“The Universidad de O’Higgins is one of the newest universities in the world; it’s only about two and a half years old. One of the goals they had for their university was to send students abroad early and often,” said Mark Rieger, CANR dean. “On a visit that I made there a couple of years ago, we decided that we would have a pilot program here at the University of Delaware.”

Students were committed to getting the most out of their short visit and enjoyed experiencing a different academic environment.

“I think it’s a very good opportunity for all our students in our university,” said Javiera Valenzuela, a junior studying veterinary science. “We get to know different things, different culture, different classes. I think the labs are my favorite part. I’ve been doing different things that I don’t do at home.”

Evenings and weekends were spent enjoying UD events and campus life. Students also took advantage of UD’s location to explore New York, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.

New to the program this year was the involvement of UD’s English Language Institute (ELI). Students were immersed in language courses that allowed them to practice speaking, writing and reading English to support their coursework across the various colleges. These opportunities also allowed them to interact with other international students.

“Dean Rieger reached out about having this group of students stop by and get a sense for how English is taught here in the U.S. and we tried to place them in classes where they would be comfortable engaging, and where they could acquire some foundational skills while they were here. Although they study a fair amount of English back in Chile, they don’t have an opportunity to practice speaking it that much,” said MariaJose Riera, special programs advisor at ELI. “These students come to us with a lot of enthusiasm. They’re just ready to go, ready to learn, ready to try new things.”

To hear about their experiences and celebrate their time at UD, ELI hosted a certificate ceremony for the students before they departed to Chile.

“We wanted to thank you for being here with us,” Karen Asenavage, associate director of the ELI and director for academic programs, told the visiting students at the ceremony. “You are very courageous and brave for coming and doing this. I know when I was studying Arabic I thought, just like you did with English, this is just too much for me. But I remember that experience to this day and it challenged me to realize that I can do it and you can, too. The one thing you need to know before you go is that now you are part of the ELI and UD family.”