U. de Santiago Welcomes 170 Young Mobility Students

The programs that will receive more students this semester--mostly international students--are Business Administration (26), Publid Administration (14) and Public Accounting and Auditing (12), with students from 21 countries including Chile. The Academic Vice Rector, Dr. Juan Carlos Retamal, welcomed them on behalf of the Rector, recommending them to make the most of their stay at the university. “It is the time to create academic and affective networks, which you will surely remember in the future, personally and professionally,” he emphasized.

Last Thursday, 11 April, Universidad de Santiago de Chile officially welcomed the 170 mobility students who have come to our university as exchange students for this semester.

In a heartwarming ceremony in the Albert Einstein Hall of the Planetarium,  Academic Vice Rector Juan Carlos Retamal, with the Vice Rector of Outreach and Engagement, Karina Arias Yurisch, and the Director of the International and Interinstitutional Relations (DRII for its name in Spanish), Anoek van den Berg, greeted the students from Argentina, Austria, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, Paraguay, Peru, Russia, Spain, United States, Uruguay, and Venezuela.

On behalf of the Rector of Universidad de Santiago, Vice Rector Dr. Juan Carlos Retamal stated that “to materialize international mobility, as an institution we have undertaken to sign conventions and bilateral agreements with the best universities and university networks in the world. We would like to highlight Montevideo Group of Association of Universitites (AUGM, for its name in Spanish, Asociación de Universidades del Grupo Montevideo) and the Consortium for North American Higher Education Collaboration (CONAHEC),” he pointed out.

Dr. Retamal told the 170 students that “it is the time to create academic and affective networks, which you will surely remember in the future, personally and professionally.”

On her part, the director of the Department of International and Interinstitutional Relations of the Vice Rectory of Outreach and Engagement, Anoek van den Berg, along with welcoming the students, highlighted the initiative “USACH Without Borders,” a group of volunteer monitors to collaborate and support the process o inserting the national and international students in the reality of Universidad de Santiago and the campus.

“We invite you to engage with our students about their countries and universities to interest them in being part of our internationalization as a university, participating in “USACH Sin Fronteras” with your fellow students,” stated the director of DRII.

The programs that will receive the most students this semester, who are mostly international, are Business Administration, Public Administration and Public Accounting and Auditigng, with 26, 14 and 12 students, respectively.

Students come from 21 countries, including Chile, with most mobility students from Mexico, Brasil and Germany. Chilean exchange students come from Universidad de Chile, Universidad del Biobío and Universidad de Los Lagos.

Sense of Belonging

On behalf of the incoming students, Leandro da Silva, a Mechanical Enginering student from Universidad de La Republica de Uruguay, addressed the attendees of the welcome ceremony.

“I had three universities to choose from. I researched and the one that caught my attention was this one. Sincerely, the strongest point was the years of experience and the campus, because there is nothing like this in Uruguay and I had only seen this in the movies. Fortunately, I was assigned this university and I cannot express my statisfaction and the happiness I feel to be here,” stated the student.

“This university makes you feel a strong sense of belonging. University life here goes beyond academics. They don’t forget that we are people and not studying machines. Thousands of cultural activities, workshops, lectures and spaces make you really want to be here,” he concluded.

Author:

Armando Jaque Avila

Photograph:

Marco Avilés