Mobility Programs into Pandemic
Our international mobility team has overcome numerous obstacles to keep international programs afloat throughout 2021. During this time, our primary concern has been carving out an attractive, sustainable, and more inclusive path for 2022 and beyond. Working across university boundaries, we at UC Chile have been busy exploring new alternatives for international mobility that promote meaningful interactions between our students and their global peers as well as offer more options to suit a variety of profiles and interests.
This year has been seen as a year of transition in many ways.
Mobility has been gradually resuming, and new opportunities have opened up to participate in online mobility activities.
"We have realized that it is necessary to diversify international mobility to include other kinds of opportunities geared towards every member of the UC Chile Community", explains Cristian Díaz, International Mobility Coordinator.
Co-creating the Future of International Mobility
Since the end of last year, our mobility team began the process of renewing our international mobility programs, to expand internationalization opportunities among members of the entire university community and leverage the new possibilities opened up by the current health crisis.
To achieve this, students and academic units were convened in discussion groups to detect needs, innovate, and create programs that adapt to all students.
The final challenge will be to expand access to international mobility programs and overcome diverse barriers to a global education.
Given the results obtained, the mobility team aims to diversify experiences of international mobility to promote global training, inclusion, and commitment to society in our university.
Over the next 5 years, we envision mobility programs expanding beyond traditional semester exchange and engage more students in Chile and abroad with meaningful experiences that build upon these three themes.
Building Resilience in Turbulent Times
Our experience in sustaining mobility programs throughout 2021 taught us important lessons that paved the way for future growth in these initiatives. More than 130 students participated in our latest call for international outgoing mobility, focused on the first semester of 2022.
"We expect our students will be able to attend classes at the universities they applied to, either face-to-face or online," says Cristian Díaz.
Our mobility programs have been adapted and expanded to the circumstances. Study programs, seminars, summer schools, and even bilateral exchange programs have shifted completely online, and continue to be recognized, although they were face-to-face.
Planning has been key to keeping these programs afloat.
For example, we adopted a sustainable paperless admissions process and have maintained close communication with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Additional measures to protect the safety of students have also been put in place, including changes to our protocol that will better enable us to prevent emergencies and respond more effectively when they do occur.
Finally, we would like to take this opportunity to inform our partners that a new migration law has been passed in Chile which will streamline visa processes beginning in 2022 and require all semester students to obtain a student visa from their nearest Chilean consulate before departure.
