Faculty of Engineering reports the highest rate of student mobility in three years

Thursday, March 5, 2020

In recent years, outgoing students number is the highest put on record, according to the International Relations Unit at the Faculty of Engineering.

This coordination area is aimed to promote and build strategic networks with the purpose of integrating an international dimension to the teaching-learning practise, research and service of the Faculty of Engineering.

The numbers indicate that 213 students from the nine academic departments have been abroad for exchange, research studies, internship and professional training purposes. The Departaments of Geographical Engineering and Industrial Engineering lead the list with 41 and 39 outgoing students, respectively.

The Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, Juan Carlos Espinoza, says that “when we started the new mandate of the deanery, we had low rates in this regard. Throughout these years, the Nueva Ingeniería 2030 project allowed us to put emphasis and invest towards the internationalization of the faculty. This means to focus our efforts on promoting the number of students abroad, the entry of students from international universities, and also on giving a global profile to our academics”.

For the Dean, student mobility is essential for their professional careers. “Multiculturalism is an important element that we consider for the student professional training. Our students need to visit places and understand other cultures and societies. Discovering the world opens horizons and allows students to become global engineers”.

In the case of women, they are not behind with regards to international experiences. Since the International Relations Unit was formed, the number of women participation increased from 8 in 2017 to 25 in 2018, and finally reached 33 students in 2019.

In this regard, Dean Espinoza states “it is very important that women are taking the place they deserve by right. The more women are incorporated into the engineering training, the more professionals we will have to enhance the progress of Chile."

With respect to the research field, the Global Engineers Program, promoted by the International Relations Unit of the Faculty of Engineering since 2019, allowed the arrival of 14 international students from France, Mexico, Spain, Argentina and Colombia with the aim of doing research in the nine academic departments.

This increase represents the efforts of the Faculty of Engineering to boost the intercultural training and the internationalization of the curriculum on students' careers, in accordance with the third mission of the university that involves outreach, social affairs and international relations. "A Faculty that is not involved with the global world loses many opportunities to have an interdisciplinary and intercultural work", the Dean concludes.

Written By: Catalina Aguila V.

Translated by: Javiera Díaz