UDP Internacional

6 July 2023

A dance contest, an award for the best dance partner and a coexistence with typical food from our country. In this way, the General Directorate of International Relations (DGRII) dismissed the more than 90 international students who, during the first semester of 2023, carried out their student exchange at the UDP.

During the meeting, the international students actively participated and, with the help of a couple of expert dancers, they learned the basic steps of our national dance.

Carlos Ahumada, coordinator of Incoming Mobility and Agreements of the General Directorate of International Relations, said that this semester “has been a very satisfactory period” for the DGRII team in terms of student exchange.

“We are, once again, approaching significant numbers of international students. Post-pandemic, it is good to resume these types of figures at the level of incoming international students who are resuming their attendance. This is something we want to continue promoting. We are also encouraging more international students to continue to apply for this second semester,” he said.

During this semester, the international student body participated in different activities such as field trips and cultural visits to museums, among others. Thus, they experienced an opportunity that allowed them to integrate into the national culture and the academic work of the UDP.

Rachel Mullenix, an American student, commented that her experience at the UDP was very good and she highlighted the cultural richness of our country: “I really liked Chile. The culture here is very different from mine. The people are very nice, friendly. I really liked having the opportunity to be here,” she said.

For his part, Sven Rawer, a student from the Netherlands, stated that the exchange was very positive and that he was able to get closer to the cultural sphere of Chile. Now, he commented, he is listening to the music of Chilean bands and he was very interested in the work of the national authors: “I liked the book fair – which was held at the University-. I liked that,” he shared.

As of the last week of July, the University will receive more than 80 international students of 15 different nationalities. In this context, the General Directorate of International Relations invited the UDP students to participate in the Globaliza program, an initiative that seeks to generate an exchange of cultures between international and local students, through different activities such as field trips, events within the same University and linguistic practice meetings, among others.

“It is very important that they continue to motivate themselves so that each of the international students has a Buddy, who is like a friend from the UDP, so that they can have a better experience during their arrival and the entire exchange process at the University” concluded Carlos Ahumada.