Ryan ChartrandA group of students from Chile had lunch and toured the campus Thursday with several Cal Poly students in a meeting set up through a new immersion program with the University of La Serena.
Nine students and two faculty members spent the day checking out Cal Poly. La Serena is located 350 miles north of Santiago and has exchange programs with over 100 universities.
The school has 8,000 students with colleges of engineering, social Sciences, natural sciences, and liberal studies. Degrees include Spanish, history, journalism, music, psychology and translation.
Kevin Fagan, the Chile faculty exchange coordinator and modern languages and literature professor, spearheaded the bond with La Serena. Fagan’s wife is from Chile and he met some professors from the university while traveling there.
“I thought it would be convenient for students to go there. It’s a mid-size city with a climate similar to the Central Coast,” Fagan said.
He added that Chile is a healthy country and safer than most South American nations.
It’s also the most inexpensive way to study abroad because students do not have to pay tuition at the university, Fagan said.
“Room and board is only $300 a month, so it’s actually cheaper to go to school there compared to here,” he said.
In order to go to La Serena, students must have three years of Spanish. There are no classes offered in English.
The College of Liberal Arts will send about five students per quarter to La Serena.
“It’s a great country to travel in. The school is by the coast so you can surf, but it’s also close to the mountains for skiing,” Fagan said.
Engineering professor Victor Bermont accompanied the Chilean students to experience a day at Cal Poly. He was very impressed with what he saw during his short visit.
“The school is very beautiful, very different. There are more open spaces and trees,” Bermont said about Cal Poly.
After spending just a short period of time touring the campus, Veronica Carrasco was sold on Cal Poly.
“I’m just here visiting, but I want to come,” Carrasco said.
Agribusiness sophomore Phoebe Ziegler is planning to study abroad in Chile and enjoyed practicing her Spanish with the Chilean students.
Her goal for the day was to make some new friends to “hook up a place to stay.”
Fagan is enthusiastic about sending Cal Poly students to Chile and said he hopes to increase the number of students who can travel there over the next few years.