Chile Field Program

Our flagship program for universities and business schools. Students follow one thread across the country: how a small, open economy runs on copper, lithium, wine and salmon, and what water scarcity, community conflict and a long constitutional debate mean for all of it. Your course objectives decide who we put in the room.

What students will learn

  • Explain how Chile’s institutions work, and why voters rejected two proposed constitutions, in 2022 and 2023
  • Map the copper and lithium value chain, from the pit and the salar to the port
  • Analyse water scarcity as the constraint shared by mining, agriculture and cities
  • Weigh the environmental and community trade-offs of salmon farming and forestry

Day by day

  1. Day 1–5, Santiago: Institutions, the university and the start-up scene. The constitutional process, the pensions debate and how the electoral system works, with a former cabinet minister and someone from the current government. Sessions and lunch with faculty at Pontificia Universidad Católica. Company visits at Copec, the Start-Up Chile hub and local fintechs like Toku. A session on earthquakes and disaster preparedness, from building codes to emergency response.
  2. Day 6–9, Calama & San Pedro de Atacama: Copper, lithium and water. North to the Atacama for mining and the water question: copper with Codelco and lithium on the Salar de Atacama with SQM. Two of the four days are in San Pedro, where the scarcity is visible rather than abstract, with Lickanantay community representatives and local farmers.
  3. Day 10–11, Colchagua & Maipo valleys: When water becomes an export problem. Back through Santiago to the wine and agricultural valleys, where the same constraint shapes what Chile can grow and sell abroad. Vineyard and packing-house visits with growers and exporters.
  4. Day 12–15, Puerto Montt & the Lake District: Salmon and forestry. Four days in the south for salmon farming and forestry, two industries contested on environmental and community grounds. Visits with producers, regulators and the communities that live next to them.
  5. Day 16, Santiago: Travel and departure. Fly back to Santiago for international connections.