MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Manchester University alumni society in Chile; UK number one destination of “Becas Chile”

Manchester among the top leading universities of the world

British Ambassador to Chile, Mrs. Fiona Clouder, held a reception to mark the official launch of the Manchester University alumni society in Chile. Fifty Manchester graduates joined the event in the Ambassador’s residence from many different academic and professional disciplines.

 Natalia Aranguiz, gave an overview presentation about the society, its aims and its plans, while Ambassador Clouder pointed out that UK has become number one destination for Becas Chile scholars and “we have 17 of the world’s top 100 universities, including Manchester”.

Ambassador Clouder although belonging to UCL, admitted to working very closely with a former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Manchester who helped transform the University at the end of the 1990s, during a very difficult time, of government cuts and challenges for the university system, and helped build it into the great institution it is today.

Further on the Ambassador said she had a question for you all: what do prize winning architect Norman Foster, the world’s first computer, world leading and Nobel prize winning research on graphene and the Presidents of Iceland, Ireland, and Israel have in common?

“It is because they all either studied at, or were invented in, Manchester. The University has a great tradition of teaching, and today is developing the future professionals and leaders that we need to face the challenges and opportunities ahead. It also has a great tradition of research – including cutting edge research in science and engineering that is pushing the boundaries of future technology”.

So it is with great pleasure that “I am hosting this reception for your newly formed alumni group. It is great to see that so many of you want the spirit of Manchester to be alive in Chile”.

The ambassador congratulated the initiative of setting up the alumni group and said hopefully “you will keep in touch with the University that played an important part in your education”.

“At the Embassy, we are keen for ex-students to keep up their links with the UK, and an alumni group is a great way to do that. But you can also all act as ambassadors for the UK more widely – and so please do share your experiences of studying there with future generations who might want to follow in your footsteps”.

Finally Ms Clouder underlined that the UK already is the number one destination for Becas Chile scholars, and “we have 17 of the world’s top 100 universities, including Manchester. With only 1% of the world’s population, we account for 16% of the most-cited scientific papers”

Thus “we are thrilled that so many Chilean students want to study in the UK, and the doors are always open for further students. We are looking for deeper partnership with Chile in science and innovation too, including through the new Newton Fund, which will enable further scientific and innovation exchange between our two countries”.