This instance plans to benefit more than a thousand first and second year students of the institution and high school students.

The Tutor School is part of the work plan of the Program to Support Student Permanence, Performance, Leveling and Comprehensive Development (APRENDE ULS) of the Academic Vice-Rector's Office, and is aimed at students who fulfill the role of tutor ( a) in the different support programs belonging to the University of La Serena.

Its objective is to train tutors for the different ULS support programs: I want to be an Education Professional, Inclusion and Disability Office, Mentoring Program and PACE. Tutors will receive comprehensive training in 5 training modules, which will provide them with psycho-educational and pedagogical skills and tools that can be used in tutoring contexts.

For the ULS Academic Vice-Rector, Dr. Alejandra Torrejón, being a tutor is a fundamental task of support and collaborative work between students, academics and professionals who are part of the university community. “Tutors are important, because they contribute from training, from support, from a horizontal perspective towards their first and second year peers in the academic area. This allows not only to acquire experiences, but also to develop a series of skills such as empathy, responsibility and, why not say it, also personal growth. I want to congratulate each and every one of you who is beginning your qualification and always remember that the work of teaching is not minor, on the contrary, it is fundamental for our society,” she indicated during the launch activity.

In this same sense, José Patricio Frías, Tutor Coordinator APRENDE ULS and Dentistry student, expressed: “I think it is really important to highlight the role that a tutor has, who must not only present a topic, but also generate a bond of trust for support, inform and accompany them in these first steps in their higher education studies and all the changes and processes that entail.”

On the other hand, María José Mercado, PACE ULS Tutor, gave her testimony as a tutor to those attending the presentation. “I have been a tutor for the Architecture degree for three years and I feel that it has been a constant challenge, being able to design a tutorial for my degree that is so practical, but I am happy to see my tutors, every time they overcome their difficulties, I am proud to be able to help my classmates from the first years, it is a noble task and a great support in this change between middle school and higher education,” she said.

The Tutor School is made up of two specific instances. Loreto Garrido, Academic Coordinator APRENDE ULS, explained that “the first corresponds to the work of enabling tutors for the accompaniment programs, in which a series of workshops will be held that will allow tutors to be trained based on certain skills required to function in the field.” time to run the tutorials. This authorization will be a requirement to begin working with students and obtain the Tutoring Scholarship, as established by extensive decree 095 of our university. The second instance, she explained, corresponds to the training or workshops that will be developed throughout the academic period and that will reinforce and / or update the modules carried out in the initial qualification.

Written by Daniel Aguayo, APRENDE ULS Program

The “Make it! ULS - Projects and Prototypes Fair", was born as an instance that allows to publicize the different research initiatives, applied research, generation of prototypes and innovation, generated by both students and academics of the University of La Serena, in the framework of dissemination to the university community and citizens.

This call is aimed at undergraduate and graduate students, academics and researchers who are developing (or have recently completed) research projects and/or innovative prototypes, who consider projection for new projects/prototypes, and who are adapt to the needs of the Coquimbo Region.

How do I register my project/prototype and what are the important dates?

Applications will be made electronically through the Integrated Teaching Technology Platform, Phoenix.

- Start of Applications: Friday, May 24, 2019

- Deadline for sending background information: Wednesday, June 12, 2019

- Project and/or prototype selection deadline: Friday, June 14, 2019

- Publication of results: Monday, June 17, 2019

The event will take place on Wednesday, June 26, 2019, from 09:00 a.m. to 17:30 p.m., on the Engineering field, located on the Ignacio Domeyko Campus, and will be open to the university community and citizens.

They convene the Research and Development Directorate, the Science and Technology Dissemination and Dissemination team belonging to the Vice-Rector's Office for Research and Postgraduate Studies, in conjunction with the FIULS 2030 Project, framed in the Corfo New Engineering for 2030-regions program.

