Within the framework of the degree accreditation process, the University of La Serena began the self-evaluation process leading to the accreditation of the Pedagogy degree in History and Geography, attached to the Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences.

The work began in a faculty meeting held on March 10 and was headed by the director of the School of History and Geography, Mg. Sandra Alvarez

On the occasion, the general coordinator of accreditation, at the institutional level, Eng. Alejandro Cruzat, reported on the general guidelines of the process and the stages that must be developed. Likewise, the facilities currently provided by the institution, through the Accreditation Office, to develop these processes were communicated and queries and doubts presented by the academics were answered.

The Pedagogy degree in History and Geography at the University of La Serena currently has an accreditation for 5 years, until January 2015, according to what was resolved by the accreditation agency AcreditAcción.

The keynote lectures will be given by Dr. Ofelia Roldán, academic and researcher at the University of Manizales, Colombia, and psychomotor specialist Jorge Hirsch, director of the CERINI Neurorehabilitation Center, in San Juan, Argentina. 

The ULS Regional Center for Educational Studies and Development (CREDEULS) has organized an international seminar on educational inclusion where professionals from Colombia, Argentina and Chile will meet to propose spaces and times for critical reflection and hope in the face of genuine human integration. They all agree on an ethical proposal in the face of intolerance and social inequality, which is why they propose a culture of peace that must begin in the family, the community and, above all, in the school classrooms.

This Laboratory has an online platform with 250 licenses and a network platform that allows, with the acquired software, to keep 20 state-of-the-art devices connected to the network, with pedagogical support.

A modern Central Language Laboratory was inaugurated on the Ignacio Domeyko Campus of the University of La Serena, intended for career students whose training programs require a certain level of English language skills as a degree requirement. This Laboratory has a online platform with 250 licenses and a network platform that allows, with the acquired software, to keep 20 state-of-the-art devices connected to the network, with pedagogical support. 

During the inauguration ceremony of this facility - framed in the celebration of the thirty-third anniversary of the state campus and in which university authorities were present, headed by the Rector of the ULS, Dr. Nibaldo Avilés, directors, directors of the Law courses , Kinesiology and Dentistry, academics and officials of the institution-, the Director of Teaching, Mg. Laura Vega highlighted that in this Laboratory an interactive English program will be developed so that students acquire the basic communication tools in the language, especially those career students who do not have English subjects in their study plans.

The purpose of the program called ''English Online ULS'' is to develop oral and written comprehension skills that allow the graduate to communicate at a basic level in English and subsequently go deeper through their own means for efficient communication. ''It is an English learning environment through multimedia tools on a web platform, available at the University and online from other sites,'' explained the Director of Teaching. 

In detail, the software has sequenced lessons to develop the skills of understanding, speaking, and reading at a basic level; tools to converse, speak and receive feedback; varied tests with immediate feedback to know the progress of learning; and in the last levels, the practice of English orally with native speakers, especially at a distance. While the online platform allows you to complement the activities carried out in the laboratory. 

The person in charge of the Central Language Laboratory, Osvaldo Bravo, pointed out that from now on the student will be able to take his time, work and interact with the platform independently, ''carrying out all his activities and, according to his learning pace, he will advance. '', adding that it is also contemplated that the students carry out a focused practice in terms of conversation, where there is interaction with the teacher and the students.

University authorities, headed by the Rector of the ULS, Dr. Nibaldo Avilés Pizarro, directors, academics and students of the institution, participated in the inauguration of the works to improve infrastructure, rooms and access for Teaching at the service of first-year students. year of Industrial Civil Engineering, located in the North Wing of the Ignacio Domeyko Campus

These works have made it possible to complete a cycle of rehabilitation and furnishing of spaces that in this building alone already includes five fully equipped rooms, available for first-year students. 

''The works that we present today, and their implementation with quality equipment and furniture, respond to our policy of improving physical and technological resources, and the commitment to quality that we have assumed as the only State University in the Coquimbo Region. The above aims to improve and optimize learning spaces for the incorporation of methodological innovations and quality assurance of the undergraduate training programs of our University, in accordance with the principles of the Educational Model and Strategic Plan for Institutional Development. said Rector Avilés, highlighting that the completion of these projects is the result of the work carried out jointly by authorities, directors and teachers.

Meanwhile, the director of Institutional and Planning Studies, Mg. César Espíndola, maintained that considering that the teaching-learning process is based on interactions between people, ''the need arises to make these spaces a comfortable and friendly place, this being an important task entrusted by our Rector, especially when This change begins by giving priority to our first-year students, a task that is no less challenging as it provides a starting point in the definition of a new standard of infrastructure for our University and which must be preserved throughout their training process. . 

Furthermore, the manager indicated that this task becomes easier when ''we see the commitment of academic units to maintain this standard over time, as a strategy that offers important benefits, such as the generation of early identity with the career, the possibility of interaction of new students with their academics and classmates from higher courses, among many others.'' Opinion shared by Sebastián Bustos, from the Industrial Civil Engineering Student Center, who valued the improvement of rooms and offices, as well as the delivery of new equipment for the Production Laboratory, highlighting that having these spaces favors interaction between incoming students, their teachers and higher level students. 

For his part, the director of the Department of Industrial Engineering, Mg. Óscar Contreras, along with highlighting that these spaces favor the integration of first-year students and allow better care to be provided to young people, thanked the highest university authority and higher authorities for the support provided to the unit in the completion of this remodeling. and also in the acquisition of a Flexible Manufacturing System in the Production Laboratory, technology that is part of the first investment in major equipment made in the Faculty of Engineering after 1970.

