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Faculty of Agricultural and Forestry Science awarded the title of Honorary Professor to Dr. Pol Coppin of KU Leuven |
With pride and humility, Dr. Pol Coppin of the University KU Leuven (Belgium) received the appointment as Honorary Professor at the Faculty of Agricultural and Forestry Science of the Universidad de La Frontera; an acknowledgement of his academic career and his significant contribution to the international relations of this educational establishment. The acknowledgement was given to him during the inauguration ceremony of the Doctorate in Agri-Food Science and Environment, and also recognizes his productive scientific career that converts him into one of the leading researchers at the international level in the fields of geomatics, land-use management, forests, nature and landscape. He is an outstanding international researcher and his relation with the UFRO dates back to 2008, when he was dean of the Faculty of Bioscience Engineering of KU Leuven. In 2009, he signed a specific agreement with the Faculty of Agricultural and Forestry Science of the UFRO, marking since then an uninterrupted collaborative work. Within the agreement, around 20 Belgium postgraduate students came to spend a semester at the UFRO, to do an academic exchange and joint research work. This successful experience, initiated by Dr. Coppin, allowed expanding the collaboration and in March 2017, both universities signed the cooperation agreement and the double degree agreement for Ph.D. Programs that allows UFRO students – such as the students of the Ph.D. Program of Agri-Food Science and Environment – to graduate also from KU Leuven, which is considered one of the 50 best universities worldwide. Dr. Coppin pointed out that “this acknowledgement is the culmination of the collaborative work with the UFRO, for a joint project that paid off along the way”. He also added that he was able to find friendships in this University and his wish is that these cooperation agreements and programs he started will continue and grow over time. The Vice-dean and responsible for this cooperation with KU Leuven, Dr. Adison Altamira, said that this acknowledgement of the Belgium professor is also important for the Faculty, because it is the second time they award the title of Honorary Professor (the first one was for the worldwide renowned Dr. Miguel Altieri), which is an academic merit for an impeccable work, and in this case, for his contribution to the international relations of this academic unit. “Dr. Coppin has maintained a close relation with this Faculty over the last ten years, providing the possibility of student exchange – each year, we receive Master´s students and also KU Leuven academics. The latest success is the double degree agreement for Ph.D. students in the field of natural science and engineering that he made possible and that connects us with one of the best universities worldwide”, Dr. Altamirano concluded. “Dr. Coppin has maintained a close relation with this Faculty over the last ten years, providing the possibility of student exchange – each year, we receive Master´s students and also KU Leuven academics. The latest success is the double degree agreement for Ph.D. students in the field of natural science and engineering that he made possible and that connects us with one of the best universities worldwide”, Dr. Altamira concluded. The title of Honorary Professor of the Faculty is awarded to a Chilean or foreign professor of the highest academic level and whose activities contribute to the establishment, development, expansion or consolidation of a faculty. Dr. Pol Coppin is one of the most prestigious scientists at the international level in the fields of geomatics, land-use management, forests, nature and landscape. He developed an outstanding academic work and carried out managerial functions at KU Leuven (Belgium) and universities in the United States. His scientific productivity, with more than 300 publications in renowned leading journals, books, book chapters, conferences and international events, is also outstanding. He also participated in international bodies and agencies, such as FAO, UNDP, Swedforest Consulting AB+Swedish International Agency, Belgian Forest Service, Asian Development Bank, etc.
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This activity is for the whole University Community and includes the languages English, French, Portuguese, German and Mapuzungun. |
On Thursday 26th of October, at 5:30 p.m., the next Linguistic Café session by the Student Development Office (DDE) will take place. The activity will take place at the refectory Los Notros and wants to promote the use of different languages in conversations that are open to the community and free of charge. This is an invitation for the whole University Community. Five languages will be offered: English, French, Portuguese, German and Mapuzungun. If you are interested, you simply have to get to the indicated place at the indicated time. This activity focuses on the different languages. The conversations take place at different language tables and are guided by a native speaker or a language expert. Another goal of this innovative activity is to get fluent speakers, native speakers and beginners together, in order to get to know each other and to practice and improve their language skills in an entertaining group activity. The activity will take place on October 26th and November 9th, 16th and 23rd, at the refectory Los Notros, always at 5 pm. “This activity has been introduced and developed in different parts of the world in order to promote and practice different languages. Considering our reality at the UFRO, we thought of these languages, including Mapudungun as a kind of responsibility and because of its relevance for our environment”, says Camilo Vásquez who is responsible for this activity and has the support of the DDE. He also adds that the Linguistic Café is a valuable alternative for those students of the University who plan to do an exchange period abroad, because this way they can practice the language of their destination and listen to the experiences of other students who have already completed their exchange period abroad.