More than 120 academic and non-academic officials will act in a network of sensors to evaluate with participation, realism and objectivity the institutional progress in its strategic development plan and the commitments derived from the previous accreditation. On this occasion, ULS will innovate in the forms of participation, including work on subcommittees or as a key informant.

With the objective of strengthening a culture of comprehensive quality management, renewing its institutional accreditation and, eventually, improving it, the University of La Serena (ULS) made official on May 17, the way in which the Process of Self-assessment 2019, highlighting that on this occasion there will be innovations in the spaces and forms of participation.

The first modality of participation will be through subcommittees that, organized in the 4 areas to which ULS is presented (Institutional Management, Undergraduate Teaching, Research and Link with the Environment), will act as a network of sensors to detect strengths, weaknesses and opportunities for improvement. “It is a network of people and talents that will act as sensors that will help us take the pulse of a series of key processes in the quality of the University, through the collection and analysis of institutional data and the perceptions of academic officials. and non-academics, students, graduates, employers and partners,” explained Rector Dr. Nibaldo Avilés, in the speech with which he sealed the beginning of this important process and in which, symbolically, the members of the subcommittees committed , before the university community and the Rector himself, to successfully carry out the mission of delivering, on November 30, 2019, the first draft of the chapter of each area, to give way to the construction of the ULS Institutional Self-Assessment Report, whose delivery to CNA is projected for the end of March 2020.

To ensure that the Self-Evaluation is carried out as planned and with conditions to successfully complete the mission, the Rector Avilés has entrusted the institutional coordination of the Process to the Academic Vice-Rector, Dr. Alejandra Torrejón Vergara, whose role will be to safeguard the approach. systemic of the tasks that self-evaluation demands, favoring the conditions so that the community feels called to participate.

Work of the Subcommittees

The work will be carried out through 4 subcommittees from the areas of Institutional Management, Undergraduate Teaching, Research and Link with the Environment, headed, respectively, by the Academic Vice-Rector, Dr. Alejandra Torrejón; the Vice-Rector for Economic and Administrative Affairs, Dr. Armando Mansilla; the Vice-Rector for Research and Postgraduate Studies, Dr. Eduardo Notte; and the Director of Liaison with the Environment and Extension, Mg. Carlos Varas.

Each subcommittee is made up, in the first instance, of approximately 30 academic and non-academic officials, who will meet weekly to respond to the trust that Rector Avilés has placed in them to conduct the critical analysis of the area, based on processes of data collection, measurement, analysis and weighting. 

Regarding this process, Rector Avilés indicated that “we have chosen to carry out the Self-Evaluation report on a participatory process, in accordance with the demands imposed on us by facing, for the first time, an accreditation process classified as a Complex University. I trust that this network of people who will act as sensors will manage to carry out the task, massively involving the university community and external actors, in the massive consultation on our institutional direction.”

The next plenary meeting, in which the 4 subcommittees meet with the executive team and the Rector, will take place on Wednesday, June 19, in the Plenary Room. Before that date, the subcommittees will have met on 4 occasions, advancing in the review of data, documentation and projecting the way in which they hope to carry out the work of consulting key informants.

Strategic, technological and communication support

The Self-assessment work that the ULS will carry out during 2019 will have professional support from the teams of the Directorate of Strategic Development and Quality (DIDEC), the Center for Informatics and Computing (CICULS) and the Directorate of Strategic Communication (DIRCOM). .

From DIDEC, an online institutional data set was available in a repository prepared by CICULS for the subcommittees. Additionally, a DIDEC professional will be part of each subcommittee, to support the access and/or generation of information. The institutional data repository is available in PHOENIX ULS, in the Analysis Platform. “The subcommittees will find there data and official documentation of the institution, in the format of dashboards, yearbooks, reports, guidelines and other modalities. The objective is to make the search and collection of data more efficient, and to detect in time information needs that can be generated by the DIDEC in collaboration with other units,” explains Dr. César Espíndola, Director of the DIDEC.

