Universidad Austral de Chile
Encyclopedia
Southern University of Chile ( or UACh) is a research university in Chile
based in Valdivia
although it has some institutions and careers in Puerto Montt
. Founded by decree on 7 September 1954 it is one of the eight original Chilean Traditional Universities
. Juridically it is a nonprofit
self-owned corporation
under private law
and is significantly state-financed
.
for Valdivia, Carlos Acharán Pérez de Arce, who later succeeded in consolidating the project. In a meeting held on 16 February 1954 supporters of installing a university created a directory and proclaimed Eduardo Morales Miranda
as president of it. The initial founding depended on donations from private persons including some industrial businessmen. After have been founded by decree on 7 September 1954 the university was inaugurated
on 12 March 1955 by president Carlos Ibáñez del Campo
. The inauguration was also attended by the rectors of the University of Chile and the States Technical University as well as the ambassadors of Venezuela
and Argentina
and representatives of the Netherlands, Germany and the United States.
The first degree programmes to be taught at the university were fine art
s, agronomy
, forestry engineering
and veterinary medicine
, each of which had also its own faculty.
On June 3 of 1968 UACh was granted autonomy from the University of Chile as law 16.848 was enacted. The autonomy did that UACh became allowed to decide it own plans and study programs and put the university out of the tutelage of the University of Chile.
In during the military regime's
privatization of higher education in the 1980s UACh incorporated the successor regional see of Universidad Técnica del Estado, the Instituto Profesional de Valdivia. By doing this, UACh prevented an offshoot university from being created there as it happened around the country with regional sees of major universities. With the incorporation of Instituto Profesional de Valdivia, that corresponds to present day 'Campus Miraflores, UACh started started to grant bachelor degrees in engineering and got its Engineering Faculty.
In 1993 the university held the Valdivia International Film Festival
for the first time to celebrate the 30th anniversary of its cinema Cine Club which has since then developed to one of the most important film festivals in Chile.
(CECS) to Valdivia in 2000 the city was further outlined as a research center, as CECS brought expertise on biophysics
, molecular physiology, theoretical physics
, glaciology
and climate change
to the city. The arrival of CECS was seen as positive by UACh's administration since CECS research do not overlap UACh's main research areas and, as a scientific research corporation, do not compete in student enrollment. However, in 2007 UACh and CECS got involved in a controversy when the Regional Council of Los Lagos Region
granted regional funds that had been put into tender to CECS without attending to the meeting where UACh's and University of Los Lagos joint project was presented. Deputy Gabriel Ascencio (DC
) accused Claudio Bunster
, director of CECS, of using his personal influence among politicians and the Council of Innovation for Competitiveness (of which he is member of) to gain more resources.
On Monday 3 December 2007 the Emilio Pugín building of the Faculty of Sciences caught fire. The building, located on Teja island Campus housed considerable amounts of chemicals and scientific equipment which could not be saved. Several research projects had to be halted or aborted due to loss of equipment, samples and data. Due to the spreading of toxic smoke the police had to evacuate a total of 10,000 people from Isla Teja. Firefighting companies from the neighboring cities of Osorno
, La Unión
and Paillaco
had to come to assist to control and extinguish the fire. The building hosted the institutes of chemistry, physics, zoology, microbiology and botanics, including some laboratories. The cost of the damage was estimated at about 5000 million Chilean peso
s (about 10 million US dollars). Finally, 22% of the damage were not covered by the according insurances, but directly financed
by the Chilean government. , the building still is a burnt-out ruin.
On May 13 of 2008 the student federation of UACh decided to go on strike
since they considered that a request list sent to the university administration was answered in too loose terms. The strike and occupation of the university by students ended in late June when the rector Victor Cubillos and the directory ceded on several points but was however still heavily criticized both from students and from sectors of the faculty
where they considered that he had ceded too much to students. On April 2010 the reconstruction of the Emilio Pugin building of the Sciencie Faculty, started the competitive bidding. And in this year it would start the reconstruction. Also in the Academic Rector election of the 2010, only the current Academic Rector Víctor Cubillos presented for candidate. This would be his second term as Academic Rector of the UACh, without chance for a 3rd term in a row.
in Valdivia. Campus Isla Teja is the home of UACh's administration, Cine Club
, botanical garden
and most faculties. The botanical garden is a recreational area as well as a place of study with a total of 950 plant species growing there. Most plants in the botanical garden belong to Valdivian temperate rain forest but there are others with exotic origins. The waters of Cau-Cau River
that flows through the northern parts of the botanical garden allows a section of wetland plant species included in the garden.
The engineering faculty operates in Campus Miraflores located along Valdivia River
south of Valdivia's Plaza de Armas
. A third campus exists in Puerto Montt
where business administration, speech and language pathology
and aquaculture
are studied. UACh has apart from the campuses several properties spread through Los Ríos
and Los Lagos Region
such as Parque Arboretum
in northern Isla Teja, the Calfuco field station in the coast near Niebla
and the forests of San Pablo de Tregua in the Andean foothills.
and was the third university to receive most of government Mecesup research funds in 2008. Some of the fields where UACh scientists have made contributions include:
s three of them, Revista BOSQUE, Archivos de Medicina Veterinaria and Estudios Filológicos are part of ISI
's bibliographic database
. BOSQUE is published by the Faculty of Forest Science. BOSQUE's first number was published in 1975 and was yearly issued until 1985. From 1985 to 2003 it was issued twice a year and from 2003 on thrice a year. The topics covered in BOSQUE are management and production of forestry resources, wood science and technology, silviculture
, forestry ecology
, natural resources conservation, and rural development
associated with forest ecosystems. Contributions are articles, notes and opinions, both in Spanish and English. BOSQUE became part of ISI's bibliographic database in 2009.
