Within the framework of the strategic plan of the Pontificia Universidad Católica  de Valparaíso (PUCV), internationalization plays a key role, which is carried out -among other areas through collaboration agreements and exchange programs with universities in other countries. And in this logic, the Food faculty of the university makes permanent efforts to strengthen the mobility and exchange of its students and teachers.

For this reason, when a special invitation came from Eurochile to participate in the webinar “In times of pandemic: The importance of networking” held on July 14, they did not hesitate to participate, as they have done in numerous opportunities in recent years in activities of the Foundation.

The purpose this time, explains Fernando Salazar, director of the School of Food Engineering of the PUCV, was “to achieve an alliance with companies or European institutions of higher education related to the food industry, which would be interested in receiving our students to carry out their professional practices. Eurochile has a wide network of contacts in Europe, and immediately put us in contact with important companies and prestigious higher education institutions”.

“For us – he adds – international networks and especially with Europe are fundamental, we have good experience in the past in research issues with a French company where the support of Eurochile was essential”.

The mentoring work carried out by Eurochile, in support of the objectives of the PUCV, made it possible to locate a European university interested in international collaboration. From there, the direction of the Faculty of Food Science gave the guidelines and put both international relations offices in contact. This made it possible to achieve in record time, in a couple of months, the signing of a framework agreement between the Universidad Europea del Atlántico and the Pontificia Universidad Católica  de Valparaíso.

An agreement, says Salazar that will benefit his students. “As Food School, and as university, we have important agreements with prestigious foreign universities and we are always receiving students from Europe. Now we are interested in advancing in issues of professional practices, which will allow our undergraduate students to learn more about the world of work in Europe”, he explains.

There are several interests in common, he says, among which are research topics related to healthy eating and disease prevention. “Without a doubt, this alliance will allow us to advance a lot in this area of ​​knowledge, but in many other research topics, considering that the agreement has been signed at the university level and all other disciplines could also be favored in the field of research, undergraduate and graduate programs,”adds Salazar.

For the director of the Food School of the PUCV, the objective is that this agreement allows them to offer in the first instance professional internships abroad to their undergraduate students, and then continue with exchanges of professors on research topics.

“For us it is very important to continue advancing in internationalization issues and to achieve alliances with Europe. We value the efforts made by Eurochile and we appreciate their support, which is reflected in the signing of this agreement and in projects previously carried out with Europe”, he says.