After their arrival to Chile on Sunday, April 27, guests visited Valparaiso for a few hours. Later, the Board members of this corporation dedicated to support higher education in the country through the UC participated on an interesting debate about higher education at the Casa Central UC Campus.
This was their first activity in the University, having the chance to present their opinions and express their inquires to panelists, including the UC director Ignacio Sánchez and the UDP director Carlos Peña. During the discussion, two members of Friends UC, Sava and Roger Thomas, expressed their opinions and vision regarding higher education according to their experience in USA.
Following the debate, Board members attended a ceremony to grant four tuition scholarships to undergraduate students. Guests also visited the exhibition “Art, faith and devotion”, part of the Joaquín Gandarillas Collection.
The day concluded with the “X Entrepreneurship Afternoon”, a contest where winners of Jump UC (undergraduate Journalism, Engineering, and Design students) participate with entrepreneurial proposals.
On Tuesday, members of the group toured the facilities of the Center for Innovation UC Anacleto Angelini, located on the San Joaquín Campus. The day finalized with a Friends UC Board meeting in the same campus.
Friends of the Catholic University in Chile, Inc. is a nonprofit corporation, founded in the USA in 1989, with a clear mission: support higher education in Chile through the UC. The main objective of Friends UC is to facilitate the transfer of resources, knowledge and experience from USA to the University.
The visit of members of this organization has already become a tradition. This 2014, Board members who participated in the reunion were: Sava and Roger Thomas, Kirkpatrick MacDonald, Timothy M. Kingston, Agustín Huneeus, and Cristóbal Conde. Alongside, local members of the organization were also present in the aforementioned activities: the Director Emeritus of the UC, Pedro Pablo Rosso; Esperanza Cueto; Roberto Méndez; the Provost Guillermo Marshall; and the Finance and Management Vicerector, Patricio Donoso.