Dr. Roberto Ruiz Salces, Secretary General and Vice Rector for International Relations of the European University of the Atlantic (UNEATLANTICO), visited Colombia with the aim of strengthening institutional relations with universities in the country.
During his visit, Dr. Ruiz was received by delegates from the headquarters of the Ibero-American University Foundation (FUNIBER) and UNEATLANTICO in Colombia. The work agenda included meetings with public and private sector universities specialising in different areas of knowledge, with the aim of reaching agreements, considering the concurrence of their objectives to work on future projects. This initiative seeks to promote the university mobility programmes and the double degree offered by FUNIBER and UNEATLANTICO.
The first meeting took place at the Bogotá headquarters of the Universidad de San Buenaventura (USB), a university centre with a strong Catholic and Franciscan tradition. Dr. Ruiz and Nancy Ceballos, delegate of UNEATLANTICO in Colombia, were received by Olga Lucía Toro Campos, director of the Office of Inter-institutional Relations. In the following days they visited the Cali campus, where a framework collaboration agreement was signed to promote mobility programmes. Olga Lucía Saavedra Villegas, director of International and Inter-institutional Relations, and Fray Jorge Luis Valdés Barragán, O.F.M., vice-rector for the Evangelisation of Cultures, were present at the signing of the agreement. The university, from its various locations, has expressed the organisation’s desire to strengthen the ties of collaboration.
The delegation then travelled to the University of Applied and Environmental Sciences (UDCA), recognised for its commitment to sustainability and the environment. Alejandra Zapata, Mobility Coordinator, took part.
Dr. Ruiz met with the rector of the Universidad Militar Nueva Granada, Major General (R) Javier Alberto Ayala Amaya Ph.D., and Mónica Flórez Cáceres, director of International Relations at the same institution. He also held meetings with Jorge Iván Sánchez Beltrán, director of International Relations at the ICESI University, a higher education centre specialising in business, and with Jorge Antonio Silva Leal and José Valencia, who hold the positions of academic vice-rector and marketing coordinator, respectively, at the University of Santiago de Cali. The day ended with the signing of an agreement with the Fundación Universitaria Católica del Norte (UCN) at the Medellín campus.
On the last day of his stay in Colombia, Dr. Ruiz returned to the USB, this time to the Medellin campus, to participate in the fifth edition of the Panamerican Pre-University Debate League. Colegio Campestre la Colina of Medellín was crowned champion and Colegio Aspaen Alcázares of Medellín as runner-up in the National League.
The visit of Dr. Roberto Ruiz Salces to FUNIBER and his tour of different Colombian universities strengthened academic alliances in the region. The meetings opened the doors to future inter-institutional collaboration agreements that favour the students of the region, facilitating student mobility and promoting international cooperation. FUNIBER and UNEATLANTICO reaffirm their commitment to the integral development of young people, transcending borders and promoting cultural and academic exchange.