The university began a three-state process that will be developed based on the results of four working groups in which academics, officials and students will participate.

The University of La Serena is working on the development of an Inclusion Policy that serves as a navigation chart that guides actions, initiatives and activities in terms of valuing human dignity, reducing gender gaps and respect for diversity.

To achieve this, a participatory three-state process was convened in which work is being done to generate a set of parameters that contribute to guaranteeing access and an inclusive environment in the university.

On the first day, held this Thursday, April 18 and coordinated by the General Area of ​​Coordination of Rights and Duties for Comprehensive Training (AGDDFI), the process “Path towards an Inclusive Policy USerena” was launched, in which they participated academics, officials and students.

The creation and development of this policy, which is part of the Institutional Strengthening Project ULS-22991 of the Ministry of Education, will have a comprehensive scope, thus covering the areas of Disability, Gender, Interculturality, Citizen Training and Human Rights. This is based on the transversality of these varied themes and whose elaboration will be a joint effort between academics, students and officials, thus appealing to the three-state mentality of the bases, since this will be a policy for the entire university community.

To materialize this inclusive policy, the university will work in 4 tri-state tables, which will be focused on discussing an inclusive policy proposal and the operationalization and implementation of it within the institution.

Regarding the development and implementation of this new policy, the Vice-Rector for Economic and Administrative Affairs, Mg. Lilian Alvarado indicated that “being able to have an inclusive policy is very important as a university given that it is not only an accreditation criterion, but today, as our environment is, it is very important to have an inclusive policy in its different areas.” . Furthermore, currently it is essential to work in a tri-state manner, since we often think of students, academics and officials from different areas and having this inclusive policy will be a unifying axis for all levels, hence the importance that these groups work in a uniform manner. active.”

For his part, the Coordinator of AGDDFI, Mg. Cristian Blanco, highlighted that this policy is “a desire that we have been working on for many years and in some way it crystallizes all the efforts that our institution has made in matters of inclusion for years and the fact of being able to have a inclusive politics. 

Along with this, he added that “society today makes visible groups that have previously been discriminated against, and in that context higher education centers as training institutions cannot be immune to this situation. The University of La Serena has been a pioneer in this and, therefore, the idea of ​​the institution as the state university of the Coquimbo Region is precisely to lead the issue of inclusion and inclusive policies.”

Finally, Kevin Araya, second-year Psychology student, highlighted that “it is super important to be able to work in these instances because it makes us visible as students, and it is great that they take our opinion because it is also important. So I like to participate in these activities, that they invite us and I hope that they continue to be repeated and more students are invited.” Furthermore, he said, “being able to work on the university's inclusive policy is totally important because times are changing and obviously we must give more visibility, care and responsibility to everything that has to do with inclusion, since at the end of the day "No one is different from anyone."