Rector Vidal meets with delegation from Matej Bel University and Honorary Consul of Slovakia

A delegation of the UMB composed of 5 representatives, accompanied by the Honorary Consul of Slovakia in Chile, visited the University of Santiago and met with the Rector Dr. Rodrigo Vidal Rojas and the Vice Rector for Outreach, Dr. Patricia Pallavicini Magnere. Later, the delegation held a meeting with authorities from different faculties of our University.

The University of Santiago of Chile received the visit of a delegation from the Matej Bel University (UMB) of Slovakia, with the purpose of analyzing and identifying points in common and opportunities for collaboration between both institutions. The UMB representatives first met with the Rector, Dr. Rodrigo Vidal Rojas, the Vice Rector for Outreach, Dr. Patricia Pallavicini Magnere, and the Director of the Department of International and Interuniversity Relations (DRII), Fernando Olmos Galleguillos.

The delegation from Matej Bel University was composed of Vladimír Hiadlovský, Rector of the university; Peter Terem, Vice-Rector for Science and Research; Jarmila Kmeťová, Dean of the Faculty of Natural Sciences; Miroslava Knapková, Head of the Department of Economics, Faculty of Economics; and Vladimír Müller, Department of International Relations and Diplomacy, Faculty of Political Science and International Relations. In addition, the UMB delegation was accompanied by Paul Nador, Honorary Consul of Slovakia in Chile.

Matej Bel University was established in 1992 and has 6 faculties: Economics, Political Science and International Relations, Arts, Education, Law and Natural Sciences. Since 2010 it has the quality of a public institution and, academically, it stands out mainly for international relations and economics. It is located in the historic city of Banská Bystrica, an important town since the Middle Ages, which today houses numerous monuments of great historical and artistic wealth.

Rector Dr. Rodrigo Vidal Rojas welcomed the UMB delegation and began by giving a contextualization of the University of Santiago and its main areas, such as Applied Sciences, Medical Sciences and Administration, Economics and Management. She also remarked on the origins of USACH in the School of Arts and Crafts and the objective of returning to that tradition. Subsequently, it was the Vice Rector Dr. Patricia Pallavicini Megnere who addressed the authorities of Matej Bel University to express the interest of the University of Santiago in the possibility of generating a collaboration agreement between the two institutions.

The UMB delegation then travelled to the Central House to meet with the Vice Rector for Research, Development and Innovation, Jorge Pavez Irrazabal, and authorities and professors from the Faculty of Science, the Faculty of Humanities and the Faculty of Administration and Economics. The space allowed the authorities of the faculties of both universities to discuss and identify similarities and contrasts, and to visualize opportunities for collaboration.

Important joint work has already been carried out between both institutions, having as a precedent the year 2019. Since then, several meetings of knowledge and exploration have been held. Similarly, collaborative activities have been carried out, such as the webinar "Central European Politics and Ukrainian Crisis", organized by the Department of Political Studies USACH and which featured a presentation by Vladimír Müller, from the Department of International Relations and Diplomacy of Matej Bel University.