Latin America and Europe: “Strengthening a joint collaboration agenda”

 
 

IOHE Members’ News Release

Latin America and Europe:

“Strengthening a joint collaboration agenda”

San Luis Potosí, Mexico, November 4, 2011.

 

36 representatives from 9 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean participated in the seminar: “Common Challenges, Different Responses – Higher Education Trends in Latin America and Europe”, which was held at the Bicentenary Cultural Center of the Autonomous University of San Luis Potosí, Mexico and set within the framework of the  AMPEI Annual Conference on November 3. The event was jointly organized by the Inter-American Organization for Higher Education (IOHE), the Mexican Association for International Education (AMPEI) and the European Centre for the Strategic Management of Universities (ESMU).

The main objective of the seminar was to discuss current research about European trends in higher education, EU policies, and collaboration opportunities for Latin America and the Caribbean. The event, which comprised of five separate conferences, all of which were held by university leaders from the respective regions, enriched the debate about the current contexts of higher education internationalization and innovation. In addition, the responses of Latin American institutions to meet  European institutions’ needs in strengthen academic collaboration linkages was examined within the framework of adopting the new working agenda by the European Commission, the latter of which was formulated last September.

 

 

 

Internationalization, Innovation and Opportunities

 

“If Europe is recognized by the Bologna Process as the common space of Higher Education, the “Ancient Continent”, or Europe, offers a multitude of programs that can be beneficial for Latin America”, said Dr. Liviu Matei, Senior Vice-Rector of the Central European University, who used ERASMUS-MUNDUS —a program that is dedicated to mobility and grants—and MARIE CURIE- which is for young researchers, and represents other interesting funding alternatives, among others.

 

 

If there is a political will in Europe to build a common space by means of the Bologna Process, the Latin America and the Caribbean model would be different. It is for this reason that Higher Education Institutions should unite their efforts to double the expected results. Thus, it is fundamental to involve governing bodies of universities- so as to take advantage of all the academic collaboration opportunities and human resource training that are available– and to implement a real culture of innovation at HEI from the region.

 

 

Collaboration Agenda

 

Thanks to the participants’ presentations, it was possible to elaborate a list of priority activities that would strengthen collaboration interventions with Europe. Among the most noteworthy were opportunities for joint activities i.e. the training of internationalization managers as well as training of innovation leaders in higher education, the creation of joint research projects, and the diversification of funding to promote the mobility of professors, researchers, managers and students. In addition, they stressed the need to work collaboratively in facilitating the recognition of academic qualifications with Europe, and to jointly create a network of innovation and technology transfer offices.

 
Based on the outcomes of the discussions of the thematic subjects, the IOHE made a commitment to its members to follow-up on the needs and priorities, namely those points expressed by the representative institutions. Moreover, the IOHE pledged to continue forming collaboration linkages with their partner organizations in Europe, such as the ESMU- with the final aim of articulating a common response for the benefit of institutions from Latin America and the Caribbean.

 

 

Documents and news relating to the event can be found on following website: www.oui-iohe.org/cale/

 

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For further information, please contact:

Francis Brown – Assistant to the executive Director of the IOHE

Telephone: 1-514-343-6111, ext. 3775  Email: fbrown@oui-iohe.org