It is worth remembering that in April 2013 the new facilities of the North Wing of the Ignacio Domeyko Campus were inaugurated, works that included the provision of 4 classrooms for the students and teachers of the Department of Industrial Civil Engineering, whose works were framed in the Alma Mater ULS project. They included the recovery of the wooden floor (vitrified), painting of interior and exterior walls, renovation of blackboards, Internet connection, high-efficiency lighting, implementation of data and renovation of furniture to provide comfort to the students. Additionally, accesses and signage were renewed and basic services were provided. Added to this is the implementation of new administrative offices for the Department. of Industrial Engineering, a project that had resources from the Rector's Office and the aforementioned department.

The inauguration ceremony of the improvement of infrastructure and rooms was part of the celebration of the XXXIII anniversary of the University of La Serena.

The facilities specifically designed for both careers are among the most modern in Latin America and will allow students to significantly advance in the diagnosis and treatment of their future patients.

Within the framework of its XXXIII anniversary, the only state institution takes a new and significant step by completing the implementation of new laboratories and infrastructure for Kinesiology and Dentistry careers.-

''The systematic improvement of rooms, laboratories and other rooms intended for students, along with the renovation of equipment and furniture, are actions that aim to respond to the various requirements of our students and represent the commitment to quality that we have assumed. several years; It is a source of pride for our University,'' said the Rector of the ULS, Dr. Nibaldo Avilés. 

Among the exclusive investments made to benefit the professional training of students, is the allocation of $100 million for the Preclinical Laboratory for Dentistry, which includes 19 simulation models or phantoms.
In addition, the Clinical Plaster Laboratory, the First Aid Kit Room for the distribution of supplies and the Sterilization Room were equipped with a value of $10 million each.

As explained by the director of the Dentistry program, Mg. Cristian Oyanadel, ''in simulation models or phantoms, students learn what they will later have to apply with patients; if they do not go through this stage, it is impossible for them to perform well in the clinic. While the Plaster Laboratory is a complement to the preclinical, since not all work is done in the mouth and they must also learn dental laboratory work and handling of materials, among others, to better perform their task.''

The students were pleasantly surprised with the innovations in equipment, which they will begin to use immediately in the laboratories. ''This is very important for us. It seems very good to me to have in the ULS these teams that we did not imagine what they were going to be like, therefore, seeing that they are modern, allows us to know that they will help us practice and learn more to come out better prepared," said Marcos Pizarro, second year Dentistry student.

''Our University of La Serena has declared in its undergraduate teaching policy, incorporated within the framework of its institutional Strategic Development Plan (PED), the interest in developing undergraduate training processes within a framework of quality and relevance. On the other hand, the corporation, when creating new careers, raised the strategic need to face great risks and convert them into improvement actions that seek to mobilize the institution from a state of consolidation to a state of competitiveness," indicated the Director of Teaching of the ULS, the Mg. Laura Vega, who also added the importance of "contributing to the consolidation of the health area as an important pole of attraction for academically talented students, from the region and why not say the country." 

Likewise, the director pointed out that ''the profile of these careers based on significant learning experiences and with greater intensity in the field of practice, offers an important opportunity to familiarize students, through early practices, with learning and performance. in real work environments, ensuring the relevance of their training and providing them with comparative advantages compared to private training offers available in the northern macro zone.''

Kinesiology Laboratories 

For the Kinesiology degree, meanwhile, the Biomechanics and Movement Analysis Laboratory was enabled, which includes within its equipment an inertial movement analysis system, a wireless electromyograph, a posturographic analysis system, a rehabilitation treadmill and a training platform. gear and two ergonomic bicycles, which had an investment of $127 million. Also for the Kinesiology degree, the Physiotherapy and Therapeutic Gym Laboratory was equipped with 8 ergonomic stretchers, with an investment of $6 million.

''Since the first semester of 2014, students begin to work on the subject of biomechanics, beginning to gain insight into the knowledge of each of the pieces of equipment and what benefit they can obtain from this cutting-edge technology. Subsequently, they move on to movement analysis and will be able to work with different groups of people, age groups, genders and be able to provide a service to the community," said the director of the Kinesiology degree, Alfredo Gary.

''One of the guarantees of these devices is that they are easy for the student to manipulate, in addition, they provide data in real time, which opens the doors to research. Regarding treatment with patients, they allow us to determine behavioral patterns and intervene from a clinical point of view,'' said Biomechanics academic Edwin Contreras. 

For the Kinesiology student, Anuar Gascón, it is very positive to have high-standard infrastructure at the national level, which represents a leap in the quality of teaching. ''In what is the biomechanical part, everything that is clinical diagnosis in Kinesiology is going to benefit a lot, since movement analysis is one of our main functions, this helps us to be better professionals and to enter better. forms a more competitive market,'' he said. 

The ribbon cutting that inaugurated the facilities was carried out by the Rector of the ULS, Dr. Nibaldo Avilés, who was accompanied by the dean of the Faculty of Sciences, Dr. Gustavo Labbé, the director of the Kinesiology degree, Alfredo Gary, the director of the Dentistry program, Mg. Cristian Oyanadel, and the students Gianina Uribe and Diego Contreras. 

Subsequently, attendees took a tour of each unit and learned in detail about the equipment and its uses.

In what constitutes his first visit to the capital of the Coquimbo Region, Ambassador Adolfo Curbelo expressed his intention to establish ties that allow the development of cultural activity and the improvement of students and academics from both countries.

A fruitful meeting was held at the Central House of the University of La Serena, by the Cuban ambassador to our country, Adolfo Curbelo, and the highest university authority, Dr. Nibaldo Avilés.

On the occasion, the Rector of the ULS thanked the visit of the diplomat and the delegation that accompanied him, also made up of José Miguel Hernández, in charge of Political Affairs, and Luis Aguilera, president of the Society of Writers of Chile, Coquimbo Region, among other regional representatives.