Background

 

In the last decades, Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) region has undergone a deep social transformation process, which has brought forward an overall reduction of poverty and an expansion of the middle classes. As a result, the importance of higher education has grown significantly in the region. Several Latin American countries are dedicating important resources to the quality improvement and internationalization of their higher education systems. These processes offer considerable possibilities for increasing mutually beneficial collaboration between Latin American and the Caribbean and the Nordic countries.

Although various forms of mostly bilateral academic exchanges (teacher and student mobility, capacity building projects, research collaboration and education export initiatives) already exist, a lot of the collaboration potential remains untapped. There seems to be boundless interest from the Latin American higher education institutions to work together with Nordic counterparts, but for an individual Nordic country with limited resources it is difficult to fully take advantage of these possibilities. As a region we would be better equipped to respond to the demand. Advancing our countries’ interests together through joint Nordic efforts could bring many benefits: further internationalization of our universities, institutes and research centers; new strategic partnerships for developing joint projects and programs; pooling of resources and access European and international funds; enhanced influence on bi-regional science policy dialogues; new job markets for our graduate students; as well as better visibility as a region and as a study destination for both exchange and degree students from the LAC region. At the same time, it is an opportunity to contribute to the global education agenda (Education 2030), one of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

In order to address these issues together, European Institute of International Studies (EIIS) in cooperation with the Government Offices of Sweden, the FinCEAL project (Developing Finnish Science, Technology and Innovation Cooperation between Europe and the LAC Region) and supported by Ministry of Education and Culture of Finland, Embassy of Peru and Embassy of Colombia are organizing MEETING OF NORDIC STAKEHOLDERS in Stockholm on June 2-3, 2016.

 

The aims of the meeting are to

 

  • Share information on each Nordic country’s current state of higher education and scientific cooperation and future priorities
  • Discuss the challenges, best practices and potential synergies in collaborating with Latin American institutions
  • Map areas in which Nordic cooperation could be strengthened, and envision concrete ways to move forward
  • Increase awareness of the EU-CELAC Academic Summit and the EU-CELAC Joint Initiative for Research and Innovation (JIRI) as potential platforms for Nordic-Latin American cooperation
  • Agree and adopt joint proposals between the Nordic countries for the next Preparatory Seminar of the 3rd EU-CELAC Academic Summit (2017) to be held in Stockholm, 6 and 7 October 2016.

 

Target group

 

We warmly invite representatives of public authorities, funding agencies and academia dealing with Latin American and Caribbean cooperation from all the Nordic countries to participate in the meeting.

Registration

 

Deadline registration: 25 May 2016.

Preliminary Program. here

Registration Form. here

Practical Information. here

 

The registration will be via web site of the European Institute of International Studies.

Each participant is responsible for their own travel arrangements and related costs. As the number of participants is limited, we encourage everyone to register as early as possible, at the latest by May 13th by filling in the registration form at: www.ieeiweb.eu
For information on registration in the Meeting of Nordic Stakeholders, please contact: nordicmeeting@ieeiweb.eu

For information on the aims of the meeting and institutional collaboration, please contact:  Professor Dra. Mar Duque, Director of International Relations of the EIIS, to the following e-mail address: marduque@ieeiweb.eu