For both programs, the application closing period ends on June 10, at 12:30 p.m. The selection is carried out at the ULS and the results will be communicated at the beginning of July.

With the aim of promoting mobility and academic exchange, for the fourth consecutive year, Banco Santander, through its global division Santander Universities, invites the University of La Serena to participate in the Ibero-American Scholarships for Undergraduate Students and Young Professors and Researchers.

The program for Undergraduate Students seeks to make it easier for students to follow their studies during an academic semester at an Ibero-American university. 

It will be a requirement that applicants be studying the last two years of their undergraduate or bachelor's degree at the time of applying for the scholarship and they will have a deadline to make it effective between July 1, 2014 and August 31, 2015. Each scholarship recipient will receive an amount of 3.000 euros or the equivalent in dollars to support study costs, airfare expenses, insurance and accommodation.

Application Background

Those interested should apply to one of the universities with which the ULS has a current agreement. In addition to the background information requested in the terms of the call, you must attach a letter of academic support and another of financial support from the director of the Department or the School to which the applicant belongs.

The selection criteria are: academic excellence, academic-teaching assistantships, social-communal commitment and student representation.

The Ibero-American Scholarships for Young Professors and Researchers are intended to promote knowledge, research and social innovation of teaching and research staff, allowing them to develop a project for at least two months in a foreign institution. Those selected will receive a total of 5.000 euros or the equivalent amount in Chilean pesos.

For both programs, the application closing period ends on June 10, at 12:30 p.m. The selection is carried out at the ULS and the results will be communicated at the beginning of July.

The university is located among the 125 best universities in Latin America and is ranked No. 17 nationally.

An important promotion was achieved by the University of La Serena in the prestigious Latin American University Rankings 2014, prepared by the British company Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), where this study house occupies the 121st place among institutions in Latin America, fourteen places higher than in 2013, while at the national level it ranks No. 17.

The Catholic University of Chile leads the Ranking at the Latin American level, followed by the University of Sao Paulo (Brazil), Estadual de Campinas (Brazil), Federal do Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), University of Los Andes (Colombia), University of Chile , Tecnológico de Monterrey (Mexico), National Autonomous (Mexico) and Estadual Paulista ''Júlio de Mesquita Filho'' (Brazil).

Brazil leads the ranking at the regional level with 78 institutions within the top 300, followed by Mexico with 49 universities, Colombia (41), Argentina (34), Chile (31), Peru (16), Ecuador (9), Venezuela ( 8), Panama (6), Cuba (5), Costa Rica (4), Guatemala (4), Dominican Republic (4), Uruguay (4), Paraguay (3), El Salvador (2) and Puerto Rico (2 ).

The indicators that are evaluated in this ranking are academic reputation (30%), the perception of employers (20%), the number of full-time academics compared to the number of students (10%), the citation of articles (10% ), the number of papers per professor (10%), proportion of academics with a doctorate (10%) and the impact on the web (10%).

More background information on this ranking can be found in http://www.topuniversities.com/latin-american-rankings.

The delegation was led by Dr. Jerry Mitchell, director of the Center of Excellence in Geographic Education at the American university. 

On May 21, 22 and 23, students and professors from the University of South Carolina, United States, visited the Coquimbo Region, specifically the Department of Social Sciences and the Pedagogy program in History and Geography of the U. de La Serena. Joined. 

This visit was developed in the context of the academic links established through the Geographic Education program of the University of La Serena (Edugeografía), coordinated by Dr. Fabián Araya. The delegation was led by Dr. Jerry Mitchell, director of the Center of Excellence in Geographic Education at the American university. 

Among the activities of the Latin American Geography course, Dr. Mitchell, together with Mg. Ximena Cortés and Dr. Fabián Araya carried out various field works in the Serena-Coquimbo conurbation, the Fray Jorge Park and the Elqui Valley. 

''These are very important opportunities to strengthen ties of cooperation and friendship between the Department of Social Sciences of the University of La Serena with important Geographic Research Centers in the United States,'' said Dr. Araya.

In the Multipurpose Room of the Enrique Molina Garmendia Campus, the conference ''Tax Reform and Public Education'' was held, given by the former Rector of the University of Chile, Dr. Luis Riveros. In the activity, organized by the Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences of the University of La Serena, the academic gave his vision on the Government's announcements regarding education and the tax reform bill that seeks to mainly finance changes in education. .

This is how Dr. Luis Riveros referred to the dichotomy that exists in Chile between favorable economic results and competitiveness, as opposed to those related to education. ''This issue of education was significantly postponed, they always wanted to do more of the same and that resulted in the problems deepening,'' said the academic, adding that among the tasks that were not adequately addressed were the need to invest more and increase coverage in preschool education, the demunicipalization of public basic and secondary education, the distortions that have been accumulating as a result of the privatization strategy of education, and the reforms in Higher Education.

In this sense, he highlighted that for decades there has been an "orphanhood of the public system," referring to the abandonment of public universities by the State. ''That is something that must be corrected, and that means, first of all, that State universities must have a Direct Fiscal Contribution that is reasonable, to be able to somehow certify and demonstrate that they are from the State of Chile,'' he mentioned in his lecture.

Regarding the educational reform, he expressed that there has been no clarity in the announcements referring to the free education, what will happen with the delivery of free public resources to private universities, in concrete measures to strengthen higher technical education. , and a reform of the current Council of Rectors.

