They are two Mexican students and a Colombian who bet their academic specialization in the Universidad de Los Lagos.

They are different experiences, different approaches that foreign students have had with the University of Los Lagos, however, they all have in common to have chosen this university because of the prestige that their postgraduate programs have in and especially outside Chile, from where these students have known it.

Jesus Guadalupe Lugo is Mexican and currently studies the Doctorate. in Mathematics Education at ULagos, which she learned from the University of Sonora, Mexico, where he had studied the master’s degree. “I reviewed the information on the program online and had an interview with Dr. Luis Pino-Fan, in which we talked about the curriculum mesh, the lines of research of the postgraduate, the professors and collaborators, my research topic, among others. At the end of the interview I decided to apply for the Doctorate, I remember that the program seemed to offer excellent opportunities for learning and professional growth and it has definitely been so,” she recalls.

The postgrade student is a teacher and before arriving to Osorno she worked in a university in Mexico. Now she dedicates exclusively to complete her doctoral studies.

How has your experience been in Chile, in Osorno particularly and in the middle of a pandemic that I also imagine makes it different from what you thought?

I have been living in Osorno, Chile for two years and my experience has been very pleasant. I am very grateful to the Universidad of Los Lagos and especially to the postgraduate courses in Mathematics Education for all the support they have given me during my doctoral studies.

The situation of social isolation that we are experiencing has definitely modified our academic activities. However, I believe that the directors and professors of postgraduate courses in Mathematics Education are doing a good job for us to continue with our academic training. We currently have classes and consultancies, with our thesis supervisors, online; which helps us to continue with our training and thesis work.

Work line

“I am passionate about Probability and Statistics, especially Inferential Statistics and proposals on Inferential Reasoning.

As a professional, I saw firsthand the usefulness of statistical inference, and as a professor at the university, the need to promote in students an Inferential Reasoning. And it is precisely on this kind of reasoning that I am developing my doctoral thesis.”

For Loreny García, Mexican (Master in Mathematics Education), her choice to study at the ULagos a postgraduate degree was influenced by her thesis teacher in Mexico. It was then that she reviewed the programs and considered it the best option. “I chose it because I found the program very complete and interesting. In addition to that I learned that there were Mexicans studying a postgraduate degree at the ULagos and that made me encourage me to study outside my country. Adapting to the online system has not been easy because my education has always been in person, but I think it was the best option because of the pandemic, rather than suspending classes, especially as teachers strive to teach the class online. I am grateful because the teachers make the classes dynamic, interesting, explain the doubts that arise and are understandable when commissioning some work, “she says.

She doesn’t know Chile yet but she has classmates and friends that have been in the country and recommend it to her, so she hopes to visit it soon.

Work line

Rather than developing in an area of mathematics, I would like to investigate the teaching-learning of algebra, because there is currently a notable deficiency in students. Also, as my thesis topic was focused on Differential Calculus, I could notice that students struggle to learn it, so I would also like to investigate teaching-learning in that area.

FROM COLOMBIA 

From Colombia she reached Osorno Liliana Aguilar. Her experience was very different, because she arrived in 2018 to perform volunteer work, she ended up studying the Master in Human Sciences at the ULagos.

How did you know the program and decided to study at ULagos? 

My path to choose the Universidad de Los Lagos begins with my arrival in Chile in March 2018, when I began my professional volunteering through América Solidaria (Chilean Foundation that seeks to mitigate child poverty) at the Quilacahuín Intercultural School, located 20 minutes from Osorno. At that time with my other 2 classmates from Colombia we executed a coexistence project, in which we interacted a lot with high school students and we used to accompany them to activities of different universities and institutes to know them and have different alternatives to choose their professional career.

That is how I know the university and for my interest of staying in the south of Chile I asked my acquaintances and they told me that ULagos was the best option for its recognition in the region and academic excellence.

What are the strengths you observed in the program and what caught your attention to enroll?

I think the entire program is strength at least for me that being an ecologist by profession and accustomed to having classes in taxonomy of animals, plants, landscape, hydroclimatology, among others, I use the historical component which is very important for community work that is the scope of my work interest, in addition to this I am learning to make and analyze speeches, theoretical and methodological approaches that allow me to better understand human and environmental relations.

Liliana Aguilar came to settle in Quilacahuín in 2018, at the end of 2019 she decided to visit her family in Colombia and as a result of the pandemic she could not return due to the closure of borders, so she continues in Colombia studying virtually.

Work line

Definitely, the line that interests me most of the Master of Human Sciences is that of Space, Environment and Society, because it allows me to make the perfect anchor to my ideals as a professional, in which I can provide a rural, educational, urban and ancestral community with tools that can enhance their strengths and knowledge in order to have adequate relationships with their environment, and likewise these can help develop methodologies that exalt their skills and customs improving their economy and therefore obtain access to different opportunities in society.

“THE WORD OF MOUTH”

Although the University has dissemination platforms for its postgraduate programs, the most infallible system to arrive with the message about what programs are taught and what their quality is is the same student who attends one of them or the one who graduates, through what he comments as personal experience.

This is explained by the director of postgraduate studies at ULagos, Dr. Gonzalo Miranda. “The difussion is done, among others, through an international E-Magister platform, through which interested parties from various Spanish-speaking countries make consultations. However, what works most is word of mouth, which has a lot to do with the incorporation of foreign academics, either as professors, thesis co-guide, or in thesis commissions. Also with the word of mouth that occurs among alumni when they return to their respective countries.“

The director of Postgraduate Studies comments that the information that appears on websites, social networks and merchandising at academic events is permanently reinforced.

“What attracts foreigners, especially some programs, is their specificity. That is, its hallmark. This is especially noticeable in the postgraduate courses of Mathematics and Science Education (Puerto Montt), which are the ones that attract more foreigners,” Miranda said.