Dedicated to educate, inspire, and connect global leaders

What We Do

The Luksic Scholars Foundation develops programs that foster talent and global leadership in order to build bridges and connect cultures around the world.

Since 2000, we have sponsored scholarship programs that aim to educate, inspire and connect people across the globe. In partnership with a dozen universities, today the Luksic Scholars Foundation promotes and finances 19 different programs, pre and postgraduate studies for university students, professionals, and leaders from Chile and Latin America, the United States, Croatia and China.

Our Programs

Our Impact

For 20 years, we have contributed to the personal development of more than 1,600 people in a variety of disciplines, creating a global network of Luksic Scholars with presence in four continents. The family is also the founding donor and main supporter of the regional centers of Harvard, Columbia, MIT and Tsinghua in Chile.

1,600

beneficiaries, and growing

977

Chileans have been benefited

foreign university offices in Chile

Camila Ortiz

Luksic Scholarship for Chile-China Undergraduate Exchange

Diego Celentano

Faculty Exchange Luksic Grants

Daniel Schmidt

Conducting Business in China (CMIX)

Hugo Wood

Schwarzman College Luksic Fellowship

Nicole Pinaud

Babson Chilean Symposium for Entrepreneurship Educators (SEE), Babson Luksic Fellows

Gavin Wang

Luksic Scholarship for Chile-China Undergraduate Exchange

Sally Yuan

Conducting Business in Chile (CMIX)

Ana Bulic

Harvard Kennedy School Luksic Fellowship (MPP)

Luksic Scholars are students, entrepreneurs, professors, researchers...

Their common denominator is leadership. From public policy to entrepreneurship or the application of innovative technologies, Luksic Scholars have used their experiences to create impact in their organizations and societies. Today, they form a growing network of more than 1,600 individuals from Chile and Latin America, the US, Croatia, and China.

Scholar Stories

I see this exchange program as a window to connect with the world from this beautiful corner of South America. The network created with partners from Chile and China during the exchange experience will endure for life and I’m certain I’ll have the ability to use it when needed."

Daniel Schmidt - Conducting Business in China (CMIX) Scholar, 2014

Our History

In the year 2000 the first scholarship program with a foreign university was established. Today, the family supports 19 ongoing programs based in or conducted by universities around the world, and these efforts have also resulted in the launching of four foreign university regional centers in Santiago, Chile.

At the end of the 90s, the Luksic family started with this initiative, when the world was much more fragmented and there was, as today, an authentic need to share experiences, research, culture and knowledge. Although almost two decades later the planet is much more integrated, thanks to technological advances, there are no substantial changes in the fundamental need of humanity to learn, connect and share. Luksic Scholars is a foundation that brings together people, talent, education and leadership.

The Beginning: First Regional Office and Scholarship Program

The first Luksic Scholarship was established in 2000 for Visiting Scholars from Chile to Harvard's David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies in Cambridge. Two years later, with support from the Luksic family, Harvard University opened its first overseas office: the DRCLAS Regional Office in Santiago, Chile.

About DRCLAS Office

2000

Investing in Entrepreneurship

The first iteration of the Babson Symposium for Entrepreneurship Educators was conducted in Santiago, Chile, providing training for Chilean university professors to learn about new methodologies of teaching entrepreneurship to students.

2006

Expanding to Europe and Asia

Sponsored by Banco de Chile - a Chilean bank controlled by the Luksic family - the first group of Tsinghua University MBA students and Universidad Católica MBA students each participated in a two-week exchange program, forging the beginning of a long-term network between Chile and China. The first executive education courses for Croatian public officials were also conducted by the Harvard Kennedy School in Zagreb and Cambridge.

2007

In Pursuit of Higher Education

New scholarships programs at Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard Graduate School of Education and Columbia SIPA allowed both Chileans and Croatians to pursue masters’ degrees in public policy and education.

2008 - 2010

Expanding Opportunities

From the creation of an endowed fund at MIT Political Science to expanding education opportunities for members of the Chilean public sector, these years represented an expansion of programs funded by the Luksic family for new groups, culminating in the establishment of a Global Center in Santiago for Columbia University.

About Columbia Global Center

2011 - 2012

Growing Internationally

In the spirit of research collaboration across borders, the Luksic family signed agreements with the Universidad Católica de Chile, Notre Dame, and Boston College, to fund joint research projects related to Chile. In addition, new Luksic Scholarship and Fellowship programs were established at Oxford Blavatnik School of Government, Schwarzman College at Tsinghua. Earlier, in 2013, MIT opened its first overseas office: the MIT Sloan Latin America Office in Santiago.

About MIT Sloan Office

2013 - 2017

Deepening Relationships

This year marked the deepening of existing relationships into new opportunities, including the extension of the Babson SEE program to the Universidad de Antofagasta, and the creation of the first undergraduate Luksic Scholarships between Chile and China, based at the Universidad de Chile. Finally, the fourth world-class regional university opened in Santiago: Tsinghua University’s Latin American Center.

About Tsinghua Office

2018

Sharing Our Story

After many years of international engagement, we launched luksicscholars.org to tell the story of our first two decades of collaboration with Chilean and foreign educational institutions, as well as providing a platform for the 1,500-plus (and growing!) Luksic Scholars from these programs over the years.

2019

Becoming a foundation

The Luksic Scholars Foundation was established this year continuing the vision of Andrónico Luksic and his family regarding education, exchange of knowledge and support of students, professionals and academics from Chile and the world.

2020

New opportunity for Luksic Scholars

The Luksic Scholars Fund launch: Funding opportunity for people who are already Luksic Scholars, to support their professional development through their research or executive education courses.

2021

There is nothing more important than the education of our future leaders."

Andrónico Luksic Craig

The Luksic family is committed to creating economic and social welfare by generating opportunities, fostering talent, and expanding knowledge in all sectors of Chilean society.

The Luksic family controls one of the largest and most diverse business conglomerates in Chile, with an active presence in the copper mining sector through Antofagasta plc, as well as in the industrial and financial sectors through Quiñenco S.A. It is also one of the largest owners and operators of hotels in Croatia.

Learn More

Andronico Luksic, hands folded, looking calmly at camera

From the Founder

Throughout my life, I have devoted considerable time and effort to searching the globe in the pursuit of business interests, friendships, novel ideas, and different points of view. And it has been alongside multicultural teams that I have achieved not only many of my proudest professional accomplishments but also such personal milestones such as ascending Mount Everest and the Seven Summits of the World.

My experiences worldwide have shown me that, in the increasingly interdependent world in which we live, education has a critical role to play in promoting cross-cultural understanding and in helping to deepen the relations between individuals from different nations.

This belief has helped inspire my family and me to contribute to a broad variety of educational initiatives which all flow – in one way or another – into and through a global network of Luksic Scholars, from the remote corners of Chile to destinations around the globe.

Indeed, we feel that the value that our academic contributions lies not only in the credentials that the Luksic Scholars earn but also in the personal bonds that they forge with their counterparts. It is our hope that the Luksic Scholars’ international connections and collaborations will continue to grow and evolve as we continue to sustain this network with new and innovative programs, especially in Chile.

Andrónico Luksic Craig