The process aims to develop and enhance basic knowledge in the fundamental areas of each career that students who entered Via Quota PACE or PSU PACE will take.

The Accompaniment and Effective Access to Higher Education Program (PACE) of the University of La Serena, in its Higher Education Accompaniment (AES) component, began this week the Early Leveling Process for the new generation of students entering the university. house of higher education, made up of more than a hundred students.

The process, whose objective is to develop and enhance basic knowledge in the fundamental areas of each career that students who entered Via Quota PACE or PSU PACE will take, is divided into two stages: Initial Online Leveling and Early Face-to-Face Leveling.

The Coordinator of Support in Higher Education - PACE ULS, Claudia Toledo, explained this process, “initial leveling via online is a commitment to carrying out individual work, reinforcing those areas that will be the basis of your career with guidance from academics and using a space for consultation via email.”

Regarding the Initial Online Leveling, which takes place from March 11 to 15, the AES English mentor, Javiera Contreras, stated that the areas in which the students work are English, mathematics, language, biology, chemistry and music, where “ Each academic mentor guides the work to be carried out during the week, with a space for consultations via email and ending with an online diagnosis by area.

On the other hand, the AES psychologist, María de Los Ángeles Bonilla, highlighted the number of students participating in this Leveling, pointing out that “this year, at the University of La Serena, 116 students were integrated via Quota or PSU PACE; However, they will be joined by 14 students who completed the career change process, as well as 3 transfers from other Higher Education institutions assigned to the Program, therefore, the total number of students is 133, which means a great challenge for the PACE ULS team of professionals.”

The second stage of this process is called Early Face-to-Face Leveling, which will take place from March 18 to 22. The AES Academic Manager, María Fernanda Fuentealba, indicated that the purpose of this Leveling “is to generate a device for detecting and leveling specific competencies by faculty or careers that our students will face in the most critical subjects of the first year, as well as provide initial transversal tools to support the process of insertion into university life.”

Finally, the AES psychologist, Paula Vargas, mentioned that the psychoeducational area aims to address topics that contribute to adaptation and university challenges, such as motivational talks, academic coaches, frustration management and tolerance workshops, and spaces where They can learn about the extracurricular activities offered by the school, culminating this week with a bonding day between peer tutors and 2019 cohort students.

Written by Daniel Aguayo, PACE ULS Program

Positioning the Coquimbo Region as a hub of youth entrepreneurship and innovation by organizing a pioneering event, in festival format, is the objective of Future Young Fest, a free initiative that will bring together young people between 15 and 24 years old.

Representatives of academic institutions, municipalities, business leaders and authorities of the region met to constitute the board of directors of the Future Young Fest, a project that is supported by Corfo and its Support Program for Entrepreneurship and Regional Innovation (PAEIR), and which is financed by the Regional Government and the participation of the University of La Serena, a pioneer institution in promoting entrepreneurship through different student events such as the Business Ideas Fairs, Entrepreneur Congresses and the Fénix Fest, which have been an inspiring source for interesting productive initiatives, even of international scope.

The idea is that more than 5 thousand young people share experiences and dreams around the concepts of innovation, entrepreneurship and creativity, with a familiar language and with the topics of interest of this segment, which will undoubtedly generate impact initiatives in the future.

“We can deliver what we are doing in innovation and entrepreneurship. This is an initiative that undoubtedly benefits our young people in the region, the future of our country and will be an important contribution for us to continue growing,” indicated the Rector of the ULS, Dr. Nibaldo Avilés  who attended accompanied by the Director of the Information and Computing Center, Mg. Luis Andres Moya.

Future Young Fest It will also have space for music, presentations by prominent mentors, technology, robotics, project competitions and other instances that seek to generate impact and openness to new ideas and the generation of an innovation ecosystem linked to the needs of the environment.

The meeting, scheduled for June 22 and 23, will take place in Peñuelas Space.

Written by: Claudia Farías, Communications Department 

During a visit to the University of La Serena, Dr. David Crowther, from the National Science Teachers Association of the United States (NSTA), highlighted the technological developments of LIITEC-ULS.

Some 57 thousand teachers who make up the National Science Teachers Association of the United States (NSTA), they will learn about the technological resources that support science teaching developed by the University of La Serena, through its Laboratory of Research and Technological Innovation for Science Education (LIITEC-ULS), after the former president of said association, professor of Science Education and Director of the Raggio Research Center for STEM Education (University of Nevada), Dr David Crowther, learned about these applications in detail during his visit to the state campus of the Coquimbo Region.

In a meeting with the LIITEC team, led by the academic of the Department of Biology, Francisco López, Dr. Crowther was presented with the augmented reality applications of “3D Mitotic Cell Division” y “3D meiosis”, and a collaborative repository “Cellfie-ULS”, a support system for capturing, labeling, managing and publishing photographs taken through an optical microscope using a mobile device.

“I learned about technologies that make it much easier to learn about difficult concepts such as Meiosis and Mitosis (…) All of this is very important for children to understand and comprehend science,” highlighted Dr. Crowther, who also indicated that these technological developments of the University of La Serena will share them with the teachers who make up the NSTA for their implementation and, in the future, merge with those that already operate in the United States.

The American expert added that these types of applications are very beneficial for children, since they allow them not only to learn science from a book, but also by using apps on a smartphone, tablet or computer. “They have much more access to be able to develop this knowledge. That is something that the association is taking into consideration and it is something very relevant for us, creating applications to improve scientific teaching,” he pointed out.  

