This semester, 36 mobility students from different countries and universities came to Universidad de La Frontera, 29 to join the undergraduate programs and 7 to join the graduate programs.

The International Affairs Office of Universidad de La Frontera (UFRO) organized an orientation week for the new incoming mobility students, with the traditional welcome ceremony, in which the students were able to get to know the numerous programs and offers that will make their stay in the La Araucanía region in Chile a unique experience.

The first orientation meeting, led by Antonia Espinoza Corzo, the head of the Student Mobility Office, consisted of a series of talks on topics of great utility for the incoming students, such as enrolment and subject registration procedures and the presentation of UFROs different units, which will be very useful for the students’ acclimatisation.

“We invited those units that might contribute to the success of our incoming students, such as the Student Development Office, with its student clubs and associations, and the health department; and the Office of Comprehensive Training and Employability, to present the offer of elective subjects, which the mobility students can choose from, as well as language courses, which also include English and Spanish. The initiative Temuco Univerciudad (“UniverCity”) was also present, showing them the large offer of activities in our city,” Antonia Espinoza pointed out.

In addition to the 29 undergraduate students who join UFRO during the second semester, seven graduate students from different countries in America and Europe arrived in Temuco.

“Throughout the semester, we organize several activities, such as trips, fairs and festivals organized by the International Affairs Office and the university; events organized by the members of our Buddy Program; and activities organized by the initiative Temuco Univerciudad, which are open to all mobility students in the city of Temuco,” Antonia Espinoza explained.

It is worth mentioning that the welcome ceremony gave start to the official Orientation Week, which also included the workshop “Living abroad”, where the young students received a number of tips on how to confront the possible challenges of international student mobility; a tour around the city of Temuco; and a welcome activity organized by the “Buddy Program”, which consists of local students who support the incoming mobility students to facilitate their adaptation process.

THE STUDENTS

	Cristian Luna, Nursing, National Autonomous University of Mexico “This activity was very helpful and interesting. Temuco offers a lot of things to do and places to discover, and also the offer of activities here at UFRO sounds very interesting.”
	Millaray Lefimán, deputy director of the Buddy Program of the Student Mobility Office “I presented our program today. The incoming students had the chance to contact us before coming to Chile, so we could help them with issues such as where to go, what clothes to bring, and so on. We wanted them to know that we are a team that works together and that there is an outreach team and our team leaders. Today, we wanted to show them what we do and the activities we have planned for them throughout the semester.”
	Lisa Van Zutphen, International Relations, University of Groningen, the Netherlands “I think that this activity is very useful and interesting, since I did not know anything about UFRO, only those things that my contact of the Buddy Program told me. In the Netherlands, I study International Relations and at UFRO, I will take several courses in Psychology. After receiving all the information today, I think I will also choose an elective in athletics.”

The International Affairs Office of the Vice-rectorate for Academic Affairs organized the farewell ceremony for the 29 undergraduate students who participate in the Student Mobility Program that allows them to go to universities in America and Europe.

During the second semester of 2023, 29 undergraduate students of Universidad de La Frontera (UFRO) go to different universities in America and Europe with the Student Mobility Program of the International Affairs Office of UFRO.

The International Affairs Office of the Vice-rectorate for Academic Affairs organized the farewell ceremony, at which Dr. Rodrigo Navia Diez, the Vice-rector for Research and Graduate Studies, highlighted the experiences the students will gain as global citizens and the positive impact on their peers when they share these experiences with them when they come back. This exchange is an overarching part of UFROs Internationalisation Strategy, which involves the fields of undergraduate and graduate studies, research and outreach.

“It is an important effort of our university at the undergraduate level, that a significant number of our outgoing students receives structural funding, which is a privilege and a unique opportunity that will surely mark their lives. Any international experience in higher education is very important, in terms of education and professional training, as well as in terms of vocation and cultural knowledge. They will realise what it means to live somewhere else for a certain time, that it makes you more flexible, and how you make the most of this great opportunity,” Dr. Navia explained.

The director of the International Affairs Office, Paulina Latorre Bahamóndez, highlighted the large number of students who make use of this semester’s student mobility opportunities. “We are one of the few universities in Chile that allocates so much funding for the international mobility of its undergraduate students, which is really positive. We always try to prepare our students, in line with our Educative Model and our Internationalisation Strategy, to be skilled professionals who know how to act in today’s world, which is modern, without frontiers, because these experiences will allow them to develop the qualities of a global citizen. Abroad, they are our ambassadors, but they will also be a bridge that connects their international experiences with our students, when they come back to Chile,” she pointed out.

It is worth mentioning that thirteen of the students are able to start this educational adventure thanks to the scholarship “UFRO without Frontiers”, five thanks to the scholarship “Beca Santander” and two of them self-finance their internships. The Faculty of Education, Social Science and Humanities has also provided funding through its own grants, to support the international mobility of six of its students.

“This year, we had the important opportunity to support even more of our students who wanted to go abroad. We are aware that these international experiences, in which they can get to know other realities, compare themselves and develop new skills, are very important for their own development, but also contribute to the development of the university’s training processes when they come back. It is a process of personal and intellectual maturity and a great experience in our globalised world. Therefore, it is a priority for us to support the students who want to go to our partner universities abroad,” said Dr. Juan Manuel Fierro, the dean of the Faculty of Education, Social Science and Humanities.

Some of the students who start their mobility this second semester of 2023, are the Sociology student Joaquín Crisóstomo Sepúlveda, who goes to Sciences Po Rennes (France) for a year, thanks to the International Solidarity Fund scholarship; the Mechanical Engineering student Álex Martínez Farandato, who goes to University of Liège (Belgium) for a year within the DIUFRO project “Application of AI in the Modelling of the Behaviour of Metals”; and Benjamín Aguilar Quezada of the English Pedagogy program, who goes to University of Regina (Canada) with a scholarship of the Emerging Leaders in the Americas Program (ELAP).

