A delegation from the United Kingdom met with directors of international relations from CRUCH

01/08/2014
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The delegation was headed by Vivienne Stern, director of the UK's International Higher Education Unit, who expressed her interest in maintaining a fluid and direct relationship with the universities of the Council of Rectors.

A group of representatives from the United Kingdom met with directors of international relations from the universities of the Council of Rectors of Chilean Universities (CRUCH), to discuss the lines of cooperation that can be opened between Chilean and British institutions.

The delegation was headed by Vivienne Stern, director of the UK's International Higher Education Unit, and included John Bramwell, director of British Council for Latin America, Andrew Chadwick, director of British Council In Chile, Karl Zammit and Ahyley Baker, representatives of the embassy and those in charge of the program Newton Fund.

Representing CRUCH were Angélica Anabalón, from the Catholic University, Cecilia Collado, from the University of Concepción, Alejandro Rodríguez, from the University of Valparaíso, Dania Tristá, from the Catholic University of the North, María Teresa Marshall, executive director of CRUCH and Mariana González, head of studies at CRUCH.

During the meeting, both parties established their mutual interest in cooperating on student exchange programs and joint research. Representatives from the United Kingdom expressed their willingness to host a Chilean delegation and introduce them to like-minded institutions for developing joint projects. The Chilean universities, in turn, indicated that despite their diversity, there was a strong interest in developing or improving their relationships with British institutions.

Another topic discussed was the significant number of Chilean postgraduate students currently studying in England. This suggests that upon their return, there will be greater interaction and collaboration between them and their English counterparts, and universities should prepare themselves institutionally to capitalize on this connection.

The representatives of Newton Fund They added that next year would be a good time for Chilean universities to visit their counterparts in the United Kingdom, since Chile is one of the 15 countries eligible for these funds and the institutions there would be open to working together. Therefore, they stated that a visit would be most beneficial in early 2015.

The meeting concluded with a commitment to seek information that would shed light on the existing collaboration between Chilean and British institutions, in order to refine details regarding future meetings.

At the end of this meeting, several agreements were reached to continue and support academic collaboration between CRUCH universities and those in the United Kingdom, for example, to conduct a survey on the current state of academic work between the parties, and to maintain fluid communication on the progress and opportunities offered by the Newton Fund For Chilean universities, this means collaborating through the Council of Rectors and the universities themselves in the development of the postgraduate fair that the British Council will organize in November, and finally working together with Universities UK with a view to organizing a visit by CRUCH universities to the United Kingdom.