The Universidad de Chile is the oldest university in Chile and one of the most famous. In the ranking within Chile, she is constantly fighting for the top with the Universidad Catholica. The UChile is spread across Santiago and the surrounding area with several faculties.
I visited the Facultad de Economía y Negocios, which focuses on business and where tomorrow’s managers are to be trained. Close relationships are maintained with the alumni and the respective companies, and company days and projects are organized. In general, great importance is attached to internationality.
4.1. Course choice
I only selected English-language courses from a relatively extensive course catalog, because at the beginning my Spanish would not have been good enough to take courses in Spanish. However, the Spanish range of courses is even broader.
The events were very pleasant. Four courses of 1.5 hours each twice a week, so that I spent a total of 12 hours a week in lectures. This sounds like very little at first, but students in Chile are expected to do a lot of work at home. The very verschulte compared to German universities university system requires it to invest a lot of work outside the lectures. In my opinion, this is less about quality and more about quantity. The employee grade is also often relatively heavy. You have to submit a lot of “papers” and homework and in addition to the “finals” there are additional “midterm” exams.
The lecturers spoke good and understandable English.
To cover German SPF International Management, I chose: International Management, International Marketing and Latin America in World Affairs. Each of these subjects resulted in 6 ECTS points. In order to cover topsim I decided on Urban Economics.
International management was very similar to the German subject ICC, the focus was on intercultural exchange and management methods in different cultures. Communication and negotiation methods adapted to cultures were also discussed intensively.
International Marketing has already combined well-known marketing strategies and methods with the international aspect. A large project to launch a product in Chile made up almost 40% of the course. So it was a good addition to the international management subject.
Latin America in World Affairs was taught by a very old and experienced discreet who unfortunately always wandered a bit and thus dragged the material out particularly lengthy. In this course, a lot of work had to be done outside of the university. Many texts were examined in this subject and presentations were given. All in all, however, the course was clear for the understanding of Chile in the South American environment and internationally and helped to get to know and classify Latin America as an economic area better.
Urban Economics had a mathematical focus and dealt with the explanation of how and why companies settle in cities and regions and what effects this has. However, also how the government influences this through regulations and laws.
In addition to the university, I also attended an external language course, which was affordable and helpful thanks to the partnership between UChile and the agency. However, the best way to learn the language is everyday life.
4.2. Supervision of the host university
The International Office and the support at FEN were excellent, especially the support from Catherine Rooney was incredibly helpful and very personal. We were also assigned “buddies” to exchange students who helped us with the first steps and were always at our side in the further process. There were many projects and events for us international, but also joint events and celebrations with the entire university to integrate us.
4.3. Equipment of the host university
The university was very well equipped and modern. There were computer rooms, a large library with a wide range of online offers, rooms were available to us in which we could work alone or in small groups. The cafeteria was very nice and offered good, varied food. The campus itself was also very beautiful, bright and modern. For us exchange students, most of the sports on offer were free and very good. You could use the gym free of charge and also take part in selected courses such as Zumba.
5. Accommodation
I started looking for an apartment in Germany. The International Office of the FEN sent us a kind of guide via email, where not only hospitals but also information about looking for an apartment was given. One of the listed apartments caught my eye and I contacted the landlord. I was lucky and got an acceptance relatively quickly. My apartment was about a 5-7 minute walk from the faculty in the center. At no point did I feel unsafe. The area was great, there was one or the other park, the metro was right around the corner and there were quite a few good cafes with decent coffee in the area, which borders on rare in Chile. There were several supermarkets down the street, as well as other stores and shops. The prices shocked me a bit. Converted, I still paid around € 350 for a relatively small room. At the beginning of winter, however, it was quite cold, as many apartments in Chile do not have heating or air conditioning, and the windows were poorly insulated. However, the landlord organized extra blankets for my roommate and me.
Learn more about Chile and South America, please check extrareference.
