It is an important step forward for the UFRO program in terms of international cooperation and the innovation of teaching.

The Doctoral Program in Communication, which is imparted by the universities Universidad de La Frontera (UFRO) and Universidad Austral de Chile, has recently been incorporated to the international network Laspau Co-Lab of Harvard University. The mission of this network is to strengthen the quality and impact of higher education and it is an important recognition of the management, which has been promoting the program’s internationalization. This achievement opens up new opportunities for scholarship programs and the innovation of teaching.

Dr. Carlos del Valle Rojas, the director of the doctoral program, stressed that there has been an emphasis on internationalization, since they believe that it is one of the key factors for a doctoral program. “We had the opportunity to join this collaborative network of Harvard University, which has the mission to strengthen higher education. Our incorporation is based on our collaboration with the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, with which we have developed a double degree agreement and joint publications,” he explained.

The network of Laspau Co-Lab is mainly oriented towards teaching, innovation and the collaboration between universities in North, Central and South America. In this context, Dr. del Valle added that the PhD students of UFRO will benefit from this link through the scholarship system offered by the network and through the possibility of incorporating the Perusall platform, which will be a great support for the classes of the program and which will achieve an important innovation of teaching, since it is a tool that allows the students to do their readings in a more collaborative, participative and interactive way.

“An optimal preparation of the basic readings for the contents of the courses is essential for us, and Perusall works with leading open access university publishers, such as Harvard University Press, Cambridge University Press, Oxford University Press, Princeton University Press, University of Michigan Press, and so on,” he said.

In this context, Dr. del Valle pointed out that, as a first step, the aim is to make the Perusall platform available for the different courses and to get access to the network’s scholarships. Then, as a second step, the idea is to carry out joint activities, such as joint publications, seminars and research projects, with an international outlook and global importance.

WEBINAR

As a next step, and as one of the first activities within this network, the doctoral program is organizing a webinar that will take place on September 24, about the use of Perusall as a teaching support tool. This webinar will be led by Dr. Pablo Valdivia, an academic member of the doctoral program at UFRO, and John A. Paulson, a researcher of the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard University.

Written by: UFRO Communications Office