The FAACES meeting is part of the work plan of the ULS 22991 Project carried out by units belonging to the institutional Academic Vice-Rector's Office.

The teams of the Office of Student Support and Monitoring (OAME), the Area of ​​Duties and Rights for Comprehensive Training (AGDDFI) and the Integrated Management Unit of Pedagogies (UGIP), were in charge of carrying out this First Meeting to Strengthen and Advance Transversal Student Support Programs in Higher Education (FAACES), which brought together more than 15 higher education institutions from all over the country.

This activity considered the planning of the Annual Meeting of Transversal Support Programs, under the coordination and leadership of 3 support units of the University of La Serena, whose objective was to share, reflect and socialize around the various experiences and challenges of student accompaniment , developed by support units of the higher education institutions participating in the meeting, in order to generate new strategies that contribute to permanence and retention in the first years of university life.

In this regard, Erik Sacre, coordinator of the ULS 22991 project of which this initiative was a part, explained that “what the project seeks is to strengthen the lines of Institutional action aimed at transversal support of undergraduate students, through the units belonging to Academic Vice-Rector's Office, such as: General Area of ​​Coordination of Rights and Duties for Comprehensive Training (AGDDFI), Student Support and Monitoring (OAME), the Integrated Management Unit of Pedagogies (UGIP), through this Annual Meeting of Programs of Transversal Support”.

This instance also seeks to socialize the existing experiences and programs in terms of student accompaniment, analyze problems, challenges and actions developed by the participants of the meeting and, in this way, be able to propose improvement strategies for the development of accompaniment. and support for students in the first years of entering higher education.

The person in charge of officially welcoming the attendees on behalf of Dr. Alejandra Torrejón, Academic Vice-Rector, was Mg. Jaime Rodríguez, Director of ULS Teaching, who expressed: “as Higher Education institutions, we are responsible for the fundamental mission of providing comprehensive training to our students, training that goes beyond academics, but transcends towards development.” of social, emotional and professional skills. The invitation is to know, share, socialize around the various experiences and challenges of student accompaniment, developed by support units of the institutions that participate today and that contribute to providing guidance and comprehensive support for our students. 

The event was divided into three thematic blocks, the first being “Initial Teacher Training, Area of ​​initial evaluation of teachers” by the Integrated Management of Pedagogies Unit, in which the Master Talk was presented: Strengthening the Quality of Initial Training of Teachers and Educators, by Christian Libeer, Coordinator of the Initial Teacher Training Area - Ministry of Education.

It also included a Panel of Specialists in which Christian Bustos, in charge of END - Ministry of Education, participated; and Elisa Véliz, coordinator of the Academic Evaluation Program in Initial Teacher Training, UGIP.

In this context, Christian Bustos, maintained that "we are in a day that importantly reflects the local contexts posed by a medium-term work, 3 years, which is important for the effectiveness of the devices over time, and I believe that The ability to articulate is important, to generate networks of conversing with others. I believe that there is an achievement on the part of the University of La Serena and a challenge also for the university system to continue with this type of work that provides light, that generates technological transfer and that constitute growth from the maturation of sharing experience".

The second block was in charge of OAME “Academic and Psychoeducational Accompaniment and Monitoring”, in which four universities were presented: “From adolescence to adulthood: comprehensive support and monitoring of the UTA professional future”, from the University of Tarapacá; “Management model for UCN academic progression and alert system”, from the Universidad Católica del Norte, Coquimbo headquarters; “Strategic link between psychoeducational support and peer tutoring for the prevention of early dropout of UMAG students”, from the University of Magallanes, and “Creating your path, we accompany and support you”, from the Santo Tomás University, La Serena campus.

After the presentations, the OAME team held three work tables created based on the presentations: a) Monitoring and follow-up: Early warnings; b) Training Path: Comprehensive support; and c) Early Bonding: Transition to University life.

Along these lines, Camila Villanueva, deputy director of Academic Career Support at the Federico Santa María Technical University, emphasized that “what seemed most interesting to me is that in this place that we find ourselves today looking at the HEIs, the socio-educational reality in which where our student communities are, we are all considering how we work early and how we can improve our work; It is important to address the difficulties that we all have, but we take them in a particular way, considering the territoriality, the opportunities, but within the same framework pointing towards higher education being better, because it is no longer exclusive as in the past and that is fundamental for continue building a better path.”

And, the last block of this 1st FAACES Meeting was in charge of the General Area of ​​Rights and Duties for Comprehensive Training, which focused on the areas: Inclusion and disability, Interculturality and Gender Equity.

This space considered “Intervention models with feminist approaches to gender and diversities to address gender violence in universities: a multidimensional challenge”, from the Central University of Coquimbo; “Academic and Sociocultural Support Program for Mapuche students at the University of La Frontera Rüpü”, from the University of La Frontera, and ““Ableism in the HE: Thinking about a habitable territory for everyone”, by the University of Santiago de Chile.

In this way, with the presence of 15 higher education institutions, including universities, technical training centers and professional institutes, this first version of FAACES 2023 culminated, hoping to continue with the collaborative network work and taking into account the continuity of this meeting for 3 years and the challenges that Guillermo Davison foresees, RÜPÜ Program Universidad de La Frontera, who stated that “one of the main challenges, which the University of La Serena is already addressing, is precisely the institutional will to add similar experiences in other university contexts. I believe that, by having this institutional will to learn, perfect and improve experiences, it is a first step, a first achievement that guarantees success and consolidation in initiatives like this."

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Written by Daniel Aguayo and Paz Montecinos, Communications Project ULS 22991.