The students come from Germany, Belgium, Colombia, Spain, Finland, France, Italy, Mexico and Uruguay and will now be part of the UFRO University Community, thanks to the work of the International Affairs Office in cooperation with the faculties, centers and institutes. Also two national students from universities of the Consortium of Universities in Chile (CUECH) are going to join the UFRO.

The Rector, Dr. Eduardo Hebel, together with other university authorities of the Universidad de La Frontera welcomed the 53 foreign students who are joining the university for their undergraduate studies this semester and appreciated this part of the process of internationalization, which is essential for the development and progress of the university.

“We are happy and proud that they chose this university out of the wide range of national universities. And the fact that the incoming students are from the best 100 universities worldwide shows that we are doing things right,” the university authority said.

Part of the welcome ceremony was the official incorporation of the new students who will mostly stay for one semester and who will also turn into ambassadors for the international alliances the UFRO has been establishing with its foreign peers – in this case especially with prestigious institutions in Germany, Belgium, Colombia, Spain, Finland, France, Italy, Mexico and Uruguay.

The director of the International Affairs Office, Dr. Berta Schnettler, said: “This is essential and our university knows that the support of student mobility does not only bring benefits for the students who come to our university to get to know our culture but also for our local students who can acquire new knowledge and new learning experiences from an international point of view.”

In the context of internationalization, which the Universidad de La Frontera is actively supporting with different initiatives and strategic programs, Dr. Schnettler assured that the International Affairs Office is focused on providing new opportunities through scholarship programs and on consolidating new networks to support academics, researchers, and undergraduate and postgraduate students.

For the support of the new students during their integration process, the university organized a network of collaborating students (local students of the different UFRO undergraduate programs who volunteer to help the new incoming students with their adaptation), who are going to be their sponsors during this initial phase.

Antonia Espinoza, who is in charge of the National and International Student Mobility Unit of the Universidad de La Frontera, explained that, since 2010, the institutional efforts brought more than 500 foreign students to our university. All of this is possible thanks to the different agreements for international cooperation and student mobility.

	Antilla Furst La Sapienza University of Rome, Italy “I have been to Chile about a year and a half ago and I fell in love with this country. I wanted to go to Temuco and not to a big city, such as the capital city, because I like the calmness. The university and the teachers are very good and their standards are very high. I will be here for one semester, during which I will have the possibility to take classes related to sociology and history.”
	Elif Üstuner Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, Germany “I am from Germany. I am a law student and I am 22 years old. I always wanted to study in South America and one of the options was to come to the Universidad de La Frontera in the south of Chile, thanks to the cooperation agreement between both universities. Since I like the Spanish language and I did not know the country, I thought it might be a great opportunity to make my dream a reality, to improve my language skills and to get to know Chile and its culture.”
	Minka Raatikainen Metropolia University of Applied Sciences, Finland “The Universidad de La Frontera is one of the partners of my university in Finland and the only one in Chile. This is why I wanted to come to South America. I am going to study nursing here for one semester and I am really happy with this university. The people are friendly and professional and they have helped me with all the paperwork and the adaptation process.”
	Constanza Daglio  Universidad de La República, Uruguay “When I started to check the possibilities at my faculty for studying abroad they told me about Chile and that seemed very interesting. Then, I started to search for universities and I found the Universidad de La Frontera which academically is ranked very high and that is what brought me here. I study business in Uruguay and I am going to take classes in business administration and law over here.”

Written by: UFRO Communications Office
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