The activity included the participation of authorities, directors, academics and students from the different courses of the Faculty, kicking off the celebrations of its new anniversary.

Commemorating its 38 years of training professionals from the region, the Faculty of Engineering of the University of La Serena began the celebrations of a new anniversary with a ceremony that was attended by the Rector of the university, Dr. Nibaldo Avilés, together with authorities, managers, academics and students, and which took place on August 23 in the Multipurpose Room of the CETECFI.

“It is important for an institution to celebrate these events and within the University the Faculty of Engineering has a great history in terms of training professionals in various areas, and today we have the important task of maintaining the great work that has been done to the date,” indicated the Rector of the ULS regarding the celebration of a new anniversary of the Faculty.

For his part, the Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, Dr. Mauricio Godoy, pointed out that “as a Faculty we must remain constantly updated both in terms of professional training and links with the environment. Within these 38 years we have achieved great goals and we hope that in the future we will continue along the same lines.”

During the ceremony, a talk was given by Carlos Brito, former student of the macro unit and manager of Sustainability and External Affairs South America KGHM Chile, to later give way to the delivery of a record of his experience to the students who benefited in 2018 with the of the internship scholarship in Poland, which is awarded by the Polish mining company.

Along with this, a distinction was presented to regional businessman Martin Fredes Dávila, due to the collaboration he has had with the Faculty of Engineering, mainly with the delivery of professional internships to students of the courses.

The career and academic work of Dr. Jorge Oyarzún was also highlighted, who presented his book “Principles of Geology and Mining Exploitation”, where he was also awarded the distinction of “Professor Emeritus of the University of La Serena”.

132 years of the former La Serena School of Mines

Along with the celebration of the 38 years of the Faculty of Engineering, the 132 years of the former La Serena School of Mines were commemorated, founded on August 26, 1887, which sought to continue the legacy of Ignacio Domeyko in terms of teaching mining in the region.

The commemoration of this new anniversary was held with a brief ceremony in the alumni plaza, a ceremony that included the participation of various authorities and academics from the Department of Mining Engineering of the university and which ended with the traditional ringing. bell of the attendees.

In this way, the Faculty of Engineering began a series of activities such as talks, meetings and workshops to celebrate a new anniversary.

Written by Tomás Rodríguez, DirCom

This standard aims to be useful in any educational service entity and seeks to improve the quality of university education, training centers and E-Learning services. The workshops will be replicated to cover a greater number of professionals.

With the purpose of training leaders in Quality Process Management, the leading implementer workshop of the Educational Organization Management System -SGOE- ISO 21001:2018 was held, organized by the Rector's Office and the Directorate of Strategic Development and Quality.

On the occasion, where 30 professionals from different units of the University participated, the aim was to instruct in such important aspects as aligning activities effectively with the mission and vision of the institution and in the processes that must be carried out in different strategies.

The Rector of the ULS, Dr. Nibaldo Avilés, specified in his opening words to the workshop that “the University moves in a very dynamic environment and, therefore, cannot be immune to this challenge; It is already a reality that universities necessarily have to implement quality management systems, a dimension from the accreditation point of view that is already required in the new criteria. It is a fact that universities must account for advances in quality management. We have been advancing for quite some time and given this new context it is necessary to reinforce these strategies and systematize them, although there is progress, these should not be isolated."

The University of La Serena, in its Strategic Development Plan, established the strengthening of quality process units and that has meant structural changes in the organization, and these changes imply reaching the different levels of the institution with a methodological framework quality. This was stated by the Director of Strategic Development and Quality, Dr. César Espíndola, at the opening of the workshop, who together with his team and the Rector Avilés have been constantly searching for options to begin implementing these changes.

“A recent methodology is the ISO 21001:2018 standard that is especially suitable for educational institutions, therefore, we have found in this framework a space for quality improvement, so that it allows us to advance in the installation of a quality system. comprehensive quality management. This has meant today that there is a course for 30 people and that has allowed 30 professionals to be certified as leading implementers of this standard, both managers and collaborators of the units that are going to assume this first stage, and who are going to be the multipliers of this first stage,” said Dr. Espíndola.

ISO 21001 provides a common management tool for organizations that provide education, products and services capable of meeting the needs and requirements of learners and other customers and interested parties. This standard applies to education organizations that wish to demonstrate their capabilities in developing and transmitting competencies.

Written by Patricia Castro, DirCom

The ULS will participate in the Fourth UNIR 2019 Fair, aimed at students from educational establishments in the communes of Peñalolén and Quinta Normal.

The University of La Serena will have an active participation in the fourth version of the UNIR Fair, which will be held this August 27 and 28 in two communes of Santiago: Quinta Normal and Peñalolén, and which will bring together young people who will join higher education and they consider the option of doing it in regions.