THE STUDENTS

Carla Maldini Cárcamo, Mathematics Pedagogy, destination: National Autonomous University of Mexico (Mexico) "I am travelling thanks to the ‘UFRO without Frontiers’ scholarship. I found several options and chose the one that suited me the most. I chose UNAM in Mexico because of the culture, the language and the subjects I can study there during my semester abroad. Besides, I heard that there is a very rich social environment, which is very important to me, since I study pedagogy. Seeing different realities is something that really interests me. Thanks to another mobility student, I also already found an excellent place to stay."

Thomas Araya Astudillo, Mechanical Engineering, destination: University of Castilla-La Mancha (Spain)  “I am leaving for six months – from August to February – thanks to the ‘UFRO without Frontiers’ scholarship. I have high expectations, since this is my last semester with classes before my professional internship, and the opportunity to study abroad is very enriching. I chose this university because of its focus on mining and energy, which is what I want to focus on in the future.”

 Written and translated by: UFRO Communications Office

Regional, local and university authorities participated in the official inauguration of the modern six-storey building with more than 4,800 m2, located in the city centre of Temuco.

The inauguration of the new building for the Teaching Dental Clinic (CODA) of Universidad de La Frontera (UFRO), located in the city centre of Temuco, is another milestone for the community health in the La Araucanía region.

The modern six-storey building is equipped with state-of-the-art technology and high biosafety standards, on more than 4,800 m2, with 100 treatment rooms and a parking lot, guaranteeing an optimal clinical training for the students of the Dentistry undergraduate program, the five graduate specialization programs and the advanced training courses. In addition, the new building has an operating department with three operating rooms, a central sterilization unit, a dental and maxillofacial radiology unit, classrooms and offices for administration.

“This new first-level facility is of great importance for the training of our future dentists. At the same time, it is a great contribution to our regional community, since we can offer a timely treatment of high quality, accessible to the most vulnerable people in our city and region,” explained Dr. Eduardo Hebel Weiss, the rector of Universidad de La Frontera.

He also emphasized the fundamental role of this new facility for the training of a new generation of dental specialists, as well as the development of dental research in response to new questions at the regional and national level. “We are very happy with this project, which was implemented after several years of dedication, in order to get to where we are now,” Dr. Hebel Weiss added.

“As the Ministry of Technology, Science and Innovation, we are convinced that universities are essential for the development of our society. The new building is an example of that: it will be a centre for knowledge generation, the training of professionals who will contribute to an improvement for society from their fields of knowledge, research and technology transfer,” explained Maite Castro Gallastegui, the Regional Ministerial Secretary of the Ministry of Technology, Science and Innovation.

BIOSAFETY

The new building of UFROs Teaching Dental Clinic fulfils high biosafety standards and is advanced in digitalisation, with the Smile Dental Software, specialised in university dental clinics, which is a support in the management of the clinic and the digital records.

“Although our primary objective as a public and state university is to train dental professionals, we must also be at the service of the people, in all dimensions of human dignity. Therefore, we need to follow the values that motivated the founders of our faculty more than 30 years ago in terms of community engagement in the professional training, which can be achieved through a deep connection with the local community in the teaching process. That way, our students will be able to transform illness into health and illuminate the people’s faces in our region, giving them their smiles back,” said Dr. Gonzalo Oporto Venegas, the dean of UFROs Faculty of Dentistry.

The dean also explained that the Teaching Dental Clinic currently attends more than 2,800 patients, which is an important number at the regional and national level. To access treatments at the clinic, the patients have to apply through a special diagnostic system. Afterwards, they have to go to an initial examination to be referred to the corresponding services of the Faculty of Dentistry.

The article by Dr. Rosa Reyes-Riveros addresses the connection between public urban green spaces and the human well-being.

The journal Urban Forestry & Urban Greening recognised the article of the graduate of the Doctorate in Agri-food Science and Environment of Universidad de La Frontera (UFRO) as one of the most cited articles since 2020. The article “Linking public urban green spaces and human well-being: A systematic review” was published in 2021 and developed by Dr. Rosa Reyes Riveros, together with the researchers Adison Altamirano, Francisco De La Barrera, Daniel Rozas Vásquez, Lorena Vieli and Paula Meli.

“I wrote this article when I was working on my doctoral thesis. It is about the relationship between public urban green spaces and human well-being, where human well-being is considered a multidimensional concept that encompasses health, security, good social relations, and freedom of choice and action,” Dr. Rosa Reyes explained.

For the article, the research team performed a systematic bibliographic review to examine the interactions between specific characteristics of green spaces and essential elements for human well-being. Afterwards, they divided the green spaces characteristics found in 153 articles into four groups: structure, biodiversity, naturalness, and others; and the dimensions of human well-being into the four groups: health, security, good social relations, and freedom of choice and action.

The expert explained that this issue is of great relevance, since several studies show the inequitable distribution of green spaces in big cities. “We would be talking about an inequitable distribution of the benefits they provide and be facing an issue of environmental injustice,” she pointed out.

Despite the importance of public green spaces in urban environments, planning strategies keep using standardised criteria that leave out the benefits, which they provide for the human well-being. As a result, these strategies often result in a detriment of the spatial connectivity of green spaces and even the complete elimination of some of these areas. “I think that this article opens doors for research on issues that have not been widely addressed regarding the importance of public urban green spaces,” Dr. Reyes commented and expressed her surprise about the large number of citations of the article in such a short time.

“Together with my supervising professors, we achieved a very comprehensive work, which, although it mainly addresses the environment, is also a multidisciplinary work that is useful for other fields of research, which is key for the high number of citations,” she explained.