Universities in Chile, Colombia, Spain and the Netherlands carry out an initiative that hopes to contribute to the development of employability and global interaction skills of their students.
#Becomeglocal will be carried out through a collaboration between higher education institutions in Latin America and Europe. This initiative seeks to generate courses and also install skills in students, the academic community and current professionals who are in the world of work today, to be able to develop and perform in a more active way in a community that is increasingly global.
Participating in this initiative are The Hague University of Applied Sciences (Netherlands), CEU Universidad Cardenal Herrera (Spain), Universidad Católica de Manizales, Cámara de Comercio de Manizales por Caldas, Universidad de Manizales (Colombia), Universidad Católica del Maule and Universidad Católica de la Santísima Concepción, after the award of a call launched by Erasmus+, a European Union program that supports education, training, youth and sports in Europe.
Matías Marín, director of International Relations of Universidad Católica de Manizales, shed light on the work carried out at the launch meeting, held at the Universidad Católica de Manizales between January 23 and 25 just last year.
“The project is about modernizing the universities’ curriculum first to have an international dimension and second also a dimension that is integrated with companies to promote the global interaction of students, but also employability, their skills in association with companies. locals of each of the countries that are involved here,” he said.
Marloes Ambagts-van Rooijen from The Hague University of Applied Sciences, Netherlands, for his part highlighted that “we have really had a good week together (…) We had had online meetings, but this week we really connected as a group, we have a vision broader view of how our universities view education and employability in: Chile, Colombia, the Netherlands and Spain.”
“The dialogues have been very important to be able to take the next steps together and bring together our teachers, leave them ready so that they can be trained in these courses that we will do in July, where we will have teachers from Chile, Colombia, Spain in my country” , advancement.
Jorge Burgos, general director of Liaison of Universidad Católica del Maule, stated that “this Erasmus+ project in the line of installation of institutional capacities is one of the 3 awarded where the UCM is part of an international consortium,” he noted, pointing out that this aligns with the strategy adopted by its management to connect the work of the UCM in the region and project it towards an international dimension in collaboration with other higher education institutions.
“It is a very relevant topic because we are also addressing the challenges in terms of employability in the region collaboratively and looking at strategies with universities from other parts of the world, comparing realities and also making common efforts,” explained Jorge Burgos.
This project is for two years and this kick-off meeting that took place in Talca allows us to plan the rest of the process. One of the activities considers the development of courses that will be available to the community, which should begin to be taught at the end of this year (2024).
Trust and friendship
Those present, after several days of meeting and despite the heat of the Talquina summer days, left optimistic about the progress made in this first meeting. This was made known by Chirag Chandrakant Sheth Shah Vice Rector of Internationalization of the CEU Universidad Cardenal Herrera of Valencia, Spain.
“In my opinion, a group of excellent professionals came together and this first meeting has served to create ties of trust, friendship and understanding between the six universities. “We have been able to make good progress in understanding the scope of the project and the responsibilities of each one,” he said.
While Valeria González Duque, director of regionalization and international and inter-institutional relations at Universidad de Manizales, added that “even though the cultures of our countries are so different, we have many aspects in common and challenges that are generalized. It is very nutritious to see in the discussion how each person contributes from their perspective. What unites us in the project is linking us with the productive sector and facilitating our students’ entry into the labor market.»
Finally, Lorena Retamal, director of institutional relations and outreach at UCSC, added that “this project is very important because it will allow both students and academics to have a more global view of the requirements that the market has, it will allow students “strengthen their capabilities and have a better way of interacting interculturally with students from different countries.”
This news was originally published in: https://www.ucm.edu.co/la-ucm-lidera-el-lanzamiento-del-proyecto-become-glocal/