Academic Offer

Campus Selection

USM has five different locations throughout Chile. 

Its main Campus Casa Central is located in the Valparaíso Region as is the Campus Viña del Mar. There are two campuses in the capital, Santiago (San Joaquín and Vitacura) in the Metropolitan Region. And finally, there is another Campus in the city of Concepción, Bíobio Región.

  • If you come under a bilateral exchange agreement, make sure to confirm with your home country exchange coordinator which is the available campus for you.
  • If you still haven’t decided which campus to attend, explore the options in Campuses and USM life.

 

The only options to choose courses at more than one campus or branch is to choose those that are located in the same Region:

  • If you choose Campus Casa Central, you can take courses also at Sede Viña del Mar or viceversa. You should consider that both are 30 to 40 minutes away by local and public transportation and depending on traffic. 
  • If you choose Campus San Joaquín, you may enroll courses also at Campus Vitacura and viceversa. You should consider that both are located at a distance of 1:10 to 1:30 hours by local and public transportation and depending on traffic. 

SCT Credits and Academic Load

Starting from 2019, our Universiy implemented the Transferable Credit System (or SCT-Chile for its name in spanish) to determine the academic load of its subjects. The teaching hour is 35 minutes long, 1 SCT Credit is equivalent to 27 chronological hours of semester work. ECTS and SCTS Credits are equivalent. 

 

Students coming to USM for and exchange program are allowed to enroll a maximum of 30 SCT per semester and a minimum of 15 SCT, except for those doing a research internship or thesis work. If the requirements of your University are not suitable to the above range, please let your coordination and ours know on time, so that it will be possible to solve the situation before the beginning of your stay at USM.

Subject search engine

To find out which are the academic programs taught by the USM, a search system has been enabled especially for international students, who are allowed to register subjects from all academic departments or faculties, as long as the corresponding department approves it.

IMPORTANT

  • It is very likely that at the time of applying, you are still taking courses at your own university. Therefore, it is your express responsibility to update your transcript when it becomes available. This is of utmost importance for the evaluation of your participation in the courses you wish to enroll during your stay at USM.
  • The academic offer at USM is mainly taught in Spanish. Occasionally, there may be some courses offered in English and exchange students will be able to enroll in them, however, this offer is not guaranteed and will not be confirmed until close to the beginning of the semester.
  • Valid credits (of each course) are those shown in the search engine (table) on the SCT unit, not all of which are updated on the downloadable PDF course syllabi. 
  • The subject classification shown in the table refers to:
    • Semestre Par (or Odd Semester): Courses taught on the First Semesters of each academic year (March – July).
    • Semestre Impar (or Even Semester): Courses taught on the Second Semesters of each academic year (August – December).
    • Ambos Semestres (or Both Semesters): Courses taught on the First and the Second Semester of the academic year.