During both days of this activity organized by the Group of Regional Universities (AUR) and the Austral University of Chile (UACH), attendees will be able to learn about academic offers, scholarship programs, exchange, activities and all the news offered by the regional universities of the Council of Rectors.

The ULS will participate in this version in two instances. "All regional universities were invited to participate with a stand that reported on the career offers. But, additionally, and thanks to the visibility work that we carried out by disseminating useful knowledge for people's lives, they opened the possibility for us to prepare a didactic conference for students of educational establishments in the communes of Peñalolén and Quinta Normal", explains the Director of Strategic Communication, Mg. Carola Espinoza Orellana.

The conference will be led by the Laboratory of Research and Technological Innovation for Science Education (LIITEC-ULS), which will present the MITOSIS 3D application. "For us it is a great opportunity to be able to connect with the 120 students who are expected to participate in the conference and, additionally, with the thousands of young people who will pass by the stand of the University of La Serena. It is a good opportunity to break with centralism and show that at ULS there is an academic community researching, innovating and training with quality", indicates the academic of the Department. of Biology and LIITEC executive director, Francisco López Cortés.

This is the first time that ULS participates as an exhibitor in conferences and in the opinion of the Director of Strategic Communication ULS, it is the way that gives the most returns to the institution. "It is always good to participate with information stands. However, as a state and regional university we have the great task of making our quality noticed at a national level as well, and for that the best way is to find spaces where the different groups can communicate what we are, what we do and what we believe. At ULS we are passionate about sharing knowledge that improves people's lives and this AUR fair is a perfect setting to demonstrate it," says Espinoza.

The vocational fair is free and the regional universities that make up the Council of Rectors (CRUCH) will participate. Each of them will have an information stand and qualified personnel to explain to young people the extensive vocational training possibilities they offer and also answer their concerns.

The UNIR Fair will begin on Tuesday, August 27 at the Quinta Normal Public Library, located at Radal Street N°1693 Quinta Normal. It will be the first fair held by regional schools in this venue, which has easy access and adequate facilities that invite reading and learning.

On its second day, Wednesday the 28th, the UNIR Fair will be at the Chimkowe Center, commune of Peñalolén, located at Avenida Grecia N°8787 Peñalolén. This place has large and comfortable spaces that will facilitate student-university dialogue.

This fair has the support of the Ministry of Cultures, Arts and Heritage; the Illustrious Municipality of Peñalolén, the Illustrious Municipality of Quinta Normal and the Public Library of Quinta Normal.

The presentation was made in the presence of institutional authorities, directors of departments and schools, coordinators of ULS pedagogy courses, and support teachers in the process of improving initial teacher training.

Four years have passed since the process of curricular renewal of the pedagogy courses of the University of La Serena began, an action that was managed by the Integrated Management Unit of Pedagogies (UGIP) with the support of key actors of the institution. and the school system, and which was launched during 2019.

In this context, the UGIP presented the support plan that is being carried out for the implementation of said renewed curriculum, which is composed of three phases in which the various teams currently working in the pedagogy careers must be integrated.

“The task is related to assuming shared responsibility and commitment related to a special job, in that we have careers that are renewed and the new curriculum is already being implemented. The idea is not to do more of the same, but on the contrary, to be able to visualize the substantial changes that we are making in the pedagogies,” said the Academic Vice-Rector, Dr. Alejandra Torrejón.

In that sense, the process initially contemplated a first phase in which a baseline was defined referring to the current conditions that the careers currently present to face the renewal; After this, a phase of accompaniment and monitoring of the implementation is planned; and finally an evaluation phase, in which they will focus on their planning and coherence with respect to the learning outcomes proposed in each subject.

The participants, directors of schools and departments, coordinators of pedagogy courses and support teachers, were able to share their experiences and provide suggestions according to the context of each course, which will be of great support for the implementation of the support plan.

“These processes will allow us to ensure the quality that we propose in the renewal, which is part of the commitment we have with students and society, since we are training future teachers who will later enter a global world. Therefore, the UGIP has the role of supporting each degree program and accompanying them in the implementation, execution and evaluation of the renewed curriculum,” explained researcher Dr. Rodrigo Ruay, who participates with the UGIP team in the development of the plan.

Launch of the first UGIP Didactic Notebook

With the purpose of providing a tool that supports the implementation of the renewed curriculum, the UGIP promoted the creation of a collection of teaching notebooks for the initial training of teachers.

The first is titled “Evaluation of learning outcomes in a renewed curriculum” and provides various conceptual and methodological tools that teachers can use in the field of learning evaluation.

“One of the things that we have faced as teachers is that, just as we plan our teaching, evaluation is a tool that has to be planned and not improvised. Nowadays, evaluation for learning is a strategic issue for the student to take co-responsibility with their own learning process, this is what underlies the renewal of the career curriculum. It is a cultural change that we have to begin to install in the evaluation processes,” explained Dr. Ruay.

