The Spanish educational institutions accompanied Felipe VI and Lady Letizia during their visit to Angola and presented the Universidade Internacional do Cuanza, sponsored in the African country by the European University of the Atlantic and FUNIBER.
A large representation of the European University of the Atlantic of Santander (UNEATLANTICO), headed by Rector Ruben Calderon, offered several activities included in the official agenda, wherein the monarchs experienced first-hand the broad university, social, cultural and health care work that the Spanish institution is developing in the African country.
Last Tuesday, UNEATLANTICO received Felipe VI and Lady Letizia at the Economic Bank of Luanda, capital of Angola, where a presentation of the Universidade Internacional do Cuanza (UNIC), an Angolan entity sponsored by the Santander university, together with the Iberoamerican University Foundation (FUNIBER), was screened. During the broadcast, the King and Queen of Spain were briefed on the university center inaugurated by Spanish efforts in 2021 in the city of Cuito, head of the province of Bié in the center of the country, and built on a former minefield of the Angolan civil war. The event was conducted by F. Álvaro Durántez Prados, professor at UNEATLANTICO and former advisor to the House of the King of Spain.
The monarchs learned, among other things, how nearly 2,500 students from all the provinces of Angola already enjoy a university education that meets the same quality standards as those of Spain, taught by Angolan and Ibero-American professors. UNIC currently offers ten bachelor’s degrees in various fields of engineering, nursing, law, administration and management, journalism and psychology. Already two years old, the Spanish-Angolan university is designed to accommodate more than 8,000 students and will gradually introduce some twenty degree programs. Furthermore, all students study in Portuguese, Spanish, and English, while those who complete their studies in Santander can obtain a double official Spanish and Angolan degree. In this way, UNEATLANTICO, FUNIBER and UNIC have established an academic bridge of academic excellence between Africa, Europe, and Latin America.
This outstanding work in Angola also represents the crown jewel of a broad educational, social and cultural joint action of UNEATLANTICO and FUNIBER in Africa, extending, to varying degrees, to other countries in the southern continent, including Morocco, Mozambique, Equatorial Guinea, Senegal, Mali, Cape Verde, Gabon, and Cameroon. FUNIBER’s educational scholarships stand out in this task, as each year, these scholarships provide access to higher education to tens of thousands of people from all over the world, many of them from Africa, in a formidable global effort to democratize university education.
Photographs courtesy of the Spanish House of His Majesty the King of Spain.