Over the past decade, more than 170 academics, students, and administrative staff have been part of the Faculty Exchange Luksic Grants program, enabling them to connect, collaborate and share in diverse fields such as philosophy, engineering, mathematics, arts and humanities.
“New beginnings,” “openness,” “friendship” and “opportunities.” With these words, Faculty Exchange Luksic Grants participants define their experience in the program that for the past 10 years has strengthened relations between Chile and the United States, fostering exchange between the communities of two renowned academic institutions: the University of Notre Dame du Lac and the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile.
In total, 176 academics, students and administrative staff from both universities collaborated by doing joint research, participating in exchanges, and attending conferences organized by the universities in both countries. This collaboration fostered a virtuous connection in one of the spheres with the greatest transformative potential in society: higher education.
“Throughout these years, we have seen how the strategic collaboration between these institutions has positively transformed the educational and professional trajectories of hundreds of people. But we have also been able to observe how the collaboration has promoted knowledge, research and cultural exchange between the two countries”, said Isabella Luksic, Executive Director of the Luksic Scholars Foundation.
To celebrate the achievements and results of the program, academics and executives from the University of Notre Dame visited Chile to participate in a meeting with Luksic Scholars who were part of this educational experience, as well as with representatives from the Catholic University, the Notre Dame Santiago Global Center office, and the Foundation’s team.
“We are very pleased with what has been achieved with this program. Thanks to the Luksic Scholars Foundation for planting this seed, which has meant that today we are very close strategic partners with Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. We really feel that in the future this bond can only grow stronger, since the relationship with Chile is an exchange that is very important to us”, stated Michael Pippenger, Vice President and Associate Provost for Internationalization at the University of Notre Dame.
President of Universidad Católica, Ignacio Sánchez, stressed the importance of continuing to promote internationalization in higher education. “As a university we are committed to continuing to establish strong relationships with universities and research centers around the world. This program marked the beginning of a very fruitful collaboration that has benefited academics, administrators, and mainly our students. We believe that we need to foster global skills for global challenges, and internationalization opens opportunities in that path”.
Camila Varela, a professor and coordinator of international affairs at the UC School of Nursing, was one of the participants in the program and went to the United States in early 2022. She commented, “I was able to find a very interesting path that had to do with my role in promoting the internationalization of our students and academics at the school. I had meetings, learned about best practices and was able to explore the experiences they had developed to promote collaborative work with other countries, allowing me to bring that learning and propose new challenges in favor of internationalization”.
The meeting was moderated by Lilian Ferrer, Vice Rector for International Affairs at Universidad Católica. At the event, different Luksic Scholars shared their testimonies and experiences which included research and collaborations in diverse fields such as art, history, physics, biology, architecture and philosophy.
As part of the celebration of the program’s 10th anniversary, a seminar titled “Internationalization in Higher Education: Reflections on the Effects and Impact of the Strategic Collaboration of Institutions” was held. The event was open to the public and featured panelists including Lilian Ferrer (UC); Michael Pippenger (ND); Domingo Mery (UC), Rob Nerenberg (ND), Cristian Diaz Castro (UC), Hong Zhu (ND) and Steve Reifenberg (ND).
The seminar addressed topics such as the challenges and achievements in establishing a vice-rectorate for international affairs; the path of dual certification; and the impact of promoting an inclusive and sustainable student exchange.