In matters of literature, communication science
and linguistics
the university has published the journal Documentos Lingüísticos y Literarios (DLL) since 1977. Documentos Lingüísticos y Literarios has two sections, one dedicated to articles and comments on literature, linguistics and communication science and another were original literary pieces are published. DLL is one of the few journals containing native Mapudungun
literature and linguistic articles.
Universidad Austral de Chile runs through its museology
department several museums in Valdivia and southern Chile, including; UACh's Contemporary Art Museum
, Philippi Museum
on the 19th century exploration and settlement of southern Chile and Maurice van de Maele Museum
on history and anthropology. The museology department has collections of indigenous artifacts including early indigenous ceramics as well as Mapuche
silver objects and textiles. In addition to this there is a collection of objects from the early human settlement of Monte Verde
. Other collections include 19th century clothing and toys and a extensive photographical archive dating back to 1850.
In El Mercurio
s 2006 ranking of the "Best Universities in the Country", UACh received the highest score in "teaching quality" of any Chilean university. The same article also listed UACh second only to Universidad de Chile in research quality, and ranked the Valdivia-based university third place overall among Chilean universities. As both universities that earned higher rankings are located in Santiago
(U. de Chile and Pontifical Catholic University of Chile
), UACh thus became the highest ranking university in Chile outside of the nation's capitol.
In a 2011 university ranking of Quacquarelli Symonds
the southern University of Chile was ranked 30th among Latin American universities, 5th among Chilean universities and second among Chilean universities outside Santiago.
As of 2005 UACh was ranked by Universia
5th among Chilean universities, and 2nd among universities outside Santiago, in terms of peer-reviewd publications registered in the Science Citation Index
since 1990.
In 2006 UACh's medical students got the second highest marks in Chile in the National Medicine Exam after PUC
.. In 2007, though, UACh medical students dropped down to fifth place, and by 2008 they were down to sixth place.
:
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
based in Valdivia
Valdivia, Chile
Valdivia is a city and commune in southern Chile administered by the Municipality of Valdivia. The city is named after its founder Pedro de Valdivia and is located at the confluence of the Calle-Calle, Valdivia and Cau-Cau Rivers, approximately east of the coastal towns of Corral and Niebla...
although it has some institutions and careers in Puerto Montt
Puerto Montt
Puerto Montt is a port city and commune in southern Chile, located at the northern end of the Reloncaví Sound in the Llanquihue Province, Los Lagos Region. The commune spans an area of and had a population of 175,938 in 2002. It is located 1,055 km to the south of the capital, Santiago...
. Founded by decree on 7 September 1954 it is one of the eight original Chilean Traditional Universities
Chilean Traditional Universities
In Chile, the term universidades tradicionales is used to denote the group of universities founded before the 1980s. This term usually includes derivative universities, which are not really traditional but were derived from traditional ones...
. Juridically it is a nonprofit
Nonprofit organization
Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...
self-owned corporation
Corporation
A corporation is created under the laws of a state as a separate legal entity that has privileges and liabilities that are distinct from those of its members. There are many different forms of corporations, most of which are used to conduct business. Early corporations were established by charter...
under private law
Private law
Private law is that part of a civil law legal system which is part of the jus commune that involves relationships between individuals, such as the law of contracts or torts, as it is called in the common law, and the law of obligations as it is called in civilian legal systems...
and is significantly state-financed
Subsidy
A subsidy is an assistance paid to a business or economic sector. Most subsidies are made by the government to producers or distributors in an industry to prevent the decline of that industry or an increase in the prices of its products or simply to encourage it to hire more labor A subsidy (also...
.
Foundation and early years (1942-1968)
The history of UACh dates back to 1942 when a society called Sociedad de Amigos del Arte was formed in the city of Valdivia to promote culture. One of the society's main goals was the establishment of a university in the city. The idea of creating a university was presented to the national congress in the 1950s by the senatorSenate of Chile
The Senate of the Republic of Chile is the upper house of Chile's bicameral National Congress, as established in the current Constitution of Chile.-Composition:...
for Valdivia, Carlos Acharán Pérez de Arce, who later succeeded in consolidating the project. In a meeting held on 16 February 1954 supporters of installing a university created a directory and proclaimed Eduardo Morales Miranda
Eduardo Morales Miranda
Eduardo Morales Miranda was one of the founders of Universidad Austral de Chile, and its first rector. He was born to Abdón Morales and Amelia Miranda, who lived in Constitución, Maule Region, Chile...
as president of it. The initial founding depended on donations from private persons including some industrial businessmen. After have been founded by decree on 7 September 1954 the university was inaugurated
Inauguration
An inauguration is a formal ceremony to mark the beginning of a leader's term of office. An example is the ceremony in which the President of the United States officially takes the oath of office....
on 12 March 1955 by president Carlos Ibáñez del Campo
Carlos Ibáñez del Campo
General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo was a Chilean Army officer and political figure. He served as dictator between 1927 and 1931 and as constitutional President from 1952 to 1958.- The coups of 1924 and 1925 :...
. The inauguration was also attended by the rectors of the University of Chile and the States Technical University as well as the ambassadors of Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
and Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
and representatives of the Netherlands, Germany and the United States.
The first degree programmes to be taught at the university were fine art
Fine art
Fine art or the fine arts encompass art forms developed primarily for aesthetics and/or concept rather than practical application. Art is often a synonym for fine art, as employed in the term "art gallery"....
s, agronomy
Agronomy
Agronomy is the science and technology of producing and using plants for food, fuel, feed, fiber, and reclamation. Agronomy encompasses work in the areas of plant genetics, plant physiology, meteorology, and soil science. Agronomy is the application of a combination of sciences like biology,...
