Presentation by
Carina Starkl
" Since my first day at the Universidad de San Andrés, I realised that my
labour at the Foreign Studies Office should respond to the particular
environment among this community.
The first distinction comes out with our daily trip into this particular
campus, with its green grass and the fresh air coming from the river. All this
prepares us for work everyday. The rhythm is hard, but we always have the
opportunity to meet students or professors, which is always very nice.
This "changing cordiality" open its doors to our incoming exchange students,
who usually feel at home. The Universidad de San Andrés is unique in its size,
and this is one of the attributes that we should take advantage of. Our incoming
and outgoing exchange students have the opportunity of meeting each other and
sharing experiences, which is one of the most important goals of our cultural
exchange program.
Our incoming exchange students receive an orientation program, which last 3
days and has the purpose of not only getting to know each of them but also to
help them with their "cultural transition". This program ends with a boat trip
in the Rio de la Plata.
Among the activities in this orientation program, our incomings will take a
Spanish language exam and they will continue studying through out the semester
with an expert in Spanish as a second language, as long as the teacher consider
so.
The foreign exchange students will be presented in the different sectors of
the university, Registration office, Computer Lab, Sports Department, etc.
Foreign Studies Office prepares extracurricular activities such as dinner,
lunch, or just gatherings. These activities are usually received with enthusiasm
and are chosen under the objective to fulfil all our incomings expectations.
Also Lic. Roxana Pozzuoli offers her counselling services, which helps our
students to cope with different problems that may appear during their stay at
San Andrés.
The Sports Department works with us promoting different sport activities and
as a great opportunity to deal with that "cultural transition". We have really
good sport-teams representing our institution.
I would also like to mention the activities planed by the CEUDESA (Student
Center) to stimulate a close relation between our native students and our
incomings. Among these activities, the CEUDESA organise cultural trips, lunches,
concerts, parties, etc. Our student community is improving really fast in the
social integration of our incomings, but this job needs a persistent and
compromised cooperation of everyone.
Finally, the sum of all our efforts will strength our program and make our
incomings feel that they are making part of a community away from home. "
Carina Starkl