Regarding ULS technological developments, the Executive Director of LIITEC, Francisco López, mentioned that “today these applications are used in classes of undergraduate subjects at the University; However, they can be used by anyone, they are free and available in virtual stores, and that is the experience we share with Dr. Crowther and his colleagues.”

Workshop "Teach Earth Sciences"

Another of the activities carried out by Dr. David Crowther, who visits Chile thanks to the collaboration between the Fondecyt 1161812 project (Dr. Claudia Vergara, U. Alberto Hurtado), the University of La Serena and the Chilean Society of Scientific Education (SChEC), was the Workshop: "Teaching Earth Sciences: from activities to content through inquiry", aimed at in-service science teachers, head teachers of educational establishments, and ULS academics.

Written by: Gonzalo Lozano, Communications Department

The scientific event will officially begin the collaborative agreement “ULS-MPA Partner Group”, recently signed between the University of La Serena and the Max Planck Society for Astrophysics of Germany.

National and international astronomers who work in the area of ​​formation and evolution of galaxies and related topics, as well as undergraduate and graduate students from the University of La Serena and other Chilean and foreign institutions, will meet at the ULS to participate in the Congress “Galaxy Formation and Evolution”, organized by academics from the Department of Physics and Astronomy of the state campus.

The scientific event will officially begin the collaborative agreement “ULS-MPA Partner Group”, recently signed between the University of La Serena and the Max Planck Society for Astrophysics of Germany, and led by Dr. Facundo Gómez, from the Research Institute Multidisciplinary in Science and Technology ULS.

The topics to be addressed from March 11 to 15 in the Pentagon Hall (Campus Andrés Bello, La Serena), will focus on aspects concerning the latest and main discoveries in the area of ​​the formation and evolution of galaxies.

The academic responsible for the event, Dr. Facundo Gómez, announced that three directors of the MPA will participate in the Congress, who are figures of the highest level in the discipline. This is Professor Simon White, who received, among others, the prestigious Shaw Prize in 2017, known as the Nobel Prize of the East; Professor Guinevere Kauffmann and Professor Volker Springel. Several leading national scientists will also participate, such as professors Patricia Tissera, Nelson Padilla, Dante Minniti and Rodolfo Barbá.

Some of the objectives of the Congress are to analyze how fossil evidence originating in the past during accretion events can be used to constrain the formation history of nearby galaxies, as well as to identify which observables are most informative in this regard.

The conferences include presentations given by specialists and spaces to define future and specific lines of research, with the goal of forming solid collaboration teams between the ULS and the members of the various institutions present.

The “Galaxy Formation and Evolution” Congress is part of the winning projects of the Contest to Support the Holding of Scientific Events, promoted by the Vice-Rector's Office for Research and Postgraduate Studies and the Academic Vice-Rector's Office of the U. of La Serena.

Written by: Gonzalo Lozano, Communications Department

The actions will continue to be a constant and future meetings with other study houses that raise inclusion as a priority issue for social equalities are not ruled out.

In order to share experiences in the field of inclusion and universal accessibility and within the framework of Project 1799, a collaborative meeting was held between the universities of La Serena and Atacama where professionals from the field of social work participated. from the UDA, Pía Avalos and Camila Callejas, the academic and Coordinator of the ULS Inclusion and Accessibility Office, Dr. Georgina García Escala, and the support professional, Alejandra Galleguillos.

During the meeting held at the ULS, the experience of the Inclusion and Accessibility Office of the University of La Serena and the work that will be carried out during 2019 by both universities was discussed. In addition, guidelines were provided on what actions should be carried out to eliminate barriers to the learning and social participation of students with disabilities at the university level and the actions that the ULS has implemented in this context.

Regarding the visit of the team from the University of Atacama, Dr. Georgina García pointed out that “for the team of professionals at the University in charge of promoting the inclusion of students with disabilities, it is a pride to receive our colleagues from the University of Atacama because we exchange knowledge and experiences about this process and, in addition, we contribute to strengthening the cooperative and collaborative work of the Network of Chilean State Universities for the Inclusion of Students with Disabilities.”

For her part, social worker Pía Ávalos, professional from the Inclusion and Disability Unit of the University of Atacama, pointed out that “it is important to make this type of alliances and exchange of experiences, since they contribute to learning and improvements in continuous work. of our institutions. Happy to be able to learn about the work that ULS colleagues have done over the years and experience how they have contributed, carrying out positive actions for the inclusion of students with disabilities.”

Future meetings are not ruled out to continue expanding the network with other universities, in order to strengthen efforts and meet around a topic that is of special importance for the University of La Serena.

From March 25 to 29, the Induction to University Life for new students will take place, while the start of classes for the First Semester 2019 is set for Monday, April 1.

This Monday, March 4, academic activities resumed at the University of La Serena, after the summer break that ended on Friday, the 1st of this month.

On that day, classes for the Second Semester 2018 were restarted, which is scheduled to end on Friday, March 15.

According to the 2019 Academic Calendar, Monday the 18th of this month is the last day for the delivery of report cards (first closing), and the exam period corresponding to the Second Semester 18 and subjects is set from March 27 to 2018 annual.

On March 20, the registration and start of registration of subjects for former students is contemplated, while on March 25, the academic teaching activities of the First Semester 2019 begin.

The Induction to University Life for new students is scheduled from March 25 to 29, in addition to the planning of teaching activities for the First Semester 2019. In addition, Friday the 29th of this month is the last day to submit complementary minutes (second closing).

Another important date is the start of classes for the First Semester 2019, set for Monday, April 1.

For more information on the 2019 Academic Calendar, visit the following link.