The Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso (PUCV) continues to strengthen its leadership in the internationalization and linguistic education areas through the English as Foreign Language Program (PILE, for its name in spanish) and the Spanish as Foreign Language Center (CELE, for its name in spanish). Both programs have achieved significant progress in coverage, quality and international certification during the 2024-2025 period, presenting the university as an academic example in the development of high-level idiomatic competences.
With a team of 57 professors and 47 assistants, PILE has expanded its impact in university bilingual training. During the last year, it implemented digital support courses and voluntary online leveling courses to reinforce the mandatory undergraduate courses, reducing dropout risks.
The PILE program stands out also as the only center within a university in the Valparaíso region for oficial testing for Cambridge english level certifications, guaranteeing student access to a globally recognized certification and fundamental requirement for exchange and post-graduate programs and international employment.
Test preparation includes semester long courses in B1, B2 and C1 levels, along with an intensive course on Saturdays, designed to teach strategies and specific techniques for each section of the test (Speaking, Writing, Reading and Use of English and Listening). Each year, new generations take the test in person for the Speaking section and digitally for the other sections, at the Sausalito Campus.
In regard to international certifications, between the second semester of 2024 and the first semester of 2025, 258 students from PILE and the Literature and Language Sciences Institute (ILCL for its name in spanish) received B1 Preliminary and C1 Advanced certifications from University of Cambridge. In addition, 165 students took the B1+, B2 and C1 levels in collaboration with the International Exchange Department, broadening their opportunities for mobility and employability.
In 2024, the program achieved a historical record of 398 certified students, 36% more than the previous year. Since 2012, a total of 2,409 students from the PUCV have achieved Cambridge certifications.
Daniella Guerra, Academic coordinator for PILE, shared: “at the national and local Levels, there is a before and after the PILE program in the teaching of english since its creation in 2012. The program manages to combine academic excellence, inclusion and international projection. It is not only about meeting a curricular requirement, but to generate real opportunities for our undergraduate and graduate students, and faculty”.
Simultaneously, the CELE has established its role as an academic leader for international students that choose the PUCV to perfect their spanish. With a trajectory of more than 25 years, the center has received 11,000 international university students, who have had a unique experience of linguistic immersion in a cultural and academic environment of excellence. During 2024 and so far this year, CELE has offered 45 spanish as foreign Language courses, taught by a team of five professors, to students of various nationalities. Likewise, a specialized library was created at the Monsignor Gimpert Library, improving learning resources.
A strategic advancement is the accreditation process before the Cervantes Institute, planned for 2025, which would turn the PUCV into an official certifying entity in spanish teaching and a key actor in the global projection of the language.
This institution universally promotes teaching, study and the use of spanish to contribute to the promotion of Hispanic cultures abroad. It is dependent on the Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation Ministry in Spain, and collaborates with prestigious institutions, both national and international. The purpose is that products and services related to the spanish language will comply with quality criteria and promoting the encounter and exchange of the spanish and Panhispanic culture with other cultures of the world.
Another relevant milestone for CELE has been the creation of the Teaching of Spanish as Foreign Language diploma, oriented towards training teachers with international standards. René Venegas, director of the center, commented that they “offer courses according to the European Common Framework, but we also teach chilean culture, current events, literature and history. The most important feature of our program is that is an immersion project, since we offer students the possibility of getting to know our national territory while they receive academic training”, he explained.
Regarding accreditation, he pointed out that the purpose is to “consolidate as a leader in South America. Our plans include to expand the offer and have courses for visiting teachers that need to learn spanish for their academic tasks”, Venegas concluded.
By Camila Rojas
Strategic Communications Department
