International Winter School on Sustainable Development and Circular Economy Begins with an Open Seminary

July 23, 2019

The first version of this program on Sustainable Development and Circular Economy in Latin America is an activity of the Faculty of Engineering-USACH that seeks to contribute to the discussion on climate change from the academia with a critical thinking around the challenges facing the region. The opening seminar included the participation of the Ministry of Environment and Fundación Basura.

The Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, Juan Carlos Espinoza, said, "this project allows us to promote international values and strategies that include the exercise of engineering and multiculturalism. These two aspects are important for the educational training on young and global engineers.” Furthermore, the academic director of the school, PhD René Garrido, academic of the Department of Geographic Engineering, encouraged students to develop a critical thinking based on case studies about the challenges facing Latin America towards Sustainable Development.

Later, Daniel Vargas, on behalf of the Circular Economy Office of the Ministry of Environment, exposed an overall picture about the fundamental aspects on circular economy that the Ministry is starting to work with. On the other hand, Macarena Guajardo from Fundación Basura called for "zero waste" explaining "garbage does not exist".

The First School on Sustainable Development and Circular Economy will be held from July 22 to August 2 with the participation of 12 national students from the Universidad de Santiago de Chile and the Universidad de Concepción, and international students from Germany, Brazil and New Zealand. The Universidad de Santiago is the first institution to carry out such program at international level.

The International School has the valuable support of the Departments of Geographic, Electrical and Chemical Engineering and other partnerships such as Triciclos, Fundación Basura, Green Libros, the Faculty of Chemistry and Biology, LEIND USACH, Techos Solares Chile and Fundación Chilenter.

On this first version, the course is focused on Sustainable Development and Circular Economy in Latin America within the context of the COP25 summit to be held in our country on November 11.

Translated by Alexandra Cabrebra