Catalan universities are committed to research and e-learning to work in cooperation with Morocco and Mozambique

The ACUP has held two seminars with the agents involved to identify the common interests of the Catalan university community and the academic and social needs of Morocco and Mozambique, with the aim of working together and in line with the Development Cooperation Master Plan 2015-2018 of the Catalan Government, which emphasizes a focus on gender and human rights.

The UOC has taken part in the debate to draft a joint proposal of university cooperation actions and activities for the coming years. Pastora Martínez Samper, Vice President for Globalization and Cooperation, and Gemma Xarles, director of University Development Cooperation, have staked the claim of universities as key agents for international cooperation with the ability to have an impact on policy.


The university is not an NGO

Catalan higher education institutions have brought the debate to the table with regard to the university cooperation model. To contribute to reducing inequality, experts and academics have championed a role for universities that is different from that of NGOs, and which focuses on strengthening the university system of Morocco and Mozambique.

Among the University Development Cooperation lines of action between Catalonia, Morocco and Mozambique that may have a positive impact on the academic system there, Josep Maria Vilalta, Executive Secretary of the ACUP, has proposed strengthening the management of the universities in each country, to prevent a brain drain and for them to develop their own campuses, improve academic and library services, promote research and ensure that students are properly inducted. For a positive impact of the academic system there, the projects need to be monitored.