In 2010, UC Temuco created the Research Center on Interethnic and Intercultural Studies (NEII) in order to enhance the scientific competency of research in the field of intercultural studies and provide mechanisms for better comprehending the historic and contemporary dynamics that affect Southern Chile. Since then, NEII has consolidated several lines of research and a close-knit team of academics who have fostered publications and projects, established networks comprised of national and international collaborators, and founded two graduate programs in Intercultural Studies.

NEII brings together researchers from the social sciences and humanities interested in the theoretical debates and problems that arise from relationships between diverse sociocultural groups (indigenous and non-indigenous worlds, immigrants and non-immigrants, and other communities), aiming to become a reference for studies of critical interculturality in the Araucanía Region and in Chile.