, forestry engineering
Forestry
Forestry is the interdisciplinary profession embracing the science, art, and craft of creating, managing, using, and conserving forests and associated resources in a sustainable manner to meet desired goals, needs, and values for human benefit. Forestry is practiced in plantations and natural stands...
and veterinary medicine
Veterinary medicine
Veterinary Medicine is the branch of science that deals with the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of disease, disorder and injury in non-human animals...
, each of which had also its own faculty.
On June 3 of 1968 UACh was granted autonomy from the University of Chile as law 16.848 was enacted. The autonomy did that UACh became allowed to decide it own plans and study programs and put the university out of the tutelage of the University of Chile.
Development (1969-1999)
Chile under Pinochet
Chile was ruled by a military dictatorship headed by Augusto Pinochet from 1973 when Salvador Allende was overthrown in a coup d'etat until 1990 when the Chilean transition to democracy began. The authoritarian military government was characterized by systematic suppression of political parties and...
privatization of higher education in the 1980s UACh incorporated the successor regional see of Universidad Técnica del Estado, the Instituto Profesional de Valdivia. By doing this, UACh prevented an offshoot university from being created there as it happened around the country with regional sees of major universities. With the incorporation of Instituto Profesional de Valdivia, that corresponds to present day 'Campus Miraflores, UACh started started to grant bachelor degrees in engineering and got its Engineering Faculty.
In 1993 the university held the Valdivia International Film Festival
Valdivia International Film Festival
The Valdivia International Film Festival started as a very successful international film exhibition released in 1993 to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Cine Club of the Universidad Austral de Chile. A competition was included the following year, labeled as "Valdivia Cine & Video"...
for the first time to celebrate the 30th anniversary of its cinema Cine Club which has since then developed to one of the most important film festivals in Chile.
Recent history (2000-present)
With the arrival of Centro de Estudios CientíficosCentro de Estudios Científicos
Centro de Estudios Científicos also known by its acronym CECS is a private, non-profit corporation based in Valdivia, Chile, devoted to the development, promotion and diffusion of scientific research. CECs research areas include biophysics, molecular physiology, theoretical physics, glaciology and...
(CECS) to Valdivia in 2000 the city was further outlined as a research center, as CECS brought expertise on biophysics
Biophysics
Biophysics is an interdisciplinary science that uses the methods of physical science to study biological systems. Studies included under the branches of biophysics span all levels of biological organization, from the molecular scale to whole organisms and ecosystems...
, molecular physiology, theoretical physics
Theoretical physics
Theoretical physics is a branch of physics which employs mathematical models and abstractions of physics to rationalize, explain and predict natural phenomena...
, glaciology
Glaciology
Glaciology Glaciology Glaciology (from Middle French dialect (Franco-Provençal): glace, "ice"; or Latin: glacies, "frost, ice"; and Greek: λόγος, logos, "speech" lit...
and climate change
Climate change
Climate change is a significant and lasting change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to millions of years. It may be a change in average weather conditions or the distribution of events around that average...
to the city. The arrival of CECS was seen as positive by UACh's administration since CECS research do not overlap UACh's main research areas and, as a scientific research corporation, do not compete in student enrollment. However, in 2007 UACh and CECS got involved in a controversy when the Regional Council of Los Lagos Region
Los Lagos Region
Los Lagos Region is one of Chile's 15 regions, which are first order administrative divisions, and comprises four provinces: Chiloé, Llanquihue, Osorno and Palena. The region contains the country's second largest island, Chiloé, and the second largest lake, Llanquihue.Its capital is Puerto Montt;...
granted regional funds that had been put into tender to CECS without attending to the meeting where UACh's and University of Los Lagos joint project was presented. Deputy Gabriel Ascencio (DC
Christian Democrat Party of Chile
The Christian Democratic Party is a political party in Chile and governs as part of the Coalition of Parties for Democracy coalition. In the 2009 election it won 19 congress seats and 9 senate seats....
) accused Claudio Bunster
Claudio Bunster
Claudio Bunster Weitzman is a Chilean scientist.Bunster studied Sciences at the University of Chile , Santiago and received his Ph.D in Physics from Princeton University, U.S. in 1973. He remained at the university, at the Institute for Advanced Study and also at the University of Texas, until 1984...
, director of CECS, of using his personal influence among politicians and the Council of Innovation for Competitiveness (of which he is member of) to gain more resources.
On Monday 3 December 2007 the Emilio Pugín building of the Faculty of Sciences caught fire. The building, located on Teja island Campus housed considerable amounts of chemicals and scientific equipment which could not be saved. Several research projects had to be halted or aborted due to loss of equipment, samples and data. Due to the spreading of toxic smoke the police had to evacuate a total of 10,000 people from Isla Teja. Firefighting companies from the neighboring cities of Osorno
Osorno, Chile
Osorno is a city and commune in southern Chile and capital of Osorno Province in the Los Lagos Region. It had a population of 145,475, as of the 2002 census...
, La Unión
La Unión, Chile
La Unión is a city and commune of the Ranco Province in the Los Rios Region in Chile. It is situated approximately 40 km north of Osorno and 80 km south east of Valdivia. It covers an area of approximately 2136.7 km² and has a population of 39.447 of which 25,615 are considered part...
and Paillaco
Paillaco
Paillaco is a city and commune in southern Chile. It is located in Valdivia Province in Los Ríos Region, and is about 48 km southeast of Valdivia...
had to come to assist to control and extinguish the fire. The building hosted the institutes of chemistry, physics, zoology, microbiology and botanics, including some laboratories. The cost of the damage was estimated at about 5000 million Chilean peso
Chilean peso
The peso is the currency of Chile. The current peso has circulated since 1975, with a previous version circulating between 1817 and 1960. The symbol used locally for it is $. The ISO 4217 code for the present peso is CLP. It is subdivided into 100 centavos, although no centavo denominated coins...
s (about 10 million US dollars). Finally, 22% of the damage were not covered by the according insurances, but directly financed
Subsidy
A subsidy is an assistance paid to a business or economic sector. Most subsidies are made by the government to producers or distributors in an industry to prevent the decline of that industry or an increase in the prices of its products or simply to encourage it to hire more labor A subsidy (also...
by the Chilean government. , the building still is a burnt-out ruin.
