With a photo contest and a great experience acquired, the international students prepare for their return home.

The International Affairs Office of the university Universidad de La Frontera (UFRO) and its Office of National and International Student Mobility organized a Farewell Ceremony for the foreign students who carried out a semester of academic exchange at UFRO during the first semester of 2020.

Among the students, who came to UFRO for their academic exchange experience, are many students from Mexican universities, since UFRO maintains important ties with them in terms of student mobility and academic cooperation.
Thus, thirteen foreign students – eight from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), three from the Michoacan University of Saint Nicholas of Hidalgo (Mexico), one from the Autonomous University of Puebla (Mexico) and one from the San Pablo Bolivian Catholic University (Bolivia) – started to prepare for their return home.

During the second semester of 2020, six foreign students are going to carry out their academic exchange at UFRO – two from UNAM, three students from the Brazilian universities Universidade de São Paulo, Centro Paula Souza and Universidade do Estado de Santa Catarina, and one student from the Autonomous University of Barcelona (Spain).

FAREWELL CEREMONY

The Farewell Ceremony took place online, with the presence of the Rector, Dr. Eduardo Hebel; the Chief of Staff, Juan Carlos Parra; the Director of the International Affairs Office, Lorena Vieli; the Head of the Office for National and International Student Mobility, Consuelo Sánchez; and some of the members of the Sponsor’s Program for foreign students, which consists of voluntary UFRO students who help the foreign students when they first arrive at UFRO.

For Consuelo Sánchez, who is in charge of the Office of National and International Student Mobility, this year has been quite particular. “Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the students – whether they had decided to stay or to return to their home countries – had to reorganize their daily lives and to adapt to this new situation. In addition, like our UFRO students, they also had to make an effort to adapt to this new teaching and learning situation online.”

One part of the ceremony was the announcement of the winners of the photo contest, called “Student Mobility in Times of a Pandemic”. The first place went to Sarahi Vega (UNAM), the second place to Noor González (UNAM), and the third place to Gloria Pérez (Michoacan University of Saint Nicholas of Hidalgo).

It has been a semester full of challenges, and the Sponsor’s Program for foreign students at UFRO has made its greatest effort to ensure that the international students get the best experience possible, despite the current circumstances, and that they have a reason to return to the Universidad de La Frontera in the future.

Written by: UFRO Communications Office