''Some announcements and projects have been delivered, but in my opinion they do not attack the fundamental part of the problem, which is quality, and this requires resources and a different commitment from the State,'' said the academic from the Faculty of Economics and Business of the U. of Chile.

Regarding the tax reform, he stated that Chile's tax base is restricted and small, ''consequently, it is good to think about why not have a higher tax base, especially because the Chilean system also has some distortions, among them, a reduced tax rate associated with companies. The proposal is totally reasonable, first of all with the economic reality; Companies are not being intervened, they are not being stripped of their legitimate profits, a system is simply being established that also corrects a second distortion, that the tax on people, especially the tax on professionals, on small businessmen, It has a tax base that is very high (...). "Then it is proposed to reduce that a little and raise the tax on companies, so that in the net there will also be an increase in the capacity of the Ministry of Finance to collect resources."

The former Rector of the University of Chile added that this ''creates the possibility of developing what the country has been able to consolidate until now: a credible, stable country, that has rules of the game that are respected (...) and consequently "That constitutes a sufficient basis to bring investment like the one the country needs to continue growing."

Regarding the Tax Utilities Fund (FUT), he indicated that it was a correct measure in a period of economic crisis, but that this special incentive for company investment is evidently no longer needed, even more so when one looks at the accumulated This untaxed fund is approximately 1 GDP. 

It should be noted that the academic vice-rector of the ULS, Dr. Jorge Catalán, the dean of the FACSE, Mg Jorge Fernández, the director of the Department of Sciences were present at the activity. Economics and Business, Dr. Luperfina Rojas, the director of Teaching, Mg. Laura Vega, directors of Schools of the macrounit, the head of Admission and Enrollment, Eduardo Rojo, academics, students and special guests.

Training for teachers is contemplated, in order to expand the group of effective users of this pedagogical tool.

The Library System of the University of La Serena (SIBULS) has a new database, which is preferably aimed at careers related to music, but which also serves any user of the institution. It is ''Music Online Premium by Alexander Street'', which aims to provide the largest source of information with streaming audio and reference materials. In addition, it has more than 500 hours of video, 100 thousand reference pages, organized by genre, clips, scores and others.

''The system is multiplatform, several users can, for example, work with the same score at the same time, which does not happen with paper support. It works from a computer to a smartphone and also has associated elements such as the QR code that is saved like any other file,'' said the person in charge of the ULS Library System, Héctor García.

According to the multiple possibilities that the base offers, the user can create playlists, listen to audio or access reference materials. ''We are the first university in Chile to sign it, it is a new provider in Chile, but one that has worked in universities in Colombia, Argentina and Brazil, in addition to being highly recognized in the United States,'' García stated.

The person in charge of SIBULS indicated that dissemination is currently being carried out through the library's fanpage and some training for teachers is scheduled, in order to expand the group of effective users of this interesting pedagogical tool. ''This database is validated by the network of the University of La Serena and hosted on an external server that belongs to the provider,'' he explained.

With the addition of ''Music Online Premium by Alexander Street'', you can travel from the work of Mozart to more recent sounds such as Jazz or Pop.

In the presence of the Rector of the ULS, Dr. Nibaldo Avilés, directors, officials and special guests, the University of La Serena, through the Human Resources Directorate, held the official delivery ceremony of the ''Internal Regulations of Order, Hygiene and Safety of the University of La Serena'', a document intended to regulate work procedures, occupational risks and other activities to which officials of organizations with more than ten workers are exposed.

During the presentation of the document, the director of Human Resources of the University of La Serena, Héctor Bugueño, stated that ''guaranteeing a dignified work environment and mutual respect among workers and preventing occupational risks is a permanent purpose of the institution; The launch of the Internal Regulations of Order, Hygiene and Safety is the response to this requirement.

Bugueño also thanked all those who contributed to the definition of this document, ''among them the Department of Risk Prevention, Joint Committees of the different Campuses, the Rector and higher authorities for advancing this highly relevant issue that allows us to regulate, dignify the condition of workers, where people are respected and valued.

Subsequently, the person in charge of the institution's Risk Prevention Department, Verónica Antiñirre, developed a presentation referring to the details of the regulation and its scope, highlighting the historical progress that Chile has made in this regard and that seeks to catch up within the international context.

Likewise, he addressed the importance for all members of the institution of knowing this document, in order to act appropriately in the different aspects of work life within the organization and participate as a community in the process of establishing a culture preventive.

Finally, a printed copy of the “Internal Regulations of Order, Hygiene and Safety of the University of La Serena” was symbolically delivered by the Director of Human Resources to the Rector of the University of La Serena, Dr. Nibaldo Avilés. and the vice-rector of Economic and Administrative Affairs, Dr. Marcela Aguirre.

The ceremony was attended by institutional authorities headed by the Rector of the ULS, the vice-rector of Economic and Administrative Affairs, the director of Student Affairs, Mg. Miguel Zuleta, the director of Teaching, Mg. Laura Vega, the director of General Services, Marcos Sepúlveda, the legal advisor of the ULS, Elizabeth Escobar, the head of the Risk Prevention Department of the Mutual de Seguridad, Víctor Riquelme, and officials from the different departments of the state campus.