Universidad y Cooperación al Desarrollo (original) (raw)
Related papers
Universidad y Cooperación Al Desarrollo Universities and Development Cooperation
2016
When it comes to human development, justice, and sustainability, universities should play a driving role, given their specific assigned task of providing specialist education and conducting research. They should also educate and promote the values of solidarity and commitment towards a more egalitarian and just society. This involves making a firm commitment to social change, which many Spanish universities have done by cooperating to foster the development of more impoverished countries. To this end, they have developed structures through which they can undertake different actions. The research presented in this paper was conducted as a direct result of the authors’ interest in finding out more about the specific actions carried out by Andalusian universities. The research conducted was qualitative, using in-depth semi-structured interviews with key informants (development cooperation officers and senior policy-makers within each institution) from Andalusia’s ten public universitie...
Universities and Development Cooperation
When it comes to human development, justice, and sustainability, universities should play a driving role, given their specific assigned task of providing specialist education and conducting research. They should also educate and promote the values of solidarity and commitment towards a more egalitarian and just society. This involves making a firm commitment to social change, which many Spanish universities have done by cooperating to foster the development of more impoverished countries. To this end, they have developed structures through which they can undertake different actions. The research presented in this paper was conducted as a direct result of the authors' interest in finding out more about the specific actions carried out by Andalusian universities. The research conducted was qualitative, using in-depth semi-structured interviews with key informants (development cooperation officers and senior policy-makers within each institution) from Andalusia's ten public universities. All universities incorporate an area for development cooperation within their organisational structures, and they have staffing and funding for the organisation and development of actions, although the panorama is diverse and heterogeneous. The actions carried out encompass academic training and education, research, promotion and awareness, university volunteering schemes, and cooperation out in the field. RESUMEN: Desde la perspectiva del desarrollo humano, la equidad y la sostenibilidad, las universidades deben tener un especial protagonismo porque les corresponde la tarea específica de la formación especializada y la investigación, pero a su vez, deben educar en la promoción de valores solidarios y de compromiso hacia una sociedad más igualitaria y justa. Esto supone asumir un compromiso firme con el cambio social que muchas universidades españolas han adquirido a través de la cooperación al desarrollo con los países más empobrecidos. Para ello, se han ido dotando de estructuras desde las cuales se llevan a cabo diferentes acciones. El interés por conocer las acciones concretas que ponen en marcha las universidades públicas andaluzas, fue lo que condujo a la realización de la investigación cuyos resultados se presentan en ese artículo. El enfoque del trabajo ha sido de corte cualitativo, aplicando la técnica de entrevista semiestructurada en profundidad a informantes claves (técnicos de cooperación al desarrollo y responsables políticos) de las diez universidades públicas andaluzas. Todas las universidades contemplan la cooperación al desarrollo dentro de sus estructuras organizativas y cuentan con personal y financiación para la organización y desarrollo de sus acciones, aunque el panorama es diverso y heterogéneo. Las acciones que se desarrollan se aglutinan en torno a la formación académica, investigación, promoción y sensibilización, voluntariado universitario y cooperación sobre el terreno.
The first documents of the Spanish Development Cooperation system described Development Education as "a set of actions that public authorities perform, directly or in collaboration with NGOs and others in ODA, in order to promote activities that aim to improve society's perception of the problems facing developing countries, and help to encourage solidarity and cooperation with them". Emitted in 2007, the "Development Education Strategy for Spanish Cooperation" took that definition of Development Education even further, referring to it as a set of actions in "an ongoing educational process". According to this, the strategy considers the University to be a main agent in Development Education, not just in the traditional fields of research and postgraduate education, but in the whole process of training students in values, knowledge, skills and mentality. To accompany students in this educational process, Spanish universities have set up different kinds of structures (associations, foundations, etc.) linked to the University. These are what the authors of this article refer to as "structures of solidarity". In the last ten years, over 90 structures of solidarity have emerged within the 72 Spanish universities. The aim of this paper is to provide an initial description of their salient features.
Journal of the World Universities Forum, 2013
The first documents of the Spanish Development Cooperation system described Development Education as “a set of actions that public authorities perform, directly or in collaboration with NGOs and others in ODA, in order to promote activities that aim to improve society’s perception of the problems facing developing countries, and help to encourage solidarity and cooperation with them”. Emitted in 2007, the “Development Education Strategy for Spanish Cooperation” took that definition of Development Education even further, referring to it as a set of actions in “an ongoing educational process”. According to this, the strategy considers the University to be a main agent in Development Education, not just in the traditional fields of research and postgraduate education, but in the whole process of training students in values, knowledge, skills and mentality. To accompany students in this educational process, Spanish universities have set up different kinds of structures (associations, foundations, etc.) linked to the University. These are what the authors of this article refer to as “structures of solidarity”. In the last ten years, over 90 structures of solidarity have emerged within the 72 Spanish universities. The aim of this paper is to provide an initial description of their salient features.
