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During his recent visit to Chile, the Director of International Alliances at MITACS, David Enríquez, noted that “we are very pleased with the first year we have completed collaborating with CRUCH.”.
Under the agreement between CRUCH and MITACS, undergraduate, postgraduate and postdoctoral students can apply for programs that include funding for a period of 12 to 24 weeks.
More than a year after the signing of the agreement between the Council of Rectors of Chilean Universities (CRUCH) and MITACS of Canada, the Director of International Partnerships for MITACS, David Enríquez, visited Chile and met with representatives of the universities participating in the program to evaluate the overall experience and establish agreements for future collaboration. He also held an information session for universities interested in joining the program.
“We are very happy with the first year we have finished collaborating with CRUCH and thanks to today’s meetings, I believe that in the coming years we will have even more collaboration,” said David Enríquez after the first face-to-face meeting, which took place on Friday, November 17, at the offices of the CRUCH General Secretariat.
The first meeting was attended by directors and coordinators of the internationalization area of five of the six universities that signed the agreement: from the Diego Portales University, Anoek van den Berg; from the Catholic University of the North, Alejandra Meneses; from the Catholic University of Chile, Cristián Bonilla; from the University of La Frontera, Janina Hanswillemenke; from the Catholic University of Maule, Jorge Burgos, Rodrigo Coloma and Jeannette Fuentes.
Meanwhile, the following professionals attended the information meeting: Daniel Castillo Mauna from Alberto Hurtado University; Carla Gutiérrez from the University of O'Higgins; and Joaquín Sáez from the University of Antofagasta.
The MITACS program allows undergraduate, graduate and postdoctoral students to develop applied research internships at Canadian universities, thanks to shared funding between the Canadian organization and the universities, through the GRI (Globalink Research Internship) and GRA (Globalink Research Internship) programs.
In 2023, Mitacs and the CRUCH universities funded 13 internships for final-year undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral students through the GRI and GRA programs in various fields of study, including Psychology, Computer Science, Biology, Law, and Literature. The application period for next year recently closed, and 20 internships have already been selected: 10 for the GRI program and 10 for the GRA program.
MITACS-CRUCH Evaluation
Regarding the in-person meetings, the MITACS executive noted that "this face-to-face interaction is extremely important, as working remotely is not the same as being together in person," adding that "we were able to make a lot of progress in a short time, and for that I am very grateful.".
The first meeting reviewed the different stages of the internships (call for applications, selection, allocation, delivery of funding, among others), and then agreements were established to facilitate communication and improve the functioning of the overall process.
Then, at the second meeting, David Enríquez shared a presentation and stated that “in the future, we hope to expand the partnership to all academic institutions in Chile, to offer more opportunities for collaboration between our research ecosystems.” Consequently, “it was very important to be able to introduce MITACS, what we do (…) and to extend an invitation for more universities to join the agreement we have with CRUCH, so that they can participate and nominate their students for the calls for proposals,” he explained.
Finally, he highlighted the agreement with the Council. “For us, the most important thing is that everything is centralized with CRUCH, since we cannot, we do not have the capacity, nor the resources, to be in contact with all the universities, as we work with thousands and thousands of universities worldwide through different university councils.”.
The programs
The main programs offered by MITACS are two: the GRI (Globalink Research Internship) and the GRA (Globalink Research Internship).
The GRI program allows final-year university students to conduct research in world-class laboratories at Canadian universities while receiving professional training and mentorship from Canadian professors. The program lasts 12 weeks, during the Northern Hemisphere summer.
Within the framework of GRI, in the summer of 2022 Mitacs hosted 2194 student researchers from all partner countries.
The GRA, meanwhile, is aimed at graduate students (master's, doctoral, and postdoctoral fellows). This mobility program funds mutually beneficial research collaborations between Canada and partner countries. It lasts between 12 and 24 weeks.
MITACS, which has 23 partner countries worldwide, is a Canadian non-profit research organization and, in partnership with businesses, government and academia, is focused on developing the next generation of innovators with vital scientific and entrepreneurial skills through unique research and training programs.
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