Agreement signed to strengthen UCN Preparatory Program
06/Jun/2023
The university, SQM and the Sagrada Familia Bicentennial School of Tocopilla will provide opportunities for high school students to receive adequate preparation to enter higher education.
Twenty students in their fourth year of high school at the Sagrada Familia Bicentennial School in Tocopilla will benefit from an agreement enabling them to accelerate the level of knowledge needed to apply for higher education, strengthening and developing their academic skills.
This comes after Universidad Católica del Norte (UCN), SQM and the Sagrada Familia Bicentennial School signed a collaborative agreement to promote the UCN Preparatory Program, giving talented students from that school the opportunity to refine their talents. In addition, the selected students were given tablets for their studies.
According to one of the beneficiaries, Camila Hidalgo, who is very interested in studying law: “I consider the program to be very important and beneficial, acting as a stepping stone to university, as well as a glimpse of a part of the university experience, so to speak, starting early, so that the change will not seem so drastic, especially considering that, being from Tocopilla, we will have to travel to another city to study.”
For the principal of Sagrada Familia, Mario Rojas, this agreement “alleviates a high level of stress for the students; they begin to have direct contact with the university, reinforcing their vocation, their destiny, what they have been looking for in view of their professional and higher studies. We have therefore already been developing this enormous opportunity, only to be reaffirmed by this year’s commitment. We believe that these are opportunities that we should not let pass us by.”
Ramón Alberto Henríquez, the legal representative of Sagrada Familia, hopes the joint collaboration can be maintained, given its importance for the students. “The Preparatory Program has become a very valuable tool. We also have a shared training agreement with SQM for specific tests, as a kind of university prep course, and the preparatory system is quite exciting for us; to think that we can offer this opportunity to a fairly large group of students.”
COLLABORATION
UCN has been developing the Preparatory Program since 2013, benefiting fourth year high school students in the regions of Antofagasta and Coquimbo, and their respective municipalities.
In this regard, Pablo Pisani, SQM’s Director of Communications, Sustainability and Public Affairs, pointed out that the company has also collaborated with the university on other projects in the past, in order to contribute to the communities. “UCN is a strategic partner for the development of our plan focused on education—a key pillar for our company. We are committed to providing tools that allow these students to continue their studies and perform successfully in their transition to university. This is demonstrated by those who participated last year, generating high expectations for those who join this valuable initiative today, which undoubtedly collaborates in developing local human capital.”
For the rector of UCN, Dr. Rodrigo Alda Varas, “in the spirit of the Preparatory Program—based on the premise that talent is equally distributed—when we identify a talent, the conditions are not always fully available to develop satisfactorily. We can provide access to certain things, but, if the necessary resources are not available, expectations may be generated without the possibility of following through. Therefore, the fact that SQM has made a commitment, not only to one generation, but to a third, and today they have proposed to maintain their contribution, is tremendous news. This provides viability for a program of very humble beginnings, and which today has already amassed almost ten years of work.”
Finally, the coordinator of the UCN Access and Equity Program, Maritza Sánchez Garcés, said that “this agreement marks an important milestone. The most transcendental element is its tremendous contribution to the school’s students and to us. It helps our institution expand the options for preparing students for higher education and helping them get in. What better news than to have this level of commitment from institutions and companies.”
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