The next notebooks will be related to ICT, practices and the contribution of neurosciences in the learning-teaching process of initial teacher training, which will be distributed in all careers in the area of ​​pedagogies.

Written by Daniela Ledezma, UGIP

Through 40 large format acrylics, located in the most publicly accessible places on the different campuses, ULS will reinforce the communication of its vision, mission and values. The initiative is part of the corporation's strategic communication plan, in its line of identity.

“A university community that knows, understands and endorses the philosophy that underpins its actions is a community that will never lose its way.” This is stated by the Rector of the University of La Serena, Dr. Nibaldo Avilés Pizarro, when explaining the decision to strengthen the communication of the ULS identity through the installation, on each of the campuses, of large-format paintings that contain the Vision, Mission and Values ​​of the University.

There are 40 units arranged in sectors with high attendance or public access, in such a way as to promote broad access to the corporate definitions that outline the reason for being, the development horizon and the way in which the ULS community lives its project. institutional.

The initiative reinforces previous institutional efforts to communicate these identity elements, complementing the tables that already exist in offices. “This time - explains the director of Strategic Communication, Mg. Carola Espinoza, we integrate corporate values ​​into the dissemination support. Research on identity and communication of organizations shows us that making sustained communication efforts for the appropriation of the corporate philosophy contributes to the sense of community and provides explanatory frames of reference to those who are part of the institution, favoring self-regulated action that, permanently, tune individual objectives with those of the unit in which you work and the institution as a whole.”

The installation process began on August 20 and to date 19 of them have already been installed on the Ignacio Domeyko, Andrés Bello, Enrique Molina Garmendia and Isabel Bongard campuses. In the coming weeks, the installation will continue on the Limarí and Coquimbo campuses and the reinforcement of the campuses that already have the first acrylics.

During the event, attendees were able to learn about the offer of the four massive online courses and the Virtual Reality application that aims to promote astronomical tourism in the Estrella Region through citizen training.

Within the framework of the “CoquimboDay” event, an activity organized by the Regional Government, the Regional Corporation for Productive Development, CRDP, CIDERE and SOFOFA, the Digital Campus team of the University of La Serena participated by showing their two products from the Univrso project. , which seeks to strengthen astrotourism in the Coquimbo Region.

During the event, attendees were able to participate in presentations and conversation panels on topics related to tourism, mining and innovation in the Coquimbo Region, turning the activity into a showcase for investments in the area.

Cesar Villegas, representative of Univrso, positively evaluates the activity, highlighting the interest of the attendees: “many interested people came to our stand, they liked our products, both the massive online courses and the Virtual Reality application.”

Univrso is a project awarded by the University of La Serena through the Innovation Funds for Competitiveness (FIC-R) and consists of four massive online courses and a Virtual Reality application, which seek through citizen training to strengthen astronomical tourism in the Coquimbo Region (http://univrso.userena.digital/)

Nicole Fernández, tour operator of the Cruz del Sur Observatory (Combarbalá), participated in the first course “General Astronomy applied to the Skies of the Coquimbo Region and expressed: “For me the experience was quite educational, it was very entertaining because I really learned a lot , but it also helped me to reinforce some concepts that over time one forgets (...). I recommend this course to all people who are starting out in astronomy, it is quite good and complete,” she says.

a positive feedback

Various personalities related to tourism, politics and science, both local and national, participated during the event. Many of them saw the application and learned about Univrso courses. Among them the prominent astronomer José Maza, who congratulated the initiative, describing it as “a quantum leap. It is notable because in the past, in order to show children the sky, you needed to be at night and in person or through a planetarium, which is expensive equipment (…) This technology lowers those costs and we can show the sky to young people and children. and adults (…) I think it is an excellent initiative because it has notable potential.”

He also hopes that “astrotourism incorporates this technology, because it adds volume to the experience. With this, if they take a virtual tour, they can learn where the elements of the sky are located, which they can later identify in the patio of their house. It has much more weight, it is a very good instrument that would give a lot of volume and depth to the astrotourism experience.”

Furthermore, the mayor of Coquimbo, Marcelo Pereira, was excited to see this proposal. “I want to congratulate the University of La Serena. Being able to empower and give the tools to our people, to our neighbors so that they can be the promoters of cleaner and more beautiful skies, is really very important. I congratulate them because they are teaching courses on something that seems to be very complex to the community, courses that are prepared by teachers, with people with a lot of experience adapting it so that the community understood and could understand more the concept that we are the capital of Astronomy” says the mayor.

Finally, he extended the invitation to learn about these products: “I hope this is a reason for the entire community to participate, all Coquimbanos who want to learn about these courses, to the people of the conurbation and the entire region. "So that we ourselves can be the promoters and thus enhance tourism and boost and energize the economy in the region."