The future of EU-LA collaboration
May 2007
Two SCAT members joined in this major
event for the future of EC-LA collaboration.
Mexico City — The European Commission organized and funded a very special event in Mexico City: a conference about the best of the ALFA Programe and the future of collaboration with Latin America. This unprecedented meeting took place on 21-22 May, by invitation only.
There have been more than a thousand ALFA projects funded by the EC since the beginning of Phase I of the programme in 1994 (Phase II started in 2000). Of all ALFA projects, only 50 were selected to participate in the Mexico Conference on "Best Practices and Results of ALFA Projects –the Future of Cooperation in Higher Education between EU and LA."
The selection of the participants was solely based on the demonstration of "best practices" in the particular project's execution and the quality of results. This assessment is part of an ongoing study, commissioned by the EC, to evaluate the ALFA Programme and give recommendations about a future programme to take its place. We are particulary proud and happy to have been invited to participate.
The meeting was officially opened by the Ambassador, Head of the EC Delegation in Mexico, Mr. Mendel Goldstein. It was followed by presentations from the EC Head of the ALFA Programme, Mr. Antonio Crespo, and representatives from the experts team conducting the assessment of the programme.
Workshop session at ALFA-Mexico 2007.
During two intense days, the participants actively engaged in workshop sessions discussing:
- the impact and sustainability of collaboration projects
- the management process of collaboration projects
- the perspectives for the future of inter-continental collaboration
These workshop sessions were focussed in the three areas of cooperation funded by the ALFA Programe:
- cooperation in academic and curriculum development
- cooperation for institutional management and reinforcement
- cooperation in the areas of researcher mobility and scientific research
The events closed after plenary discussions of the conclusions of the workshop sessions, and a presentation about the strategy and design of a new programme, dubbed "ALFA-III" but still not officially named, which will offer funding of projects in the period 2008-2013 with a total budget of 85 million euros.
Participants of course enjoyed the wonderful opportunity to make their views known directly to the programme officers, and to conduct extensive networking with similarly minded academics from both Europe and Latin America.
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