The International Fair will take place on November 16th, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. near the refectory Las Araucarias, where undergraduate students of different nationalities will present their culturesand student exchange experiences.

Getting to know people from different cultures is an enriching experience on a personal and professional level. With this in mind, the Student Mobility Office of the Vice-rectorate of Academic Affairs invites the undergraduate students of our University to share an intercultural experience at the first International Fair that will take place on November 16th, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., near the refectory Las Araucarias.

The main actors of this International Fair are UFRO students who have spent some time at international universities and exchange students from foreign countries at our University, from Mexico, Columbia, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, USA, Spain, France, Belgium, Portugal and Italy, who are looking forward to meeting fellow students and telling them about the advantages of a student exchange and the considerations that you might need to keep in mind.

“The idea is to motivate the students to make use of the mobility opportunities the University offers and to get together with students from other cultures in order to enrich each other by sharing their experiences. It is a space to generate networks within the same University”, said Antonia Espinoza of the Student Mobility Office.

The International Fair includes cultural presentations, stands with typical food, information about foreign universities and different contests. It is worth to mention that during the first semester of 2017, 31 undergraduate students of our six faculties went to foreign universities and 68 students from ten different countries came to the Universidad de La Frontera.

The eventwill end with an invitation to our Linguistic Café, which is organized by the Student Development Office, at 5 p.m., at the Casino Los Notros, where the students have the chance to speak different languages, such as German, French, English, Chinese, Mapudungun and sign language.

Antonia Espinoza, who is in charge of the Student Mobility Office, also invited the whole University Community to visit the photographic exhibition of UFRO students and foreign students who took the photos themselves during their exchange period. Thisis an itinerant exposition that will be put in different places of the University, starting on Monday, November 13th, in the central hallway of our University.

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.
The activity is free of charge and the participation is voluntarily. We invite our students and employees, as well as everyone who is interested and not part of the Universidad de La Frontera.

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.

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.