Universities, NGOs, and civil society sustainability: preliminary lessons from Ecuador
El entorno que actualmente enfrentan las ONG en el Sur —discurso deslegitimado, políticas restrictivas y disminución del financiamiento internacional— ha provocado serias inquietudes respecto a la sostenibilidad de la sociedad civil organizada. Por esta razón, las ONG están analizando métodos innovadores que contribuyan al desarrollo social. El presente artículo examina desde dos perspectivas las colaboraciones que, en el caso de Ecuador, y a fin de aportar a las investigaciones sobre desarrollo, se han establecido entre universidades y ONG. Así, analiza en primer lugar el papel desempeñado por las universidades del Sur y las colaboraciones que realizan con las ONG. En segundo término, enmarca tales colaboraciones en el contexto de las inquietudes existentes en torno a la sostenibilidad de la sociedad civil. El artículo concluye presentando los aprendizajes adquiridos por las ONG ecuatorianas.
The Role of the Public University of Navarre in Achieving the 1st SDG for the End of Poverty
Sustainability
The end of poverty is the first of the 17 sustainable development goals of the United Nations. Universities are strategic spaces for promoting the SDGs, from training, research, and outreach capacity to implementing sustainable actions, helping to reduce inequalities and, significantly, promoting sustainable cities and communities. This article aims to answer how the Public University of Navarre contributes to promoting the 1st SDG, what mechanisms for the end of poverty endorses in its territory, and what can we learn from these experiences. To this end, a case study has been carried out based on qualitative techniques. This work analyzes the strategies implemented, such as incorporating social clauses for responsible recruiting, the development of applied research and teaching or network participation. From this example, some engaging lessons will be extracted to address this issue in other contexts, promoting their consolidation and identifying the obstacles that may hinder their...
University vinculación: A two-way strategy for sustainable development and academic relevance
Gateways: International Journal of Community Research and Engagement
The public university of the twenty-first century is faced with numerous pressing issues, but none greater than the need to promote social transformation through sustainable development. The authors of this article understand sustainable development as that which brings us closer to a comprehensive social order in which humanity has the challenge of viewing reality in all its complexity, but acting simply in order to solve the socio-environmental problems we suffer. In this article, we ask the following questions: What is the university’s role within complex social structures? How can it produce a vinculación, or two-way interaction, between university and the wider environment that contributes towards sustainable development? Put most simply, where does the university fit in? This article discusses the project of the Universidad Veracruzana: that is, the establishment of a university-wide vinculación or strategic process for attending to society’s needs and problems, via the delibe...
Sustainability, 2021
Universities are central organisations that can act as promoters and amplifiers of regional just transitions. In this paper, we analyse how a Colombian regional university, the University of Ibagué (UI), is playing this role through two initiatives: (1) a governance experiment piloted between 2018 and 2019 that constructed an aspirational vision for this university through the definition of eight human capabilities; (2) a formal curriculum regional programme named Peace and Region (P&R) established in 2010 as a service-learning strategy for undergraduates in their final year. To analyse the contribution of these two initiatives towards a just transition, we built a specific analytical framework based on the human development and capability approach and Regional Transition Pathways to Sustainability (RTPS). Exploring both the content and the process of building the list and perceptions of the different actors involved in the P&R programme, we found that both initiatives have a strong directionality that resonates with the normative ambition of a just transition. Moreover, in both processes, people involved have expanded human capabilities, and co-produced holistic and transdisciplinary knowledge through the interaction of academic and nonacademic actors. From an RTPS perspective, the programme captures regional complexity and moulds micro-dynamics to socially fair and sustainable paths.
University – society linkage projects: 20 years working with the underprivileged sectors in Ecuador
Bonding the university with the society is a widely discussed topic in international literature. However, the university social responsibility in relation with the underprivileged sectors has not been amply investigated. This current research makes an analysis of the university-society linkage with the underprivileged sectors in Ecuador. This research was carried out through a case study at the Politecnica Salesiana University of Ecuador, which has more than 20 years of experience in making linking projects with deprived and disadvantage sectors. The methodology used for the analysis of these projects has been taken from the " Working with People " model, which is suitable enough for the planning of high social complexity development projects. The results show the suitability of the WWP model for the university-society linkage projects, and they also outstand the contribution of the UPS (Politecnica Salesiana University) to the development of deprived sectors from three dimensions, which are the economic, technical, political – contextual, and social – ethical.
Universities' Contributions to Sustainable Development's Social Challenge
International Journal of Social Ecology and Sustainable Development, 2017
There is an increasing recognition that dealing with sustainable development need to address the social structures that encourage unsustainable economic and environmental practices. Universities represent important sources of knowledge for addressing sustainable development, but there has been relatively limited consideration of their contributions to these social elements. Drawing on recent interest in social innovation as to conceptualise social change and community development, this paper aims to understand universities' involvement in the process of social innovation, for the particular case of a Brazilian higher education institution. By exploring how universities can contribute to the different stages of the social innovation process, it highlights the capacities that universities have to address the social sustainable development challenge. The paper identifies five characteristics of universities contributions to social innovation and sets out an agenda for future resear...