Academic Profile
Students attend classes at the Universidad Austral de Chile (known as UACh, or "la Austral"). Founded in 1954, the university's main campus is located near the center of Valdivia on the Isla Teja, an island between the Calle-Calle and Cruces Rivers. Fittingly, the university's motto is "Conocimiento y Naturaleza" ("Knowledge and Nature".) Approximately 10,000 students attend UACh, with the majority at the Isla Teja campus. UACh is home to nine academic departments with 41 undergraduate majors, and over 700 professors. The facilities available to students include libraries, computer labs, Wi-Fi, sports centers, and an 11-hectare botanical garden.
Classes are offered through the Centro de Idiomas at UACh, with all classes taught in Spanish by UACh faculty. In addition to hosting the CWU Valdivia program, the Centro de Idiomas teaches English to Chilean students in most career-track programs at the university.
This program appeals to students from many disciplines with curricula in Spanish language and Latin American history, literature, culture, and film. Taught in Spanish by UACh faculty, all courses are designed for students with intermediate or higher Spanish-language abilities. Students usually enroll in a total of four classes per semester.
Course Offerings
(6 quarter/4 semester credits each):
- Survey of Latin American Literature. Explore the concept of Latin American identity through literature from the pre-Hispanic epoch to the 20th century. Through discussion and analysis of a wide genre of literary works, this class examines the defining characteristics and issues of Latin American culture. Particular emphasis is given to contrasting images of pre- and post-Hispanic indigenous cultures and works of the 20th century.
- History of Chile.Examine the ideologies, problems, and political and economic realities of Chile from the past to the present. Study the history of the indigenous people of Chile prior to the arrival of the Spanish and develop a detailed understanding of the Spanish colonization process during the sixteenth through the eighteenth centuries.
- Latin American Cinema Study Latin American cinema through theory, discussion, and analysis. Develop an understanding of the aesthetics of Latin American cinema and explore the films as artistic constructions of social and cultural identity. Dr. Guido Mutis, instructor for the course, was Director of the 2007 International Film Festival in Valdivia.
- International Relations between the US & Latin America This course allows students to become familiar with international relations between the United States and Latin America through historical, political, and economical perspectives. Critical analyses will help students to comprehend the extensive and complex relationships between the U.S. and Latin America.
- Chilean Culture Seminar.Discover contemporary Chilean culture as a reflection of historical, sociological, economic, artistic, political, and anthropological development. Examine the indigenous Mapuche culture of Valdivia and other ethnic groups of Chile.
- Advanced Spanish Develop and perfect your practical language skills and expressive capabilities. Enhance your transition to life in Valdivia and gain better access to Chilean culture through language mastery.
- Spanish Composition and Conversation: Intermediate & Advanced.Increase your accuracy in both written and spoken Spanish language. Course offerings are subject to change depending on enrollment and availability.
Multiple Term Options
Students may choose to participate in the Valdivia program during fall or spring semesters or the full academic year (with the approval of the student's enrolling institution, and the on-site director). Full-year students are eligible to enroll in regular university classes during their second semester.
