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Various strategies are implemented in the CRUCH universities in order to promote growing internationalization. For this reason, the international relations directorates analyze their practices, debate with relevant actors, review their results, and undertake studies to guide their plans more accurately.
Once again, this atmosphere of reflection and exchange was developed in the recent conferences organized at the Federico Santa María University on September 7 and 8. On this occasion, a detailed analysis was addressed on the state of international collaboration between Chile and Canada, with the purpose of guiding an upcoming academic visit between universities from both nations. In the Chilean-Canadian academic exchange trajectory, a constant production of joint publications and associated projects stands out, in areas such as energy, environment and astronomy; topics that indicate directions for the future.
The state of Franco-Chilean cooperation was another substantive topic on this agenda, with the presentation of an interactive portal prepared by the French Embassy, which allows analyzing the situation of each university, identifying lines and joint projects.
Considering that one of the most widespread and visible internationalization strategies is expressed in student mobility programs, directors of international relations analyzed the current context of higher education in the country and focused on identifying challenges to maintain a flow of mobility, despite the sometimes adverse conditions of the Chilean university scene. The agenda allowed - at the same time - to share information on a new mobility program for pedagogy students promoted by the OEI (Organization of Ibero-American States), called Paulo Freire, which is in a design stage. In this regard, there was a commitment to support its development and collaborate in the identification of funding sources.
Finally, one of the most relevant components of the agenda was the presentation of the study on internationalization of CRUCH universities, currently in its initial stage. This study aims to know the state of internationalization of the universities of the Council of Rectors through the perception of relevant actors, in terms of the priorities, strategies, links and results of the international work of each of the universities, in order to obtain a broad and complex vision of this field in institutions. All the participants valued the development of this study, which will allow not only a global analysis, but its application in each university will constitute an instance of self-evaluation of their orientations and practices in the international sphere. For this purpose, an exhaustive validation of the information collection questionnaire was developed, collecting various points of view and corrections to the instrument initially presented.
The conference ended with an agenda of commitments, among which is a program of visits to universities in Canada and an international workshop with the results of the aforementioned study, challenges that will be present in the third day of international relations, which will take place in November at the University of Magallanes.