On May 13 of 2008 the student federation of UACh decided to go on strike
Student strike
A student strike occurs when students enrolled at a teaching institution such as a school, college or university refuse to go to class. This form of strike action is often used as a negotiating tactic in order to put pressure on the governing body of the university, particularly in countries where...
since they considered that a request list sent to the university administration was answered in too loose terms. The strike and occupation of the university by students ended in late June when the rector Victor Cubillos and the directory ceded on several points but was however still heavily criticized both from students and from sectors of the faculty
Teacher
A teacher or schoolteacher is a person who provides education for pupils and students . The role of teacher is often formal and ongoing, carried out at a school or other place of formal education. In many countries, a person who wishes to become a teacher must first obtain specified professional...
where they considered that he had ceded too much to students. On April 2010 the reconstruction of the Emilio Pugin building of the Sciencie Faculty, started the competitive bidding. And in this year it would start the reconstruction. Also in the Academic Rector election of the 2010, only the current Academic Rector Víctor Cubillos presented for candidate. This would be his second term as Academic Rector of the UACh, without chance for a 3rd term in a row.
Campus
UACh main campus, Isla Teja Campus, occupies the whole northwest of Isla TejaIsla Teja
Teja island is an island in the city of Valdivia, Chile surrounded by three rivers: Cau-Cau river to the north, Cruces river to the west and Valdivia river to the sout east...
in Valdivia. Campus Isla Teja is the home of UACh's administration, Cine Club
Cine Club
Cine Club is a movie theater in Universidad Austral, Valdivia, Chile. The theater is located in Universidad Austral de Chile's Isla Teja campus. Cine Club was founded in 1982 and organizes the yearly Valdivia International Film Festival since 1992, when it was created on its 10th anniversary....
, botanical garden
Botanical garden
A botanical garden The terms botanic and botanical, and garden or gardens are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word botanic is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens. is a well-tended area displaying a wide range of plants labelled with their botanical names...
and most faculties. The botanical garden is a recreational area as well as a place of study with a total of 950 plant species growing there. Most plants in the botanical garden belong to Valdivian temperate rain forest but there are others with exotic origins. The waters of Cau-Cau River
Cau-Cau River
Cau-Cau River is minor river in the city of Valdivia, southern Chile. Cau-Cau River acts as a regulating channel between Cruces River and Calle-Calle River forming the Isla Teja island in front of the city centre. It confluence with Calle-Calle River marks the beginning of Valdivia River....
that flows through the northern parts of the botanical garden allows a section of wetland plant species included in the garden.
The engineering faculty operates in Campus Miraflores located along Valdivia River
Valdivia River
The Valdivia River or Río Valdivia, as it is known locally, is a major river in southern Chile. It is the continuation of the Calle-Calle River, from the point where it meets the Cau-Cau River in the city of Valdivia. The Valdivia river ends in Corral Bay, on the Pacific coast. Other tributaries...
south of Valdivia's Plaza de Armas
Plaza de Armas
The Plaza de Armas is the name for the main square in many Latin American cities. In Mexico this space is known as El Zócalo, and in Central America as Parque Central...
. A third campus exists in Puerto Montt
Puerto Montt
Puerto Montt is a port city and commune in southern Chile, located at the northern end of the Reloncaví Sound in the Llanquihue Province, Los Lagos Region. The commune spans an area of and had a population of 175,938 in 2002. It is located 1,055 km to the south of the capital, Santiago...
where business administration, speech and language pathology
Speech and language pathology
Speech-Language Pathology specializes in communication disorders.The main components of speech production include: phonation, the process of sound production; resonance, opening and closing of the vocal folds; intonation, the variation of pitch; and voice, including aeromechanical components of...
and aquaculture
Aquaculture
Aquaculture, also known as aquafarming, is the farming of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, molluscs and aquatic plants. Aquaculture involves cultivating freshwater and saltwater populations under controlled conditions, and can be contrasted with commercial fishing, which is the...
are studied. UACh has apart from the campuses several properties spread through Los Ríos
Los Ríos Region
The XIV Los Ríos Region is one of Chile's 15 first order administrative divisions. Its capital is Valdivia. Pop. 356,396 . It began to operate as region on October 2, 2007. It was created by subdividing the Los Lagos Region in southern Chile...
and Los Lagos Region
Los Lagos Region
Los Lagos Region is one of Chile's 15 regions, which are first order administrative divisions, and comprises four provinces: Chiloé, Llanquihue, Osorno and Palena. The region contains the country's second largest island, Chiloé, and the second largest lake, Llanquihue.Its capital is Puerto Montt;...
such as Parque Arboretum
Arboretum
An arboretum in a narrow sense is a collection of trees only. Related collections include a fruticetum , and a viticetum, a collection of vines. More commonly, today, an arboretum is a botanical garden containing living collections of woody plants intended at least partly for scientific study...
in northern Isla Teja, the Calfuco field station in the coast near Niebla
Niebla, Chile
Niebla is a coastal Chilean town close to the city of Valdivia, Valdivia Province, Los Lagos Region. Niebla is located on the northern edge, at the mouth of the Valdivia River, across from Corral. Niebla's beach and folk market are popular tourist destinations during the summer, together with the...
and the forests of San Pablo de Tregua in the Andean foothills.
