PACE ULS Program Supports Student-Driven Social Pre-College Program

social preuni1

The project arises from the need of students to contribute to reducing inequality in access to higher education.

The Program for Effective Access to Higher Education (PACE ULS) is supporting and collaborating with the initiative generated by students from the University of La Serena to create a social pre-university program for next year.

social preuni2The project, Pre-University Dignity ULS (PREDIULS), was born from the initiative of a group of 12 ULS students who seek to be a contribution to society. Regarding the initiative, Álvaro Ramírez, a student of Pedagogy in Spanish and Philosophy, expressed: “we are professionals in training at this University, with social conscience, who aspire to be agents of change from an academic and inclusive perspective within the community. , in the La Serena - Coquimbo conurbation.”

This is how the PACE ULS Program of the Teaching Directorate decides to support this instance, in order to collaborate and link high school students from the educational establishments that belong to the Program with the PREDIULS initiative. In addition, we will seek to expand this aid to other educational communities in La Serena and Coquimbo.

In the PACE ULS Program there are 2 areas, one that works with higher education students, who enter via PACE Quota, promoting a good grade ranking; and in addition, there is the area of ​​Preparation for secondary education. Precisely in this last area, the actions that are already carried out with high school students will be linked to this important Pre-University initiative.

Viviana Romero, Executive Director of the APRENDE and PACE ULS Program, pointed out that “this valuable contribution comes from the students of our university, who seek to give an opportunity to those who cannot access a pre-university program and that in some way also reinforces the entire commitment and social responsibility, which as a university we must promote. That is why as the PACE Program we want to support PREDIULS, with all the experience we have working with high schools, in the area of ​​guidance and also with links with other units of the institution."

social preuni3Within this context, Paula Vargas, psychologist of the AES PACE ULS Component, held a workshop focused on stress, in this first instance of presentation of the project. In relation to the intervention, the professional explained that “it was a workshop in which anxiety was raised, as a global concept; Tips were given for the PSU and from there we worked with the attendees to recognize their own anxiety and how they manage it.”

PREDIULS Project

For Katherinne Panire, student of Pedagogy in Spanish and Philosophy, this project “seeks to benefit all students who do not have access to private pre-university schools due to their high cost and, in addition, responds to the need to both minimize the existing inequality gap to access to higher education, and in turn to encourage permanence in it.”

The objectives of the project are to deliver, guide and strengthen extracurricular and psychoeducational aspects; reinforce contents of the formal curriculum that are evaluated at the PSU, and prepare and educate students comprehensively for university life.

Regarding the formal presentation of the pre-university program, the student Álvaro Ramírez stated that “we have a good part of the project already put together, and it is an initiative that seeks to give opportunities to all students who cannot afford a pre-university program, which is why ours is social, and therefore it will be free. We have been working for a short time, so we still have many things to discuss and define; However, this first approach to middle school students was excellent.”

It is expected that from next year, starting in April, the pre-university will be operating, since in March applications will be made for high school students and for those students who are from the house of higher education and want to join this initiative.

Written by Daniel Aguayo, PACE ULS Program