President Piñera returns to Harvard University during trip to United States
by Donna Martinez
BOSTON, MA—The President Sebastián Piñera, arrived at Harvard University in Boston last Friday morning, Sept. 23, to hold a hearing with the chairman of the House of Studies, Drew Faust.
On that occasion, he also signed a bilateral agreement in the field of education. The agreement establishes a framework for BECAS Chile (Chile Grants), the Chilean scholarship program under CONICYT- Comisión Nacional de Investigación Científica y Tecnológica (National Commission for Scientific and Technological Research) for the 15 Chilean students who are accepted in doctoral programs in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University.
The document aims to promote and encourage more Chilean students to pursue their studies in this prestigious university, thus achieving new and valuable knowledge.
It provides for joint financing of BECAS Chile through CONICYT and Harvard, for students who are accepted into one of the doctoral programs offered by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.
Chilean students will benefit from full funding of the program fees plus other benefits such as maintenance and insurance, among others. The two institutions will co-finance the students’ fees to assure them the same high standards as all other doctoral students at the university.
President Piñera signing a cooperation agreement with Harvard University, Photo credit: Presidencia de la República
President Piñera also attended the Annual Forum of the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, as part of his working visit to Boston.
President Piñera's speech receives a warm reception in the Annual Forum of the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, Photo credit: Presidencia de la República
President Piñera, along with his wife, Cecilia Morel, visited the apartment where he lived while he was a student at Boston’s Harvard University.
President Piñera and his wife visit the apartment where he lived while studying at Harvard, Photo credit: Presidencia de la República
President Sebastián Piñera, held a working meeting with the president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Susan Hockfield. Photo credit: Presidencia de la República
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Donna's expat life style started while she was an army brat, continued on into her married life and has been passed on to her children. She completed her Doctorate in Education at the George Washington University in Washington, DC after teaching special education for 13 years. She has authored articles and book chapters related to disability policy and special education and is dabbling in travel logs. She is thrilled to be on the road again in Chile. Follow her adventures and crusades on her personal blog, 
As noted above, President H. E. Sebastián Piñera and his wife, Cecilia Morel, attended the Annual Forum of the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, as part of his working visit to Boston September 23, 2011. Today, I saw a blog post today that showed an audience member pose a question and a snippet of Piñera’s response regarding the student revolt that has been on going for about 6 months now. While I understand its use as a political and advocacy tool, I resented not having full access to the complete video or transcript. After a little poking about I discovered the speech was recorded and archived by Harvard (and I would not have expected anything less). His presentation, “The Chilean Path to Development” to the Harvard’s John F. Kennedy Forum may be viewed in its entirety. In order to view the video you MUST have RealPlayer downloaded .
The video is expected to be available for download Wednesday, September 28 on iTunes U Harvard University: Institute of Politics- John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum. In my personal blog I have summarized the presentation and then attempt to quote verbatim the first questioner and the President’s response. The questioner makes a pointed attempt to challenge the President on an apparent “change of policy” mentioned in an earlier speech compared to the reality as described by the questioner of the students back home in Chile.
You may see my summary and transcript here: The Chilean Path to Development-A Public Address by H. E. Sebastián Piñera, President of Chile