Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (UC): The Graduate School welcomes new UC doctoral students for the period 2021
The Welcome and Orientation Day for doctoral students who enter any of the 39 programs offered by the university, is an instance that aims to integrate new students to the UC Doctorate community , providing relevant information on the operation and services offered by UC.
The areas of: DAE , UC Libraries , Innovation Center , Sexual Violence Prevention Program , among others, participated. In addition to being an opportunity to welcome new students, it is of particular importance for foreigners, fostering the creation of networks and giving them guidance on visa processing, insertion in the UC and arrival in Chile.
Due to the situation we are facing due to the covid-19 pandemic, the ceremony was held in remote format and had more than 700 views in its transmission via YouTube , where the rector, deans, directors, heads and teams of academic doctorates and students of the different programs interacted through chat.
The rector Ignacio Sánchez opened the ceremony by congratulating the new students on their entry and highlighted their active role in creating knowledge. “We want to give a very cordial welcome to all of you so that, on the one hand, you are trained as researchers who will provide answers to society to very specific questions and in another aspect, give your capabilities to the university in order to continue advancing in doctoral programs ” , he pointed out.
For his part, the UC vice-rector for research, Pedro Bouchon, stressed that the sessions allow new students to be introduced so that they know all the dimensions and instances that the university offers to support them while they are completing their doctorate. “ We are tremendously proud that they have chosen us to carry out their doctoral studies. We know that after a demanding and very competitive selection process, they are ready to begin their path to becoming autonomous and independent researchers and I want to wish them the best of success in this beautiful path that they are starting today ” , he explained.
On this occasion, the keynote talk was given by the academic from the UC Faculty of Biological Sciences, Juan Larraín, who reflected on what it means to do a doctorate from an epistemological point of view , emphasizing the various nuances of interdisciplinary work, creation of new knowledge, the importance of wisdom and the constant search for truth.
The academic highlighted the importance of carrying out disciplinary research to support the development of interdisciplinary research and invited the new doctoral candidates to “practice open-mindedness and serve as a bridge between professors and professors to form interdisciplinary work teams. And to those who take their path elsewhere, in their disciplinary area, I invite you not to stop reading about other disciplines, or talking with colleagues from other areas, since another passion may appear along the way ” .
Likewise, he called for a reflection on “the limits of rationality and knowledge, and the verification that there is more than one way of knowing.” To conclude, he congratulated the students “for the decision they have made. I hope they will be years of great enjoyment and happiness in the creation of knowledge, in the search for the truth, in their contribution to the country, in their personal knowledge, and in the construction of new friendships ” .
“We know that after a demanding and very competitive selection process, you are ready to start your path to become autonomous and independent researchers and I want to wish you the best of success in this beautiful path that you are starting today” – Pedro Bouchon, Vice Chancellor UC Research
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For his part, director of the Graduate School, Diego Cosmelli, made a detailed presentation on the role of the Graduate School and highlighted the interculturality of the UC doctoral community, indicating that “the focus of our training is you, students as researchers in training ”.
Regarding training and the commitment to continuous improvement implemented from UC, the director of the Graduate School indicated that our main objective is to contribute to achieving an excellent training. “For this we work in a coordinated way with the academic units in the improvement of their programs, strengthening interdiscipline and internationalization opportunities, opening options for their career development and thus achieving the best training experience . “
This year, the Graduate School had three days of orientation sessions carried out with the support of the various units that will be fundamental during the doctoral training process , in addition to having two specific sessions for foreign students on accommodation in Santiago and Interculturality in Chile .
“It is our main objective to contribute to achieving a training of excellence. For this, we work in an articulated way with the academic units in the improvement of their programs “- Diego Cosmelli, director of the UC Graduate School