Currently, the Program works with twelve educational establishments in the three provinces of our region.

The seal that characterizes the Program for Accompaniment and Access to Higher Education (PACE) University of La Serena is the constant movement of its professionals to each of the Educational Establishments (EE) that are attached to this Program, which is an average government executed by Higher Education Institutions throughout the country.

Making a bit of history, the PACE Program was born within the framework of the Educational Reform promoted since 2011, which seeks to restore the right to enter higher education and professional technical education to students from vulnerable sectors, guaranteeing quotas to those who comply the qualification criteria established by the Ministry of Education through the Program. This allows increasing equity, diversity and quality in higher education, provoking new perspectives in secondary education.

To responsibly meet this challenge, the Program is implemented by teams from 31 Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) that are in agreement with the Ministry of Education, which carry out preparation activities in the 3rd and 4th year and accompanying during their first year of higher education, with a view to being able to stay in the system and achieve their degree.

In the words of Loreto Garrido, Coordinator of the PACE ULS High School Preparation area, the Program provides important benefits for students who belong to establishments that are affiliated with the PACE Program of the house of higher education. “The work of the Program is a great help for all the students that we accompany as the University of La Serena, which this year amount to 1.604 students; and well, not only for them, but for the educational community in general. Our executors are the ones who are in charge of being in constant movement throughout the geography of the region, of giving most of the workshops, talks and of working with the management teams of the Educational Establishments (EE). I feel very grateful for the wonderful team that the High School Preparation area currently has, without them we could not have contact, nor the link, let alone fulfill the work with the EE, since the essence of the PACE Program ULS is to always be on the move for the students of the Coquimbo Region”.

Currently, the PACE ULS Program has twelve Educational Establishments (EE) distributed throughout the three provinces. In the Province of Elqui: Pedro Aguirre Cerda School, Gabriela Mistral High School, Marta Brunet High School, in the commune of La Serena; Pedro Pablo Muñoz School, from La Higuera; and Pedro Regalado Videla High School in the commune of Andacollo. In the Province of Limarí: Estela Ávila Molina de Perry High School, El Ingenio College of Administration and Commerce, Raúl Silva Henríquez College, of Ovalle; Alberto Gallardo Lorca High School of the Punitaqui commune; and Liceo Samuel Román Rojas de Combarbalá. And from the Province of Choapa: Nicolás Federico Lohse High School, from the commune of Los Vilos, and Salamanca Municipal Polyvalent High School.

About the EEs attached to the PACE Program, Loreto Garrido, explained that "at the moment the work is focused on what we call Vocational Days, which consists of the application of workshops to 4th grade students on the lines of how to write a cv, effective communication, among others. In addition to this, the application of the Holland test to the 3rd grade students and something very important for us is the talk on Scholarships and Benefits, which has been given by the different social workers of the Student Welfare Department, who have given us their support. in these conferences that have been held in Ovalle, Salamanca, Los Vilos, Combarbalá and Punitaqui so far, whose objective is to prepare students to leave better prepared for secondary education and also to know the benefits to which they can apply through the FUAS and updating the Social Registry of Households”.

Therefore, those who play a primary role in the organization and articulation of the Program work in the EEs are the figure of the PACE ULS EE Coordinators. Garrido specified that “they are our main allies and link with the internal organization of the EEs that belong to to the Program of our house of studies, without them the work we do would be very complex, since they are the ones who have the schedules in which we can carry out different actions with the educational community."

A very strong blow for the PACE ULS Team was the unexpected loss of the PACE coordinator of the Salamanca Polyvalent Municipal High School, Rubén Yáñez, to which he expressed "for us as a team it was a very strong blow, learning of his death, it was a great loss for the establishment and also for us, Rubén was always a teacher dedicated to his students, always enthusiastic, full of life, a great lover of his favorite subject, History and, above all, very committed to helping anyone who needed it; he will remain in our memories and in that of all those who knew him ”.

Drina Campos, PACE coordinator of the Pedro Regalado Videla High School in the commune of Andacollo, referred to the work carried out by the PACE Program in her establishment. "I personally consider that the work carried out by the entire team of the PACE Program belonging to the University of La Serena is impeccable, professional and I would add that each one of the professionals is fully committed to their work and to helping our students" .

While Abigail Collao, PACE coordinator of the Nicolás Federico Lohse High School in Los Vilos, maintained that “PACE is here to stay, I have seen as a coordinator that over time the work carried out by the entire team has been strengthened and is increasing; not only in human capital, but also that their actions are becoming more powerful and my educational community values ​​that”.

To conclude, the PACE Program, in its line of work for High School Preparation, will focus mainly on the higher education application process for fourth-year students, and will continue with transversal skills workshops for third-year students. of the Educational Establishments attached to the ULS Program.

Source: Press PACE ULS Program