About us

Accreditation and Continuous Improvement Officer: Marcela Caroca marcaroca@uc.cl

Internationalization Officer: Florencia Roncone fsroncone@uc.cl

This sub-directorate provides transversal support to the 39 doctoral programs of the University, providing strategic support to the accreditation processes; advice and accompaniment in the implementation of their development plans; support in the creation and structural adjustments of new and existing programs; the strengthening of internationalization; and the relationship with national and international strategic partners.

Within the sub-directorate, there are two coordinations. On the one hand, the main objective of the Accreditation and Continuous Improvement Coordination is to support and advise doctoral programs in their accreditation processes. Thus, it accompanies and monitors the development plans of the programs with a view to accreditation, but mainly aiming at institutional continuous improvement according to the UC Quality Policy.

On the other hand, the coordination of Internationalization aims to promote and strengthen strategies and mechanisms for international relations of UC doctoral programs and the processes of co-supervision, global mobility, or attraction and reception of international students. Specifically, this coordination advises processes involving international counterparts, as well as processes involving other UC departments.

These strategies have materialized in satisfactory indicators for the University, such as the accreditation of all UC doctoral programs, and also the increasing levels of linkage and internationalization of doctoral programs; both are fundamental to expand the opportunities for the local and global impact of the work and research of postgraduate students.

Development Officer: Daniela Viñals daniela.vinals@uc.cl 

Training Officer: Paz Olivares paz.olivares@uc.cl

Manager: Camila Guajardo fernanda.arcos@uc.cl  

The work of the Training and Follow-up Sub-Directorate is framed in the life cycle of the doctoral student at the UC, from their attraction to their graduation. Among its areas of work are the management and coordination of institutional actions for the attraction of new talent; the management and coordination of the Transversal Skills Program, whose focus is to complement the disciplinary training to contribute to the processes of labor market insertion; the management and coordination of the Doctoral Thesis Director Support Program, which provides practical tools for the Thesis Director-Student duo to develop a healthy academic relationship during the supervision process; the implementation of welfare initiatives and formative experience; analyzing data from the educational history of students to facilitate curricular follow-up in terms of meeting graduation milestones and timely graduation; and coordinating and implementing initiatives to liaise with graduates.

As a complement to the disciplinary training of excellence and with the purpose of training researchers able to function in the academic and non-academic world, as well as to open spaces in social and productive environments, the UC offers the Transversal Skills Program (PHT), which includes workshops, English courses, and Spanish courses. These workshops, which focus on developing writing skills, teaching, innovation, entrepreneurship, project structuring, technology, knowledge transfer, and research ethics, help form researchers of the highest quality in our University. Likewise, English courses encourage doctoral students to develop as researchers in a globalized environment, and Spanish courses help international students develop their research locally. The Training and Follow-up Sub-Directorate is responsible for managing and implementing this program through various alliances with strategic partners such as English UC, the Transfer and Development Office, the Innovation Center, the Center for Faculty Development, the School of Letters, the School of Medicine, the Research Ethics and Safety Unit, and the Gender Equity Office.

Within this Sub-Directorate is hosted the Support Program for the Direction of Doctoral Thesis (PADT). This program was born in 2016, and it is a pioneer at the national and Latin American levels in terms of developing policies and specific tools for monitoring and accompanying training at the doctoral level. Its three primary objectives are:

1. To enhance the consensus between student and thesis director on how they will work during the development of the research.
2. To strengthen the support mechanisms for monitoring the progress of the thesis.
3. To make explicit in detail the roles and responsibilities of all the actors of the UC community involved in the doctoral training of the student. In this way, the PADT encourages doctoral students to become independent, creative, and rigorous researchers who share their knowledge with the world effectively and innovatively.

The PADT has two main lines of work:

• Implementation of an institutional policy for thesis direction at the doctoral level.
• Development of support mechanisms for students and faculty during the doctoral research cycle.

For further information and inquiries, please get in touch with curriculardoctorados@uc.cl

Scholarships and Benefits Officer: Giselle Huircán gisselle.huircan@uc.cl 

Scholarship and Benefits Manager: Diego Ruminot diego.ruminot@uc.cl

The Vice President for Research and Graduate Studies, through the Graduate School, provides multiple centralized support systems to finance the complete doctoral studies of students and carry out complementary internationalization activities that are essential for the formation of global researchers. This represents a constituent part of the UC seal, supporting students in a multidimensional way to reach their maximum potential.

In this sense, funding opportunities for doctoral studies are key in the training and the beginning of researchers’ careers. The centralized model implemented by the Graduate School ensures that all students who do not have an external scholarship have access to funding for their doctoral studies, regardless of program or origin. Similarly, the University’s efforts to implement internal mechanisms that promote the internationalization of research and international cooperation are reflected in the availability of central funds that allow full and/or partial financing of internships abroad, stays for the co-supervision of theses leading to double degrees, attendance at conferences, visits by external professors, and the organization of seminars by students. It should be noted that only the minimum eligibility criteria must be met, with the result that more than 95% of applications for these funds are awarded.

This area is also in charge of promoting the ANID National Doctorate Scholarship Application Support Program. This program includes activities to support applicants for this scholarship, which are carried out between October and December of each year and begin once the ANID National Doctoral Competition Bases are published, when students must submit their applications. This program aims to provide the necessary tools to formulate a good application for the ANID Scholarship so that students can have a better chance of obtaining this funding for their doctoral studies. This support is oriented to regular national and international students, to teams of the Doctoral Programs, and to applicants who will enter the postgraduate programs, contemplates both face-to-face and remote activities for the simulation of the application and the reception of general consultations, including orientation talks directed especially to international students and applicants and review of applications by the UC Doctoral Programs. Similarly, open discussions are organized with ANID representative, who clarify specific doubts that applicants may have about the competition rules, the ANID online application system, and the rights and obligations of the applicant. Similarly, open talks are organized with ANID representative, who clarify specific doubts that applicants may have regarding the competition rules, ANID’s online application system, and the rights and obligations of the applicant. The Graduate School is also responsible for generating the Equivalency Certificates for foreign applicants, an indispensable requirement for converting grades to the national scale requested by ANID. This program, together with the support provided by each program to its applicants, has allowed UC to consolidate its position as the No. 1 institution at the national level in ANID scholarship awards for nine consecutive years.

Thus, with the financing of ANID scholarships and internal scholarships granted by the Graduate School, more than 90% of the total students have a full scholarship (tuition and maintenance) to pursue their doctoral degrees. Of the remaining 10%, the vast majority have a tuition scholarship that the faculty grants. In this way, the UC shows a significant commitment to promoting the creation of knowledge capital for the country and the world by providing key opportunities for the advancement of research in an institution of the highest quality.

Finally, this area also collaborates with preparing applications for PhD Theses in the Productive Sector of ANID. In conjunction with the UC Anacleto Angelini Innovation Center, the Graduate School offers support and guidance activities to PhD candidates interested in applying to the “PhD Thesis in the Productive Sector” call. This ANID instrument supports research and R+D+i projects that generate a link between the productive sector, companies, or scientific-technological centers and academia, encouraging the inclusion of doctors inside and outside academic institutions. It thus expands future job opportunities for doctoral students. To this end, lectures and meetings are offered to provide students with guidance, advice, and review of documents attached to their application.

Inquiries to concursosdoctorados@uc.cl