Research
UACh is one of the leading universities of Chile in matters of scientific research. It was ranked second only to the University of Chile in scientific research by El MercurioEl Mercurio
El Mercurio is a conservative Chilean newspaper with editions in Valparaíso and Santiago. Its Santiago edition is considered the country's paper-of-record and its Valparaíso edition is the oldest daily in the Spanish language currently in circulation. El Mercurio is owned by El Mercurio S.A.P...
and was the third university to receive most of government Mecesup research funds in 2008. Some of the fields where UACh scientists have made contributions include:
- Archaeology: In archeology university scientists Mario Pino and Tom DillehayTom DillehayTom Dillehay is an American anthropologist who is the Rebecca Webb Wilson University Distinguished Professor of Anthropology, Religion, and Culture and Professor of Anthropology at Vanderbilt University. While working at Universidad Austral de Chile he was involved in the excavations at Monte Verde...
, led the excavations of at Monte VerdeMonte VerdeMonte Verde is an archaeological site in southern Chile, located in the northern Patagonia near Puerto Montt, Chile, which has been dated to 14,800 years BP . This dating adds to the evidence showing that settlement in the Americas pre-dates the Clovis culture by roughly 1000 years...
, one of the earliest archaeological siteArchaeological siteAn archaeological site is a place in which evidence of past activity is preserved , and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology and represents a part of the archaeological record.Beyond this, the definition and geographical extent of a 'site' can vary widely,...
s in the Americas. Another site investigated by university scientists is Chan-ChanChan-Chanthumb|right|300px|View of the beach of Chan-Chan and the forested Tren-Tren peninsula south of the main archaeological site.Chan-Chan is an archaeological site and beach on the coast of the commune of Mehuín in southern Chile. Chan-Chan is known to have been inhabited by hunter-gatherers during...
a site that gives name to the Archaic Chan-Chan ComplexChan-Chanthumb|right|300px|View of the beach of Chan-Chan and the forested Tren-Tren peninsula south of the main archaeological site.Chan-Chan is an archaeological site and beach on the coast of the commune of Mehuín in southern Chile. Chan-Chan is known to have been inhabited by hunter-gatherers during...
.
- Virology: Researchers from the Faculty of Medicine and Faculty of Science led a series of joint medical, viralVirusA virus is a small infectious agent that can replicate only inside the living cells of organisms. Viruses infect all types of organisms, from animals and plants to bacteria and archaea...
and zoological research on the transmittance of HantavirusHantavirusHantaviruses are negative sense RNA viruses in the Bunyaviridae family. Humans may be infected with hantaviruses through rodent bites, urine, saliva or contact with rodent waste products...
between rodentRodentRodentia is an order of mammals also known as rodents, characterised by two continuously growing incisors in the upper and lower jaws which must be kept short by gnawing....
s and humans. Hantavirus was first detected in Chile in 1995 but is believed to have been present much time before. According to Dr. Luis Zaror the most important UACh discovery regarding antavirus was made in 2005 when Hanta antigenAntigenAn antigen is a foreign molecule that, when introduced into the body, triggers the production of an antibody by the immune system. The immune system will then kill or neutralize the antigen that is recognized as a foreign and potentially harmful invader. These invaders can be molecules such as...
s were found on the salivary glandSalivary glandThe salivary glands in mammals are exocrine glands, glands with ducts, that produce saliva. They also secrete amylase, an enzyme that breaks down starch into maltose...
s of deceased persons. UACh academics working at the Laboratory of VirologyVirologyVirology is the study of viruses and virus-like agents: their structure, classification and evolution, their ways to infect and exploit cells for virus reproduction, the diseases they cause, the techniques to isolate and culture them, and their use in research and therapy...
had contributed to diminish a the initial mortalityMortality rateMortality rate is a measure of the number of deaths in a population, scaled to the size of that population, per unit time...
of Pulmonar HantavirusHantavirusHantaviruses are negative sense RNA viruses in the Bunyaviridae family. Humans may be infected with hantaviruses through rodent bites, urine, saliva or contact with rodent waste products...
with 60% in Los Ríos RegionLos Ríos RegionThe XIV Los Ríos Region is one of Chile's 15 first order administrative divisions. Its capital is Valdivia. Pop. 356,396 . It began to operate as region on October 2, 2007. It was created by subdividing the Los Lagos Region in southern Chile...
below the national average of 37%.
- Dendrochronology: Scientists at the DendrochronologyDendrochronologyDendrochronology or tree-ring dating is the scientific method of dating based on the analysis of patterns of tree-rings. Dendrochronology can date the time at which tree rings were formed, in many types of wood, to the exact calendar year...
Laboratory of UACh has set up the longest dentrochronology in the Southern HemisphereSouthern HemisphereThe Southern Hemisphere is the part of Earth that lies south of the equator. The word hemisphere literally means 'half ball' or "half sphere"...
going back 5666 years. Researchers have also reconstructed the temperatures of the las 3622 years with tree rings from FitzroyaFitzroyaFitzroya is a monotypic genus in the cypress family.-Species:The single living species, Fitzroya cupressoides, is a tall, long-lived conifer native to the Andes mountains of southern Chile and Argentina, where it is an important member of the Valdivian temperate rain forests...
and have used a dendrochronology network of Lenga BeechLenga BeechNothofagus pumilio is a deciduous tree or shrub in the Nothofagaceae family that is native to the southern Andes range, in the temperate forests of Chile and Argentina to Tierra del Fuego, from 35° to 56° South latitude. This tree is in the same genus as the Coihue. It regenerates easily after...
