ULagos signs cooperation agreement with Colombian School of Rehabilitation.

The agreement was signed by the rector of ULagos, Óscar Garrido Álvarez, and his Colombian counterpart, Henry Mauricio Díez Silva, establishing a framework for collaboration aimed at strengthening academic training, research, and community engagement. Among its main objectives, the agreement includes conducting joint research, exchanging students, faculty, and researchers, as well as creating cooperation opportunities in various fields of knowledge. It also opens the possibility of promoting academic mobility programs and developing theses in a co-supervision format, enhancing professional training with an international perspective.

The university emphasized that such agreements help consolidate international collaboration networks, expanding opportunities for students and academics, especially from the insular territory of Chiloé. In this regard, the Director of the Chiloé Campus of ULagos, Maximiliano Heeren Herrera, valued the origin of this alliance, highlighting the role of the academic body in its development. He also noted that this agreement strengthens internationalization from the territory, allowing the educational experiences of Chiloé to be projected into other Latin American contexts.

“It is a tremendous opportunity for students and the academic body, as it not only enhances professional development and research but also generates synergy between realities that share similar social and cultural characteristics. This strengthens ties at both territorial and Latin American levels,” he added. COOPERATION BUILT FROM THE CLASSROOM AND TERRITORIES From the Colombian University Rehabilitation School Foundation (ECR), it was highlighted that this alliance responds to a process progressively built from shared academic interests.

The alliance has evolved towards new lines of work in research and social projection, with an emphasis on territorial issues, particularly in insular contexts and rural communities. This approach has allowed for the identification of common ground between the realities of Chiloé and various territories in Colombia, promoting joint proposals with social, environmental, and cultural relevance. “The alliance between ECR and the University of Los Lagos is configured as a strategic bet that transcends academic cooperation, as it is inscribed in a horizon of academic and scientific diplomacy between Colombia and Chile.

This relationship not only strengthens institutional capacities but also promotes the recognition of shared social challenges and the joint construction of responses from a Latin American, ethical perspective committed to the territories,” emphasized Olga Lucía Montoya Hurtado, Director of Research and Social Projection at the Colombian Rehabilitation School. The agreement will have an initial duration of four years and includes the possibility of establishing specific agreements to materialize concrete actions for the benefit of both institutions, consolidating a collaboration that transcends borders and strengthens cooperation between Chile and Colombia.