The pace of Arica, Chile is simply delightful. It's warm and sunny year-round, there's a cool pedestrian mall to flip-flop around come sunset and decent brown-sugar beaches are just a short walk from the town center. Top this off with some awesome surfing and a cool cliff-top War of the Pacific battlefield at El Morro, and you may just stay another day or two before you head up to nearby Parque Nacional Lauca or take an afternoon off from 'beach duty' to visit the Azapa Valley, home to some of the world's oldest known mummies.

Arica is located in the northernmost part of Chile, right on the coast of the Pacific Ocean. The area has a number of anthropological research sites of ancient societies of the Aymara and the Atacama people. The university is the custodian of the rich remains of mummies, pottery, textiles, and religious evidence of these cultures. Often called "the city of everlasting spring", Arica has mild winters and hot summers.

People enjoy water sports like surfing, wind surfing, water skiing, diving, and other outdoor recreational activities. Because of its central location near Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, and Peru, Arica is a very good place to start traveling in the region. The Incan site of Machu-Picchu in Peru, Tiwanaku in Bolivia, the jungles of Brazil, and the northern steppes of Argentina are all within the traveler's reach.

The University of Tarapacá (UTA) is located in Arica, Chile, and was established in 1982 by merging the local branches of the University of Chile and the Catholic University.

It has five faculties: Agriculture; Business and Social Sciences; Natural Sciences (Nursing, Gynecology and Obstetrics, Medical Technology, Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics, Chemistry, Biology); Engineering, and Education & Humanities (Physical Education, History, English, Geography). The Agronomy Institute, located in the Azapa Valley, carries out research on desert agriculture.

Students with an advanced level of Spanish are able to enroll in regular university classes. The usual semester load is four or five classes (total of 28 direct contact hours) a week. This program is recommended to students who have previously studied abroad in a Spanish-speaking country or have advanced level of Spanish. The local dialect of Spanish spoken in Chile can be difficult to comprehend in the first few weeks for a student that has little experience abroad. The Spanish department offers seven levels of courses in a variety of subjects including literature, grammar, and linguistics.

Please see the following links for 2015-16 course offerings in the Spanish department and English department. Odd numbered semesters (one through nine) have courses that occur in Fall semester only and even numbered semesters (two through ten) are courses that are offered in the Spring semester only. Semester 1 & 2 are freshman student courses, semester 3 & 4 are sophomore student course, etc., as UTA's typical degrees are five years in length for graduation standards.

UNI students are able to take courses from any level, as long as they are able to figure out their schedule without time/day conflicts. Final course timetables for each semester are not posted until a week or so prior to the semester start date in each academic building. Each semester's enrollment typically occurs during orientation (the first week of classes) for exchange students. Academic year begins in March and ends in December. Spring semester runs from mid-March until mid-July; fall semester runs from mid-August until mid-December.

The University of Tarapaca usually coordinates host families or students are able to find an apartment independently upon arrival. UTA does not have dormitory facilities for our UNI students.

Exchange students usually rent a furnished room with a host family within walking distance from the university. Students can negotiate the price depending on how many meals a day they would like to include or students can choose to prepare their own meals (typically 300-500 USD per month). The International Relations Office assists with finding suitable accommodation and airport pick-up.

The university has one cafeteria on-campus where students may have lunch for around $5-10 USD, along with several small cafes around campus and near campus. The downtown (centro) also has many venues of where to eat lunch or dinner. Most students eat breakfast at home rather than on-campus.