnerships. Dr. Luis Salazar, one of the UFRO representatives on the trip to Brazil, explained: “Indeed, this was an opportunity to address the partnerships we have been establishing over several years in a more institutional way and based on specific actions of cooperation between the study programs.”

On another recent visit to Brazil, Dr. Salazar was able to take up cooperation and to renew the double degree agreement between the Doctoral Program in Science with specialization in Applied Cellular and Molecular Biology of the UFRO and the postgraduate programs of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences of the University of São Paulo. He also started new conversations with representatives of the postgraduate program in Human Physiology at the Institute of Biomedical Sciences in São Paulo. The respective agreement has already been elaborated and is ready to be signed by the authorities of both institutions.

These links with universities and research centers in Brazil are the result of several years of work and symbolize one of the most ambitious developments for the university community regarding international cooperation and the creation of links for the development of strategic areas of the UFRO. It is worth mentioning that also another framework convention with the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) has been approved.

“We are very pleased with these partnerships and they motivate us to maintain a certain level of productivity, research quality and excellence in our academic work. At the same time, they contribute to the consolidation of a more centered and reciprocal cooperation in the different fields of research. Another positive factor of these agreements are the programs for international stays, scholarships and joint supervision of doctoral studies offered by CONICYT for studying abroad”, the academic added.

In detail, the new framework convention with the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro will allow stays and the exchange of undergraduate and graduate students, teachers and researchers, the joint supervision of thesis, and joint research activities, in other words, this is the basis for a double degree agreement for the related programs.

BELGIUM

Another important link regarding internationalization is the double degree agreement for doctoral programs in the fields of science, technology and engineering, that crowns the relationship the Universidad de La Frontera established with the University of Louvain (Université catholique de Louvain) over the last ten years. The main units of this agreement are the UFRO Faculty of Agricultural and Forestry Science, especially the Doctoral Program in Agri-food Sciences and Environment, and the Doctoral Program in Natural Resources in Belgium.

This Belgium institution is ranked among the best 40 universities worldwide. Dr. Adison Altamirano of the UFRO Faculty of Agricultural and Forestry Science said: “No other institution in Chile has a double degree agreement with a university of this level and that is the result of our systematic, detail-oriented work, into which we have put all our academic capacities, besides of the natural laboratory we are living in, the Araucanía Region.”

Besides of the double degree agreement for doctoral studies in the fields of science and technology, also the possibility of creating an international research center between the Chilean Universidad de La Frontera, the Belgium University of Louvain and the Macquarie University in Australia came up – a powerful intercontinental alliance with projections in a wide range of fields.

For Dr. Altamirano, the director of the doctoral program in Agri-food Sciences and Environment, one of the most important aspects of this alliance is to be able to contribute to the institution in a transverse way: “We have been working in the area of undergraduate studies, accepting the teaching challenge and making a positive impact on our students, also at the postgraduate level and, besides, we have made a tremendous contribution in the fields of research.”

THE NETHERLANDS

In February 2016, the Universidad de La Frontera signed a framework convention with the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. Dr. Carlos del Valle is the UFRO coordinator who initiated this partnership as a Research Fellow. After an internship in 2018, the proposition of signing a double degree agreement for the Doctoral Program in Communication was made within the framework of the project “Cultural Narratives of Crisis and Renewal (CRIC)” that was part of the Research and Innovation Staff Exchange (RISE) of The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions in Horizon 2020.

According to Dr. Del Valle, one of the main contributions of this link with the University of Groningen is that it allows an international visibility of high relevance, since this institution is among the best 100 universities in the world: place 79 in the THE Rankings 2019; place 66 in the Shanghai Ranking in 2018; place 91 in the Webometrics world ranking.

The doctoral program in communication achieved to make the double degree agreement a reality and marks a significant milestone. Apart from obtaining a double degree, this agreement will also allow the exchange of students and teachers of both universities, as well as of academics and mentors of the doctoral program. It also does not exclude the option to broaden this agreement and to include other doctoral programs in other fields in the future.

COLOMBIA

The doctoral program in Social Sciences of the Universidad de La Frontera, directed by Dr. Javier Mayorga, also wants to establish a double degree agreement with two outstanding universities in Colombia. The preliminary agreements have already been drafted. One for the doctoral program in Social Sciences and Humanities of the Pontifical Javeriana University (Pontificia Universidad Javeriana), which is one of the 33 universities of the Society of Jesus in Latin America and ranked in place 167 worldwide. It has 18,725 undergraduate students, 4,389 postgraduate students, 3,458 tenured professors and more than 1,500 administrative employees. In 2016, 2017 and 2018, the Pontifical Javeriana University achieved to be the best university in Colombia according to Times Higher Education.

The second preliminary agreement is for the University of Antioquia (Universidad de Antioquia). It was founded in 1803 and is considered to be one of the best universities in Colombia, with 26 units at 14 faculties, four schools, four institutes and three corporations that offer about 130 undergraduate programs. The postgraduate program offer includes 57 Master’s programs, 23 doctoral programs, 58 specialization programs and 46 medical specialization programs.

Written by: UFRO Communications Office
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