The University welcomes exchange students through its “USACH without Borders” program

To accompany and to provide advice for international students during their stay at our university is the purpose of the initiative "USACH Sin Fronteras” (USACH Without Borders), promoted by the Department of International Relations of the Vice Rectory of Outreach and Engagement. This program runs with the participation of a number of our students who act as monitors for international students that come to Universidad de Santiago for academic studies. Their tasks include supporting the students for any type of administrative formalities or to promote cultural and leisure activities.

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“Our responsibilities go beyond university formalities. As we know, not all customs are the same in all countries, so we help them fit in and live with the Chilean culture.”

This project aspires to become a benchmark in terms of the image that our university conveys to all the faculties in the world that with which it has agreements. This is being made possible thanks to people like Leandro Vargas, the main responsible of “USACH Sin Fronteras.”

“Our responsibilities go beyond university formalities. As we know, not all customs are the same in all countries, so we help them fit in and live with the Chilean culture,” states Leandro.

Additionally, the project considers all kinds of group activities: sports tournaments, visits to museums, outdoor excursions in nature, and of course, getting to know the most emblematic places in the city of Santiago. All this, with the objective of furthering a positive image of both our country and our university.

One of the reasons some of our students are encouraged to be members of "USACH Sin Fronteras” is because of their prior experience as exchange students. For them, having experienced this pushes them to make the experience of others more pleasant, because in many cases these students themselves have felt somewhat distraught in the countries where they lived.

“One of our activities was to organize a get together where typical meals were made. For us, being thanked by the incoming students for having promoted this activity is super fulfilling,” says Karen Díaz, one of the monitors in charge of the project.

USACH Brand

“A noteworthy aspect of the project is what is known as internationalization at home. Its purpose is for our domestic students to get to know realities of international students to encourage them to participate in mobility,” states Fernando Olmos, student mobility coordinator of the Department of International Relations.

If there is one thing that everyone that is part of “USACH Sin Fronteras” agrees on is the momentum of this type of initiative for disseminating the USACH brand throughout the world. Its members consider that treating incoming students well truly makes them ambassadors of our university, making it a benchmark both nationally and internationally.

Author:

Pablo Álvarez Cuenca

Photograph:

Department of International Relations