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This week, on September 25-28, international experts will get together with academics, students and the directors of the PhD programs in Natural Resource Sciences and Sciences with mention in Applied Cellular and Molecular Biology. The German agency AQAS is in charge of the assessment of quality and development of the processes of both programs that want to guarantee excellence at an international level. |
This week, on September 25-28, international experts will get together with academics, students and the directors of the PhD programs in Natural Resource Sciences and Sciences with mention in Applied Cellular and Molecular Biology. The German agency AQAS is in charge of the assessment of quality and development of the processes of both programs that want to guarantee excellence at an international level. Four academics and one PhD student are part of the committee of international experts, who are visiting the PhD program in Sciences with mention in Applied Cellular and Molecular Biology and the PhD program in Natural Resource Sciences of the Universidad de La Frontera for four days, for their international accreditation. The group consists of Dr. Elke Bloem of the Federal Research Centre for Cultivated Plants, Dr. Patricia Gandini of the Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia Austral, Dr. Robert Hänsch of the Technical University Braunschweig, Dr. Patricia Hidalgo of the International Helmholtz Research School of Biophysics and Soft Matters and Jorge Moreno, doctoral student of Molecular Biology at the University of Mainz & BioNtech RNA Pharmaceuticals GmbH. The international accreditation is part of the agreements that have been established in the performance agreement of internationalization of PhD programs, which the Universidad de La Frontera is carrying out. Until now, no PhD program in Chile has received this acknowledgement. In contrast to the national accreditation process, the assessors sent their observations before their visit, so the Institution could enhance its strengths and improve weaknesses. The process started in January with the signing of the accreditation agreement between the Rector Sergio Bravo and the agency AQAS. After that, members of the Institutional Analysis and Development Division that support the process assisted at a training in Germany. In April, the UFRO handed the first preliminary report to the accreditation agency with the aim of determining the admissibility. After that, a new report about the national accreditation processes of each program had to be elaborated and in response to this report, the experts sent their observations of what had to be improved. The next step is the visit of international experts which is taking part until September 28. |
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Agronomy, Nursing, Nutrition and Dietetics, Sociology, Medicine, Psychology, Physiotherapy, Dentistry and Civil Electrical and Electronic Engineering are among the top ten in Chile. |
Quality undergraduate education – this is the promise the Universidad de La Frontera wants to fulfill in each of the programs by delivering a learner-centered pedagogy, new didactics and evaluation processes with social responsibility and strong link to the necessities of the environment in which the students are going to act. The promise is taking shape and is consolidated each year, thanks to the continuous improvement process driven by the different units, especially the Vice-rectorate of Undergraduate Affairs which is responsible for the implementation of professional training policies and accompanying the academic and teaching management of the programs in order to achieve quality standards that convert the UFRO into one of the best in the country. The latest version of this ranking of the América Economía magazine (2017) gives a positive signal in this context, because 2 more undergraduate programs entered the ranking apart from the 7 ones that have already been among the best in Chile in 2016: Physiotherapy which entered in the 9th place and Civil Electrical and Electronic Engineering in the 7th place. The ones that consolidate their position are the programs: Agronomy (still in 7th place), Medicine (8th place), Dentistry (6th place) and Psychology (5th place); while Nursing climbed from the 5th to 3rd place, Nutrition and Dietetics climbed two places, from the 6th to 4th, and Sociology climbed one position to the 6th place. According to this edition of the ranking by program, this year the measuring process for prestige changed. This dimension considered the opinion of around two thousand teachers of the ranked programs. GLOBAL POSITION In the overall ranking the UFRO is ranked 13th, being the second best regional state university. The ranking considers nine different dimensions of the institutions in their analysis: Teaching Quality, Learner Quality, Research, Accreditation, Infrastructure, Internationalization, Inclusion and Diversity, Outreach and Community Engagement and University Life.
Written by: Direction of Communications UFRO
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The pigments of potato peel that contain all ranges of red and purple may be an alternative to industrial colorants and provide similar benefits as berries. |
To include healthy food in our diet is, more than a tendency, imperative for the human well-being. In this context, to consume healthy food that, in addition, has functional ingredients is a big plus, not only because they provide other properties but also because it is an innovation at the production level. With this idea in mind, the UFRO researcher of the Department of Chemical Engineering, Dr. Antonieta Ruiz, wants to extract the potato peel pigments of native potatoes from the south of Chile and incorporate them as colorants for their use in the food industry. “I found out that they contained very high concentrations of anthocyanin, which is a pigment of the same kind that you can find in berries and that has a lot of beneficial biological activities and I thought it would be interesting to explore what we could do with it.” POTATOES´ BONUS This question was the basis for a FIA Project (Agricultural Innovation Foundation) with a budget of more than 200 million Chilean pesos and which examines more than 40 types of potatoes with different tonalities. “We want to extract these pigments and use them in the food industry as a substitute for artificial colorants, mainly in dairy products, flavored milk and some pastry products.” At the moment, Dr. Ruiz is in the middle of the selection and extraction process in order to verify which the optimum storage conditions for the required use are. “We are exploring the appropriate varieties for obtaining pigments with potential of health benefit effects and with agronomic yield. At the same time, we are creating stable extraction protocols in order to guarantee food safety and to make sure a stability that permits their massive use as an alternative to synthetic colorants. This would give the potatoes an unexpected value as raw material”, she concluded. Written by: Lorena Espinoza
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