In the Alejandro Covarrubias room of the Central House, the presentation on Research Management and Development at the University of La Serena was held, on which occasion the Director of Research at the house of higher education, Dr. Eduardo Notte, provided details of the progress and achievements achieved during 2013, as a result of the institutional policy in this area. The Rector Dr. Nibaldo Avilés, senior authorities, directors, academics and researchers of the institution were present at the activity, framed in the commemoration of the thirty-third anniversary of the ULS.

On the occasion, the highest university authority told those present that it can be stated with certainty that the University is consolidated in undergraduate teaching, institutional management and links with the environment, and that it is time to project the institution at a higher level. . ''The next step is to advance in research and postgraduate studies, and for this it is necessary to have an institutional PED Development Strategic Plan that focuses on both topics,'' stated the Rector, adding that it is essential that lines of action be introduced more specific, so that in the medium term the institution has 5 accredited doctoral programs and, in the long term, 11 accredited doctorates. Likewise, he highlighted the historic indicators achieved in scientific productivity and in the awarding of external projects, a product of the institutional research policy implemented over the last seven years, and the work developed by ULS academics and researchers.

For his part, Dr. Eduardo Notte, after describing the structure of the DIULS, highlighted the increase in resources allocated to research at the institution from 2007 onwards, and that in 2013 the DIULS budget was $121.476.000, to which are added the resources for allocation for academic productivity ($51.729.000) and the hiring of highly productive researchers ($183.133.000), so the resources allocated for research the previous year were approximately $356.338.000. XNUMX.

Likewise, he explained that the programs developed by DIULS, during 2013, totaled nine, executing 65 projects with financing of around $240 million pesos. During last year, the execution of projects related to the new lines of action called by DIULS began, which correspond to 1 Multidisciplinary DIULS project, 13 DIULS projects to Support Postgraduate Theses, 3 DIULS projects to Support Academic Journals and 11 DIULS Equipment projects. To these new investigations must be added 12 Regular DIULS projects, 5 Initiation projects, 5 Monograph projects, 5 projects supporting Scientific Events and 10 from the Associate Researchers Program.

Regarding the number of DIULS projects awarded by Department in 2013, he noted that there is a concentration of projects that are related to the areas focused on by the institution. This is how the departments of Biology (11), Physics (15), Food Engineering (10) and Mathematics (4) awarded 63% of the total projects.

Regarding productivity, Dr. Notte reported that the number of ISI publications in 2013 was 90 works, while SciELO publications reached 20. In addition, he highlighted that the average of ISI citations per article, between 2007-2013 in the ULS, is 7,2, ranking seventh among CRUCH universities, surpassing important institutions such as the U. of Chile and USACH. 

In relation to external projects, it was indicated that the DIULS maintains 32 FONDECYT projects in execution. Added to these is the execution of 2 CORFO projects, 3 FIC GORE projects, 1 FPA Environmental Protection Fund project and 2 Ring projects as an associated institution. In addition, the previous year, the ULS was awarded 1 Millennium project as an associated institution, 7 FONDECYT Regular projects in 2014, 1 initiation project and 1 postdoctoral project. 

Information was also provided regarding the evolution of publications by department, the number of researchers with WOS or ISI publications by units, the average age, degree of researchers with publications and the average number of publications per researcher. 

''The development in the research area that the University has experienced in the last 7 years is quite promising and this is demonstrated in the figures provided. For several years, the University has been achieving significant advances both in quantity and quality of scientific productivity, and this has been manifested in the CONICYT reports and through the rankings,'' said the Director of Research, Dr. Eduardo Notte.

As an example of these advances, he mentioned the 2013 CONICYT report in which it is noted that ''the University of La Serena achieves notable results in led normalized impact (23% above the world average) and led excellence 5.7%''. While at the regional level, the institution is first in leadership and excellence in scientific production, and second at the national level, after the Federico Santa María Technical University. 

In addition, the ULS ranked sixth nationally in the Ranking of Chilean Universities published by Qué Pasa magazine, ranking above several other universities accredited in research.

And in the ranking of Latin American universities by the British company Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), the state campus occupies 135th place out of the 300 best universities in Latin America, which means an increase of 7 positions compared to the same ranking the previous year.