, spaning from TalcaTalcaTalca is a city and commune in Chile located about south of Santiago, and is the capital of both Talca Province and Maule Region . As of the 2002 census, the city had a population of 193,755....
to Navarino Island, to investigate global warmingGlobal warmingGlobal warming refers to the rising average temperature of Earth's atmosphere and oceans and its projected continuation. In the last 100 years, Earth's average surface temperature increased by about with about two thirds of the increase occurring over just the last three decades...
in the recent decades.
- Mapudungun language: UACh is one of the main sites of Mapudungun language studies and teaching. This is partly due to Professor María Catrileo Chiguailaf who received in 2009 the Provincial Prize for Conservation of National Monuments for her studies. Catrileo's work has focused on the phonologyPhonologyPhonology is, broadly speaking, the subdiscipline of linguistics concerned with the sounds of language. That is, it is the systematic use of sound to encode meaning in any spoken human language, or the field of linguistics studying this use...
and morpho-syntaxSyntaxIn linguistics, syntax is the study of the principles and rules for constructing phrases and sentences in natural languages....
of the Mapudungun language and specially the verb forms. María Catrileo is considered to be perhaps the only living Mapuche Indian to master Spanish, English and Mapudungun.
- Palaeontology: PalaeontologicalPaleontologyPaleontology "old, ancient", ὄν, ὀντ- "being, creature", and λόγος "speech, thought") is the study of prehistoric life. It includes the study of fossils to determine organisms' evolution and interactions with each other and their environments...
studies at Southern ChileSouthern ChileSouthern Chile may refer to different areas of Chile depending on the context. It may refer to:*Any place south of Santiago*All the region south of Biobío River*The Zona Sur region between Biobío and Chacao Channel....
have involved several UACh academics among them geoarchaeologistGeoarchaeologyGeoarchaeology is a multi-disciplinary approach which uses the techniques and subject matter of geography, geology and other Earth sciences to examine topics which inform archaeological knowledge and thought...
Mario Pino who participated at the excavation of the QuaternaryQuaternaryThe Quaternary Period is the most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the ICS. It follows the Neogene Period, spanning 2.588 ± 0.005 million years ago to the present...
fossil site of Pilauco in OsornoOsorno, ChileOsorno is a city and commune in southern Chile and capital of Osorno Province in the Los Lagos Region. It had a population of 145,475, as of the 2002 census...
where the remains of a species of GomphotheriumGomphotheriumGomphotherium is an extinct genus of proboscid which evolved in the Early Miocene of North America from 13.650—3.6 Ma, living about .The genus emigrated into Asia, Europe and Africa after a drop in sea level allowed them to cross over...
were discovered. Two other Gomphotherium fossil sites in Los Ríos RegionLos Ríos RegionThe XIV Los Ríos Region is one of Chile's 15 first order administrative divisions. Its capital is Valdivia. Pop. 356,396 . It began to operate as region on October 2, 2007. It was created by subdividing the Los Lagos Region in southern Chile...
are planned to be excavated by university scientists in the future.
Scientific journals
The university publishes several scientific journalScientific journal
In academic publishing, a scientific journal is a periodical publication intended to further the progress of science, usually by reporting new research. There are thousands of scientific journals in publication, and many more have been published at various points in the past...
s three of them, Revista BOSQUE, Archivos de Medicina Veterinaria and Estudios Filológicos are part of ISI
Institute for Scientific Information
The Institute for Scientific Information was founded by Eugene Garfield in 1960. It was acquired by Thomson Scientific & Healthcare in 1992, became known as Thomson ISI and now is part of the Healthcare & Science business of the multi-billion dollar Thomson Reuters Corporation.ISI offered...
's bibliographic database
Bibliographic database
A bibliographic database is a database of bibliographic records, an organized digital collection of references to published literature, including journal and newspaper articles, conference proceedings, reports, government and legal publications, patents, books, etc...
. BOSQUE is published by the Faculty of Forest Science. BOSQUE's first number was published in 1975 and was yearly issued until 1985. From 1985 to 2003 it was issued twice a year and from 2003 on thrice a year. The topics covered in BOSQUE are management and production of forestry resources, wood science and technology, silviculture
Silviculture
Silviculture is the practice of controlling the establishment, growth, composition, health, and quality of forests to meet diverse needs and values. The name comes from the Latin silvi- + culture...
, forestry ecology
Forest ecology
Forest ecology is the scientific study of the interrelated patterns, processes, flora, fauna and ecosystems in forests. The management of forests is known as forestry, silviculture, and forest management...
, natural resources conservation, and rural development
Rural development
Rural development in general denotes economic development and community development actions and initiatives taken to improve the standard of living in non-urban neighbourhoods, remote villages and the countryside...
associated with forest ecosystems. Contributions are articles, notes and opinions, both in Spanish and English. BOSQUE became part of ISI's bibliographic database in 2009.
In matters of literature, communication science
Communication Sciences
Communication sciences refers to the schools of scientific research of human communication. This perspective follows the logical positivist tradition of inquiry; most modern communication science falls into a tradition of post-positivism. Thus, communication scientists believe that there is an...
and linguistics
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
the university has published the journal Documentos Lingüísticos y Literarios (DLL) since 1977. Documentos Lingüísticos y Literarios has two sections, one dedicated to articles and comments on literature, linguistics and communication science and another were original literary pieces are published. DLL is one of the few journals containing native Mapudungun
Mapudungun
The Mapuche language, Mapudungun is a language isolate spoken in south-central Chile and west central Argentina by the Mapuche people. It is also spelled Mapuzugun and sometimes called Mapudungu or Araucanian...
literature and linguistic articles.
