The UOC's international grants programme expands in Latin America and the Caribbean

For the first time, the UOC has announced 50 partial grants to support excellent students from 17 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Puerto Rico, Uruguay and Venezuela. This is a line of its own international grants to study master's degrees that will contribute to facilitating the population's access to quality higher education in Latin America. In addition, for this academic year 2021-2022 there are also specific calls for applications for partial grants, for different countries, to study master's degrees at the UOC: 50 places in Colombia; 25 in Mexico and 25 grants for students in Peru.

In addition to the new line of international grants in Latin America, the UOC and the Secretariat for Higher Education, Science and Innovation of Ecuador (SENESCYT) also offer 100 grants for academic excellence to Ecuadorian citizens to study master's degrees. In addition, the UOC has recently established a new agreement with Ecuador's Secretariat that will enable it to extend its offer to other types of educational programmes.

The UOC is committed to strengthening higher education systems, promoting access and increasing the scope and coverage of higher education in the region by extending its calls for applications for grants in Latin America and the Caribbean. "Now more than ever, we must ensure that everyone who wants to study at university can do so. Quality online education makes it easier for people, whatever their situation, to continue studying, to undertake lifelong learning, to improve their living conditions and to contribute to transforming their environment," emphasized Gemma Xarles Jubany, director of the Globalization and Cooperation department.

"For five years now, we have been joining forces for university access, offering calls for partial grants aimed at Latin American citizens so that they can take official master's degree programmes at the UOC. Slowly but surely, we have been extending the offer of teaching grants to different Latin American countries until today, when we can offer them throughout the region," said Carme Anguera, director of international projects in the UOC's Globalization and Cooperation department.

Evolution of international grants

The UOC's international grants programme was launched in 2016 and, since then, 768 people have benefited from this funding to study master's degrees and continuing education courses. In most cases the grant has been partial, with the exception of the joint call with the Ibero-American General Secretariat (SEGIB) for training programmes in the field of Education and ICT and Quality, which was a full grant.

Since its beginnings, the UOC has carried out calls for grants with organizations from different countries: ICETEX, in Colombia; OEA in America; SEGIB in Latin America; SENESCYT in Ecuador. With all these actions, the UOC continues its commitment to implementing access to quality lifelong learning.