The professor of the European University of the Atlantic (UNEATLANTICO) and director of Institutional Relations and the FUNIBER Chair of Ibero-American Studies and Iberophony, Dr. F. Álvaro Durántez Prados, has traveled to Equatorial Guinea to articulate collaborative relationships with the main educational, university and cultural institutions of the country.
The presence of UNEATLANTICO and FUNIBER in Equatorial Guinea is framed in the context of its mission in the Ibero-speaking countries of Africa, in the general scope of the Pan-Iberian Space or Iberophony integrated by the group of Spanish and Portuguese-speaking nations of all continents. FUNIBER contributes to the articulation of this multinational space by promoting educational, university, cultural and scientific-technical cooperation.
During the first half of April, FUNIBER has developed an intense institutional agenda in Equatorial Guinea that has led F. Álvaro Durántez to meet with the authorities of the Ministry of Education, Science, University and Professional Education: the Minister Delegate, Ms. Purificación Bohari Lasaquero; the Secretary of State and in charge of Regulated Education, Ms. Constancia Mangue Obiang Lima, and the General Director, Mr. Pergentino Esangui Ondo.
The UNEATLANTICO representative also held working meetings with the Rector of the National University of Equatorial Guinea (UNGE), Dr. Filiberto Ntutumu Nguema Nchama, and with the Rector of the Afro-American University of Central Africa (AAUCA), Dr. Paulo Speller. A Letter of Intent has been signed with UNGE, laying the foundations for cooperation in the training of teaching staff; and with the Afro-American University of Central Africa, a specific agreement has been concluded that deepens the agreement reached with this institution in November 2023 in the city of Barcelona, Spain.
In the educational and cultural field, Dr. Durántez also met with the president of the Equatoguinean Academy of the Spanish Language (AEGLE), Mr. Agustín Nze Nfumu, and with the president of the International Postgraduate Center of Equatorial Guinea “Verónica Eyang”, based in Bata, Dr. Fernando Ignacio Ondo Ndjeng. With both institutions, a forthcoming agreement is foreseen to facilitate the training of teaching staff for master’s and doctoral degrees, with particular sensitivity towards the qualification of Equatoguinean teachers of Spanish as a foreign language, who in the future will be able to develop their educational and professional work in the different countries of the African continent where the Spanish language is especially in demand.
The UNEATLANTICO teacher also met with the General Director of Culture, Mr. Miguel Mbá, and other Equatoguinean authorities. He also visited the Spanish School of Malabo with its Director of Studies, Ms. Auxiliadora López Jiménez, who is also the director and representative of the National University of Distance Education (UNED, Spain) in Equatorial Guinea.
Likewise, in the institutional and diplomatic sphere, the representative of UNEATLANTICO held meetings with the Spanish Ambassador in Equatorial Guinea, Mr. Javier Conde Martínez de Irujo, and with the Ambassador of Equatorial Guinea in Spain, Mr. Miguel Edjang Angué.
In addition to the strictly institutional activity, Durántez Prados gave three lectures on “Cooperation between Spanish and Portuguese-speaking countries. The position of Equatorial Guinea in this framework”, respectively, at the Cultural Center of Spain in Malabo, at the Cultural Center of Spain in Bata and at the Afro-American University of Central Africa, located in the district of Oyala, in the center of the Continental Region.
For Dr. Durántez Durántez the presence of FUNIBER and UNEATLANTICO in Equatorial Guinea “is strategic, not only because it obeys our founding goals in the sense of bringing higher education to Spanish-speaking and Portuguese-speaking societies, considering the socioeconomic reality of each country and each person, but also because Equatorial Guinea is the only African country with an official Spanish language, the only non-American or European country that is a full member of official Ibero-American organizations, the only de facto non-Lusophone state that is a full member of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP), and, therefore, the only Spanish-speaking nation that belongs simultaneously to the Ibero-American System and the CPLP”.
In this context,” said the director of the FUNIBER Chair of Ibero-American Studies and Iberophony, ”Equatorial Guinea is a very important country for the articulation of the Iberophone multinational Space; and FUNIBER, as the first university and educational platform of the Pan-Iberian Space, feels the vocation to contribute to the formation of the new Equatoguinean generations.