These six international students represent the reactivation of the inbound student mobility at UFRO after the pandemic, during which the students were only able to participate via classes, conferences and meetings online.

The International Affairs Office and the Student Mobility Office of the Universidad de La Frontera (UFRO) organized a welcome event together with the Office for Comprehensive Training and Employability and the Language Coordination Center for the six students from Germany and Spain, giving them valuable information for the first days in Chile, Temuco and at the university.

Some of the topics at this welcome ceremony were the English, German, French and Portuguese language courses offered by the Language Coordination Center (CODI) and the variety of student groups, which are more than 90, and the issues they address, which the Office of Student Development presented.

Besides the subjects in their fields of studies, the students were able to select elective subjects and programs that are part of the undergraduate programs at UFRO. After these organizational issues, the students participated in a city tour organized by the program “UniverCiudad” (“UniverCity”) and the municipality of the city of Temuco in order to get to know the city they are going to live in.

This city tour included public spaces such as the natural monument “Cerro Ñielol”, the stadium and park “Germán Becker”, the municipal theater, the “Pablo Neruda” railway museum and the main square “Plaza de Armas”, among others.

According to Antonia Espinoza, the head of the National and International Student Mobility Office of UFRO, this group of students represents the reactivation of the inbound student mobility at UFRO. “This is a step forward regarding the partnerships and internationalization of our university, because during the pandemic the academics, scientists, students and teachers promoted the international relations mainly via online meetings, conferences, and digital platforms,” she said.

THE STUDENTS

	Simon Beike, Technical University of Braunschweig, Germany History, Geography and Civic Education Pedagogy “I am from the north of Germany and my university has a cooperation agreement with the Universidad de La Frontera. I am going to carry out an internship at a school in Temuco and I am very happy, because I like the south of Chile because of its nature and the people who are very nice.”
	Lidia Prieto, University of Jaén, Spain Social Work “I am interested in studying at this university because I think that this experience will enrich my career as a social worker and bring me personal growth. In Latin America, we can learn from different cultures – indigenous cultures – that we do not have in Spain. I know a lot of students who came to Chile and fell in love with the country.”
	Madeleine Walter, Technical University of Braunschweig, Germany Business Administration “I wanted to come to Chile to learn Spanish and get to know the culture of this country. I am a Business Administration student and I am going to take subjects related to this field. I love the climate and nature of the La Araucanía Region, which I chose because of the cooperation agreement between my university and the Universidad de La Frontera.”
	Sara Jaque, Universidad de La Frontera, Chile Exchange student guide “I am part of our Association of Exchange Student Guides at UFRO. We help the incoming students to get to know the university, the city and Chile and to understand and overcome possible complications. I love this work, because through the contact with the incoming students we are able to ‘travel’ through them and to get to know their cultures, too.”

Written by: UFRO Communications Office
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