CICULS professionals will also participate in the subcommittees, in order to facilitate the use and knowledge of the technological systems that the institution has to support management and decision-making in the 3 university functions: Teaching, Research and Link with the Environment. “As CICULS we can contribute by accompanying the development of skills for the use of the technological supports that the University has and that facilitate management,” says Andrés Moya, Director of CICULS.

For its part, the ULS 2019 Self-Assessment will also have communication support both in the design of the process and in the communication of the concept and the call for the key informant phase. The Director of Strategic Communication, Carola Espinoza, summarizes it as follows: “As it is a participatory process, self-assessment requires incorporating the communication variable, both in its global design and in the actions that allow for the convening of key informants, explaining the meaning and importance of being part of the process and, later, knowing the results of this broad exercise of review of our work.”

In this last sense, Rector Avilés stated, the promotional campaign with which the ULS Self-Assessment was launched, coined the phrase “Your gaze, our best sensor”, appealing to it to be a realistic, objective and participatory process. “A network of sensors that leads us to know exactly what we do well, what is failing and what we can improve.”

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The project is co-financed by the Production Promotion Corporation, and the monitoring will be advised by the international organization Laspau, affiliated with Harvard University.

With the objective of transforming the Faculty of Engineering of the University of La Serena into a national and international reference in the fields of research, development, innovation and entrepreneurship, with emphasis on mining, energy and sustainability, the Advisory Council of the FIULS 2030 Project. The activity brought together different actors and sectors of society, with the participation of both public and private institutions.

The FIULS 2030 project developed by the Faculty of Engineering of the University of La Serena (FIULS) through the Corfo Program “New Engineering for 2030 Regions”, began to be developed in its first stage in 2016 with the development of the plan strategic and in 2018 the second stage of implementation began.

In relation to the project, the Rector of the University of La Serena, Dr. Nibaldo Avilés Pizarro, indicated that “the idea is that it carries out joint work with government entities, companies and the University; and with this to be able to focus on technological transfer and innovation, improve engineering curricula and align with the needs of the country.”

The Regional Director of Corfo, Gregorio Rodríguez, stressed that it is “very interesting that a project financed by Corfo and the Regional Government has the participation of the University of La Serena, in which the shortening of engineering majors was defined in its axes, the modernization of the network with technological transfer and the implementation of postgraduate models. This is what the region and the country need to face the challenges of the fourth industrial revolution.”

The Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, and director of the FIULS 2030 project, Dr. Engineer Mauricio Godoy, pointed out that “the call was very good, since the region as a whole, government authorities, regional council, companies at the national level and University. “We are very happy to have this strategic alliance and I am sure it will turn out very well.”

The President of the Coquimbo Regional Council, Adriana Peñafiel, stated that “the important thing is to emphasize that the University, through the project, has a great human capital of 2 students who can be trained to meet social needs, responding by incorporating the technologies".

The Seremi of Mining, Roberto Vega, regarding the initiative of the Advisory Council, stated that “we are very happy to support the regional university that is a pioneer at the national level in the study of mines. “We see a great opportunity where mining companies in our region can develop and solve their problems through the university”

While the Seremi of Public Works, Pablo Herman pointed out that "the formation of the Advisory Council was a very beneficial activity since the university meets with the actors and their real problems to provide solutions to their needs."

The FIULS 2030 project seeks to contribute to the country's competitiveness, through the incorporation of world-class standards to the Faculty of Engineering of the University of La Serena.

The private sector is also part of the Advisory Council. In this sense, Jorge Araneda, Study and Development Manager of Antofagasta Minerals, indicated that “the day was beneficial and the main challenge is to link in a better way and define the areas more precisely, there is a good possibility of synergy and joint work. ”.

In addition, Benjamín Pieper, Operations Support Service Manager at Minera Los Pelambres, was present.

