MSU, South American institution link for future endeavors

Christian Nicolai, left, Executive Director of Chile’s National Commission for Scientific and Technological Research, visits with Richard Nader, right, MSU associate vice president for international programs and executive director of the university’s International Institute. (Photo submitted)

STARKVILLE, Miss.—Mississippi State and the University of Chile are new partners in a special set of exchange programs for students engaged in start-up ventures and entrepreneurship.

MSU also recently signed a memorandum of understanding to receive the country’s best and brightest graduate students with Chile’s National Commission for Scientific and Technological Research (CONICYT), an organization similar to the National Science Foundation.

“The goal is to increase the number of students from Chile where MSU’s reputation and ranking will be a good match. For MSU’s College of Business, the University of Chile is a place where International Business students focusing on Spanish can find both English and Spanish AACSB-accredited courses, and where both sides have a lot to gain in learning from each other’s entrepreneurship ecosystems,” said Richard H. Nader.

In addition to serving as the university’s associate vice president for international programs, Nader directs the land-grant institution’s International Institute. Nader recently led an MSU delegation for the formal signing of two documents in Santiago, the national capital.

The first MOU operates through CONICYT’s International Cooperation Program. It outlined benefits Chilean students would receive when pursuing MSU postgraduate studies.

Manuel Agosin, dean of FEN from the University of Chile, and Sharon Oswald, dean of MSU’s College of Business, signed a memorandum of understanding that will facilitate MSU study abroad opportunities for MSU students to attend Chile’s oldest economics and business school. (Photo submitted)

The second memorandum of understanding is for MSU students to attend the University of Chile’s Faculty of Economics and Business, the oldest of its kind in Chile and consistently a top ranked school.

This signing took place at the conclusion of a two-day, U.S. Embassy-sponsored workshop on U.S.-Chile Entrepreneurship Exchange. Workshop objectives included developing a report highlighting recommendations for increasing student exchanges between U.S. and Chilean university-based entrepreneurship programs; and, the establishment of a network of U.S. and Chilean universities who committed to exchange 10 students on each side within two years.

Nader said the workshop was designed to promote exchanges that help U.S. university students gain exposure to entrepreneurship in the international context; utilize study abroad as a solution to overcome cultural differences that impede business creation; and teach Chilean and North American entrepreneurship program directors best practices for conducting international exchange programs.

Other U.S. universities joining the MSU-led visit included Auburn University, Georgia Institute of Technology, Lehigh University, Texas A&M and Wayne State University.

“This investment in a diverse, first-generation student exchange program will pay dividends to the future health of U.S.-Chile economic, professional and academic relationships,” Nader predicted.

For more about MSU’s International Institute, visit .

MSU is Mississippi’s leading university, also available online at .

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A recent U.S. Embassy-sponsored workshop on U.S.-Chile Entrepreneurship Exchange focused on developing a report highlighting recommendations for increasing student exchanges between U.S. and Chilean university-based entrepreneurship programs. (Photo submitted)

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