Museum network
Museology
Museology is the diachronic study of museums and how they have established and developed in their role as an educational mechanism under social and political pressures.-Overview:...
department several museums in Valdivia and southern Chile, including; UACh's Contemporary Art Museum
Museo de Arte Contemporaneo
Museo de Arte Contemporáneo or MAC is a modern art museum in Valdivia run by Universidad Austral de Chile. It was founded in 1994 by the then rector of Universidad Austral Manfred Max-Neef and the artist Hernán Miranda. Artists that have had exhibitions at MAC include: Nicanor Parra and Juan...
, Philippi Museum
Museo de la Exploración Rudolph Amandus Philippi
Museo de la Exploración Rudolph Amandus Philippi is a museum in Valdivia run by Universidad Austral de Chile. The exhibitions at the museum deals with the exploration of southern Chile, specially those made by the German naturalist Rudolph Amandus Philippi....
on the 19th century exploration and settlement of southern Chile and Maurice van de Maele Museum
Museo Histórico y Antropológico Maurice van de Maele
Museo Histórico y Antropológico Maurice van de Maele or is an anthropology and history museum in Valdivia run by Universidad Austral de Chile. The exhibitions at the museum deals with Mapuche and Huilliche culture and the German colonization of southern Chile...
on history and anthropology. The museology department has collections of indigenous artifacts including early indigenous ceramics as well as Mapuche
Mapuche
The Mapuche are a group of indigenous inhabitants of south-central Chile and southwestern Argentina. They constitute a wide-ranging ethnicity composed of various groups who shared a common social, religious and economic structure, as well as a common linguistic heritage. Their influence extended...
silver objects and textiles. In addition to this there is a collection of objects from the early human settlement of Monte Verde
Monte Verde
Monte Verde is an archaeological site in southern Chile, located in the northern Patagonia near Puerto Montt, Chile, which has been dated to 14,800 years BP . This dating adds to the evidence showing that settlement in the Americas pre-dates the Clovis culture by roughly 1000 years...
. Other collections include 19th century clothing and toys and a extensive photographical archive dating back to 1850.
Rankings
In the most recent Chilean university ranking released by AméricaEconomía magazine, released in 2009, UACh earned an overall ranking of 7th place. In the undergraduate ranking, nursing performed best with 3rd place, then medicine and agronomy at 4th place, then law at 7th place, kinesiology at 8th place and Business Administration (Ingeniería Comercial) at 10th place.In El Mercurio
El Mercurio
El Mercurio is a conservative Chilean newspaper with editions in Valparaíso and Santiago. Its Santiago edition is considered the country's paper-of-record and its Valparaíso edition is the oldest daily in the Spanish language currently in circulation. El Mercurio is owned by El Mercurio S.A.P...
s 2006 ranking of the "Best Universities in the Country", UACh received the highest score in "teaching quality" of any Chilean university. The same article also listed UACh second only to Universidad de Chile in research quality, and ranked the Valdivia-based university third place overall among Chilean universities. As both universities that earned higher rankings are located in Santiago
Santiago, Chile
Santiago , also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile, and the center of its largest conurbation . It is located in the country's central valley, at an elevation of above mean sea level...
(U. de Chile and Pontifical Catholic University of Chile
Pontifical Catholic University of Chile
The Pontifical Catholic University of Chile is one of the six Catholic Universities existing in the Chilean university system and one of the two Pontifical Universities in the country, along with the Pontifical Catholic University of Valparaíso. It is also one of Chile's oldest universities and...
), UACh thus became the highest ranking university in Chile outside of the nation's capitol.
In a 2011 university ranking of Quacquarelli Symonds
Quacquarelli Symonds
Quacquarelli Symonds is a company specializing in education and study abroad. The company was founded in 1990 by Wharton School MBA graduate Nunzio Quacquarelli...
the southern University of Chile was ranked 30th among Latin American universities, 5th among Chilean universities and second among Chilean universities outside Santiago.
As of 2005 UACh was ranked by Universia
Universia
Universia is a network that consists of 1,1000 Universities in 15 countries: Andorra, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Spain, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Uruguay and Venezuela. It has 12 internet sites, one for each country, and another global site...
5th among Chilean universities, and 2nd among universities outside Santiago, in terms of peer-reviewd publications registered in the Science Citation Index
Science Citation Index
The Science Citation Index is a citation index originally produced by the Institute for Scientific Information and created by Eugene Garfield in 1960, which is now owned by Thomson Reuters. The larger version covers more than 6,500 notable and significant journals, across 150 disciplines, from ...
since 1990.
In 2006 UACh's medical students got the second highest marks in Chile in the National Medicine Exam after PUC
Pontifical Catholic University of Chile
The Pontifical Catholic University of Chile is one of the six Catholic Universities existing in the Chilean university system and one of the two Pontifical Universities in the country, along with the Pontifical Catholic University of Valparaíso. It is also one of Chile's oldest universities and...
.. In 2007, though, UACh medical students dropped down to fifth place, and by 2008 they were down to sixth place.
Agreements with other universities
UACh has signed several agreements with universites from the Americas, Europe, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand. Some of these universities are::
-
- National University of La Plata
- National University of the Patagonia San Juan Bosco:
- Federal University of Paraná
- Universidade Federal de Santa CatarinaUniversidade Federal de Santa CatarinaFederal University of Santa Catarina is a public university in Florianópolis, the capital city of Santa Catarina in southern Brazil....
: - Association of Universities and Colleges of CanadaAssociation of Universities and Colleges of Canada- See also :* G13 * Association of Commonwealth Universities...
- University of Prince Edward IslandUniversity of Prince Edward IslandThe University of Prince Edward Island is a public liberal arts university in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada, and the sole university in the province. Founded in 1969, it traces its roots back to its two earlier predecessor organizations, St. Dunstan's University and Prince of Wales...
