Just over 120 kilometers separate the Universities of Algarve and Huelva, but the two academies want to be even closer. Rectory teams and professors from both were gathered, this Monday, March 11, at the Gambelas Campus, and discussed possibilities of collaboration to gain «more presence in Europe and in the World».
Sharing good practices, creating synergies in the offer of academic titles or promoting mobility between the two academies were some of the topics on the table.
In statements to the Sul Informação, Paulo Águas, dean of the University of Algarve, said that “this meeting should have taken place many years ago. It is an important milestone in the life of the University of Algarve. With this meeting, we shortened distances to the university that is closest to ours».
About the projects that can come out of this approach, Paulo Águas highlighted that «this is a path that we are still taking. We can and will have more mobility, greater relationships between our professors and researchers. The closest and also the most promising areas were also identified and which meet the responses to society's challenges. That's where we'll go, in terms of research and mobility».
Paulo Águas also pointed out that “we are the two most southwestern universities in Europe. That's why we are the closest to Africa and also on the other side of the Atlantic. I think there is the possibility of developing projects so that we can be more attractive and competitive for the South American market».
For her part, Maria Antonia Peña, rector of the University of Huelva, highlighted a “very cordial, important and intense journey. We sought to find possibilities to promote better collaboration on issues that are of concern to all universities today, not only in Portugal and Spain, but throughout Europe. We will seek to create synergies in the offer of titles, improve internationalization policies and look for good experiences, in the pursuit of quality».
For the head of the onubense academy, this collaboration with the University of Algarve makes perfect sense, because «we have two fundamental advantages: one is proximity. We amicably share this frontier space, which is a privilege that not all universities have. The second advantage is that we have different languages, but we understand each other effortlessly. Furthermore, we are very similar universities in terms of structure, dimension, problems and difficulties that we have in terms of finances. This helps a lot. It would be much more difficult for a small or peripheral university like Huelva to relate to the university “monsters” of the world. We are doing it with a nearby university, with which we can get along, which will have the same concerns and opportunities as us».
The main obstacle for the intentions to be put into practice is the legal framework. «The legal frameworks are not identical for the University of Algarve and the University of Huelva. However, with the will we saw today, this will be surpassed and we will have more presence of the University of Huelva at the University of Algarve and more presence of the University of Algarve at the University of Huelva», guaranteed Paulo Águas to Sul Informação.
After this first meeting, in Faro, “an agenda has been defined and there are a number of areas of cooperation and development that have been identified. Now, a second meeting is planned in Huelva, later this year. Until then, the teams [composed of heads of the two academies], who started the work here, will be in contact and, certainly, at the end of the year, in the fourth quarter, in this new meeting in Huelva, results will already appear».
Although this broader collaboration is just beginning, the Universities of Algarve and Huelva are already walking “hand in hand” in a common project that was essential in bringing the two academies closer together, according to Paulo Águas.
The two academies are part of the “Sustainability Horizon Alliance”, a consortium that also includes the universities of Timisoara (Romania), Tromso (Norway) and Lahti (Finland), and which, according to Alexandra Teodósio, vice-rector of the University of Algarve, “It aims to create horizons of sustainability, whether environmental, social or economic, to be developed through joint degrees. We want to propose a European degree, fully recognized among the universities in the consortium, so that barriers are reduced, at the level of recognition in each country».
Here, «the University of Huelva and the Algarve were the first to unite and propose an alliance to the others», concluded the official.
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