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Learn Chile institutions generate more than 150 agreements at NAFSA 2022

After a two-year gap due to the pandemic, NAFSA 2022, the world’s largest gathering of international educators, was held in-person once again. Learn Chile was present at the event, together with 20 universities and technical institutes, with the largest stand of any Latin American country (100 m2) and 40 representatives of Chilean institutions who reached more than 150 agreements with international universities.

NAFSA 2022, held from May 31 to June 3 in Denver (United States), is the world’s largest international education fair, and was attended by more than 6,000 university representatives from around 100 countries. The event undoubtedly provides an excellent opportunity for outreach and international recognition, both for Chilean higher education institutions and to position the country as a great place to study. The event is supported by ProChile every year, both in Chile and the U.S.

This year, Chile was a special guest at the NAFSA 2022 ambassadors’ meeting, which was attended by only six countries selected to present their academic offering. Chile’s representatives, Scarlett Ramírez (ProChile Trade Representative in Washington) and Marcos Avilez (Learn Chile Director) had the opportunity to hold 30 business meetings to promote education in Chile to universities from around the world, which was a great privilege for the country.

Learn Chile is the only network that brings together public and private universities and technical institutes from throughout the country to promote their higher education offering internationally.

Positioning Chile

Universities that participate in the NAFSA event have always shown great interest in establishing relationships with Chile, above all institutions from the United States this year. “This week, we have had the opportunity to hold numerous meetings with various higher education institutions from the United States, which are very interested in the Chilean education market. We are happy to promote business and friendship relations with the Government of Chile”, said Ana Keener, from the U.S. Embassy in Chile’s Commercial Department.

On this occasion, the seventh time that Learn Chile has been present at the event, other Latin American countries showed remarkable interest in deepening their ties with Chile, thanks to the cooperation efforts undertaken as part of the Latin American Initiative for the Internationalization of Higher Education (INILAT). The NAFSA event was a conducive setting for representatives of INILAT’s member countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru) to meet in person for the first time, further consolidating the bonds established virtually since 2020.

Meanwhile, Colombia’s Ministry of Education met with Learn Chile to present Go Colombia, a program created last year, and to find out more about how the Chilean network has become a benchmark for Latin America.

The expo

Learn Chile representatives held 600 networking meetings with their peers from other countries to provide information on the Chilean education system, higher education institutions, and their academic offering. These relationships will give rise to more than 150 new cooperation agreements (some of which have already been signed), and the arrival of students from around the world who wish to continue their education in a Spanish-speaking country.

“At these events, we can verify the interest in collaborating with Chilean universities. The results have been positive, and we are highly satisfied with our participation through the Learn Chile brand”, said Jorge Burgos, Director of International Relations at Universidad Católica del Maule.

Participating higher education institutions

  • Duoc UC
  • Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso
  • Universidad Austral de Chile
  • Universidad Autónoma de Chile
  • Universidad Bernardo O’Higgins
  • Universidad Católica de la Santísima Concepción
  • Universidad Católica del Maule
  • Universidad Católica del Norte
  • Universidad Central de Chile
  • Universidad de Chile
  • Universidad de La Frontera
  • Universidad de los Andes
  • Universidad de Santiago de Chile
  • Universidad de Valparaíso
  • Universidad del Bío-Bío
  • Universidad del Desarrollo
  • Universidad Diego Portales
  • Universidad San Sebastián
  • Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María
  • Universidad Viña del Mar

More than 150 cooperation agreements will be generated following NAFSA 2019

For a sixth consecutive year, educational institutions which form part of Learn Chile were present at the NAFSA 2019 conference, the largest meeting of international educators in the world, which took place from May 28 to 31 in Washington, D.C., United States. Chile joined more than 10,000 attendees from over 100 countries at this annual event.

Under the framework of NAFSA 2019, consortium representatives promoted their institutions’ academic offerings, and held more than 800 networking meetings with their peers from other countries. These meetings will give rise to more than 150 new cooperation agreements, which are expected to be signed to facilitate the arrival of students from all over the world who wish to continue their education in a Spanish-speaking country.

According to the Ministry of Education’s report on the Enrollment of Foreign Students in Chilean Higher Education Institutions, 86% of foreign exchange students who enrolled in Chile in 2017 did so through an agreement between their home university and the Chilean university at which they carried out their exchange program.

“University exchanges that take place under agreements have experienced sustained growth, and the results achieved at NAFSA will enable us to continue this positive trend”, said Learn Chile Director Marcos Avilez. In total, Chile receives more than 30,000 foreign students every year.

Visits to innovation centers

Chile is the most innovative economy in Latin America (Global Innovation Index) and leads the Latin America & Caribbean Edition of the Digital Evolution Index (DEI LAC). Learn Chile has set itself the objective of strengthening ties with the private sector. As part of these efforts, the NAFSA 2019 delegation visited the George Washington University Innovation Center, the 3M Innovation Center—a multinational company with branches in Chile—and Amazon’s renowned distribution center. Opportunities for exchanges between institutions arose at each of these visits.

Meanwhile, under the framework of NAFSA 2019, the “Applied research and innovation between associations in the United States and Chile” workshop was held at the American Councils for International Education in Washington, D.C. This workshop constituted an excellent opportunity to present the progress being made by universities from both countries in terms of research and innovation.

“We were very happy with the results of this meeting, which gave rise to collaboration opportunities in applied research for educational institutions that form part of Learn Chile”, said Steve Baeza, Director of Institutional Relations at Universidad Católica de la Santísima Concepción.

The Chilean delegation was greeted by the Chilean Ambassador to the United States, Alfonso Silva, at his residence, together with representatives from universities around the world, who the ambassador invited to visit Chile and establish agreements with the country’s educational institutions. The diplomat highlighted the work carried out by Learn Chile in the six years since it was created as the only network that brings together public and private universities from all over the country to promote the export of educational services throughout the world.