: - University of Chile
- University of Concepción
- University of Los Lagos:
- University of the SavannahUniversity of the SavannahThe University of La Sabana , is a Colombian private higher education institution founded in 1979. It is located in the municipality of Chía, 7 km north of Bogotá. The university is awarded with the High Quality Institutional Accreditation by the National Ministry of Education.One of the...
: - University of Costa RicaUniversity of Costa RicaThe University of Costa Rica is a public university in the Republic of Costa Rica, in Central America. Its main campus, Ciudad Universitaria Rodrigo Facio, is located in San Pedro, in the province of San José. It is the oldest, largest, and most prestigious institution of higher learning in...
: - University "Marta Abreu" of Las Villas:
- University of Copenhagen Faculty of Life SciencesUniversity of Copenhagen Faculty of Life SciencesThe faculty previously known as the Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University is located in Frederiksberg, Denmark and was established in 1856. As of 1 January 2007, the University merged with the University of Copenhagen...
: - University of CuencaUniversity of CuencaUniversity of Cuenca is an Ecuadoran university located in Cuenca. University of Cuenca is the principal university of Azuay Province. The university was founded in 1867....
: - Henri Poincaré UniversityHenri Poincaré UniversityThe Henri Poincaré University is a public research university located in Nancy, France. UHP is a member of the Nancy-Université federation, belonging to the french Nancy-Metz Academy.- History :...
- Institut National Agronomique Paris-GrignonInstitut national agronomique Paris-GrignonThe Institut National Agronomique Paris-Grignon was a French grande école. It was created in 1971 by merging the Institut national agronomique and the École nationale supérieure d'Agronomie de Grignon, thus having a history that goes back to 1826.INA P-G disappeared as an administrative entity on...
: - Dortmund University of Technology
- Technical University of BerlinTechnical University of BerlinThe Technische Universität Berlin is a research university located in Berlin, Germany. Translating the name into English is discouraged by the university, however paraphrasing as Berlin Institute of Technology is recommended by the university if necessary .The TU Berlin was founded...
- University of FreiburgUniversity of FreiburgThe University of Freiburg , sometimes referred to in English as the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg, is a public research university located in Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.The university was founded in 1457 by the Habsburg dynasty as the...
- University of Veterinary Medicine HanoverUniversity of Veterinary Medicine HanoverThe University of Veterinary Medicine Hanover is a university in Hanover and one of the five facilities for veterinary medicine in Germany, and the only one that remains independent. It is often referred to as TiHo by its staff and students....
: - University of San Carlos of Guatemala:
- University of GenoaUniversity of GenoaThe University of Genoa is one of the largest universities in Italy.Located in Liguria on the Italian Riviera, the university was founded in 1471. It currently has about 40,000 students, 1,800 teaching and research staff and about 1,580 administrative staff.- Campus :The University of Genoa is...
- University of PaduaUniversity of PaduaThe University of Padua is a premier Italian university located in the city of Padua, Italy. The University of Padua was founded in 1222 as a school of law and was one of the most prominent universities in early modern Europe. It is among the earliest universities of the world and the second...
: - Lincoln University, New ZealandLincoln University, New ZealandLincoln University is a New Zealand university that was formed in 1990 when Lincoln College, Canterbury was made independent of the University of Canterbury...
: - University of BergenUniversity of BergenThe University of Bergen is located in Bergen, Norway. Although founded as late as 1946, academic activity had taken place at Bergen Museum as far back as 1825. The university today serves more than 14,500 students...
: - Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú:
- Chonnam National UniversityChonnam National UniversityChonnam National University is a South Korean university located in the metropolitan city of Gwangju which lies in the middle of South Jeolla or Jeonnam province, for which the school is named in the Southwest of the country...
: - University of AlcaláUniversity of AlcaláThe University of Alcalá is a public university located in Alcalá de Henares, a city 35 km northeast of Madrid in Spain. Founded in 1499, it was moved in 1836 to Madrid. In 1977, the University was reopened in its same historical buildings...
- Universidad de Salamanca
- Universidad Católica de Salamanca:
- Bangor UniversityBangor UniversityBangor University is a university based in the city of Bangor in the county of Gwynedd in North Wales-United Kingdom.It was officially known for most of its history as the University College of North Wales...
- University of WalesUniversity of WalesThe University of Wales was a confederal university founded in 1893. It had accredited institutions throughout Wales, and formerly accredited courses in Britain and abroad, with over 100,000 students, but in October 2011, after a number of scandals, it withdrew all accreditation, and it was...
: - University of FloridaUniversity of FloridaThe University of Florida is an American public land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant research university located on a campus in Gainesville, Florida. The university traces its historical origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its present Gainesville campus since September 1906...
- Central Michigan UniversityCentral Michigan UniversityCentral Michigan University is a public research university located in Mount Pleasant in the U.S. state of Michigan...
- Oregon State UniversityOregon State UniversityOregon State University is a coeducational, public research university located in Corvallis, Oregon, United States. The university offers undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degrees and a multitude of research opportunities. There are more than 200 academic degree programs offered through the...
- Central Washington UniversityCentral Washington UniversityCentral Washington University, often abbreviated CWU, is a public university in Ellensburg, Washington in the United States.This location was selected by the state legislature as a consolation prize after Ellensburg lost its bid to be state capital...
: - Catholic university of UruguayUniversidad Católica del Uruguay Dámaso Antonio LarrañagaThe Universidad Católica del Uruguay Dámaso Antonio Larrañaga is a private university in Uruguay opened in 1985...
- University of the RepublicUniversity of the Republic, UruguayThe University of the Republic is Uruguay's public university. It is the most important and country's largest university, with a student body of more than 80,000 students. It was founded on July 18, 1849 in Montevideo, where most of its buildings and facilities are still located. Its current...
External links
- Official English site (In Spanish, English and German)
- Southern University Of Chile Indicators, Research and Statistics