Written by María José Barraza, FIULS 2030 Project

The reinforcement modules are carried out simultaneously in the provinces of Elqui, Limarí and Choapa.

More than ninety percent of the students, belonging to educational establishments assigned to the program of the University of La Serena, began the first reinforcement modules, which the ULS Accompaniment and Effective Access to Higher Education Program (PACE) designed for the courses. middle third and middle fourth.

There are more than three hundred places available in this new cycle of reinforcements for students belonging to the twelve educational establishments affiliated with the institution's PACE Program.  

Daniela González, a fourth-grade student at the Gabriela Mistral High School in the La Serena commune, said: “I want to highlight that the PACE Academy is a great opportunity for all those who want to enter higher education, which requires responsibility and perseverance. The unconditional support that the professionals on the team give us helps us guide ourselves on what we want for our future.”

Regarding the content of the activities and the different workshops to reinforce the initiative, the student explained that “the activities that we develop during the program classes are a support to enter higher education prepared and even to remember what we have learned during the course of previous years of our secondary education; In addition, we work on psychological preparation, something that we all need to be successful in the first years of university and that is essential to not get stuck along the way and continue our desire to be university professionals.

On the other hand, José Cordero, a third-year student at the Nicolás Federico Lohse Vargas High School in Los Vilos, indicated: “I am very happy to enter this Academy of the PACE Program, since as the team of professionals always tells us, the program helps to all those talents to enter higher education; I look around me and what I see are great talents, who can become the best in their specialty and the academy will help us improve and have a different and close look at higher education.”

As for the PACE ULS Academy, this belongs to the work plan of the PACE ULS Middle School Preparation (PEM) area, and the reinforcement modules in which the students are working are: Language, Mathematics, Sciences (Chemistry- Physics-Biology), English, Integral Development and Life in higher education.

Academy classes are every Friday starting at 14:30 p.m. simultaneously in the three provinces.

Written by Daniel Aguayo, PACE ULS Program 

The instances have involved different stages of work, in which different key actors from the university and external community have participated.

With the purpose of improving academic and institutional processes, the ULS Pedagogy in History and Geography degree is preparing the various actions contemplated to face a new stage of self-assessment, with a view to its accreditation in January 2020.

“The concrete actions go back three years ago when we presented a plan for the upcoming self-evaluation process, which considered the weaknesses manifested in the previous process. The degree self-assessment team was formed, coordinated by the Management of the HistoGeo School, academics from each area of ​​the degree and of course with the support of the Dean of the Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences, who directs this process." , explained the School Director, Dr. Sandra Álvarez.

In this way, during March, the key actors were surveyed, which includes students, academics and graduates, who provided feedback on relevant aspects of the career. For the rest, the team is preparing the self-evaluation report, which must be delivered in June.

It is worth remembering that since the entry into force of Law 20.903, which creates the Teaching Professional Development System, the accreditation of Pedagogy courses is a mandatory requirement that every university institution must meet. The process involves supervision regarding the criteria and guidelines established by the National Accreditation Commission (CNA) regarding training aspects, links with the environment, academic body and infrastructure and the improvement of results based on the diagnostic evaluations applied in the first and penultimate year of the degree.

“Today we find ourselves facing a more rigorous and demanding framework, we are protected by a Law that regulates the professional practice of teaching, therefore, this accreditation is more significant to us. In addition, it has a different symbolism than the previous ones, because it also coincides with the 50th anniversary of the degree, which has been characterized by having a pedagogical tradition that has impacted the educational environment of the regions of Atacama and Coquimbo during all these years. , emphasized the Director.

In that sense, the great challenge that the career has is precisely to adapt to public policy regarding the initial training of teachers and with respect to the needs demanded by the educational system.

Among the next actions to be carried out, it is expected to sensitize the university and external community about the importance of the process, as they are active agents of it, and wait for the visit of peer evaluators during the second semester of 2019.

Written by Daniela Ledezma, UGIP