The University of Havana is participating in two of the winning projects.
Six joint projects between Cuban and U.S. universities came out the winners in the grants competition of the 100,000 Strong in the Americas Innovation Fund, it was announced last Wednesday.
The grants, sponsored by the NAFSA Association of International Educators and the CAF Development Bank of Latin America, amount to 25,000 dollars per project and seek to develop innovative exchange programs between U.S. and Latin American and Caribbean university students allowing them to work as team members, acquire technical skills and raise their professional competence.
This time 14 projects were benefitted, also involving educational centers from Bahamas, Guatemala, Haiti and Costa Rica, among other countries. They offer training opportunities in specialties like food security, education, the environment, means of communication, technology and tourism.
Some of the projects in which Cuban institutions participate include the one that links the Enrique José Varona University of Pedagogic Sciences of Havana with the College of Staten Island, of New York. It will focus on the history of the Cuban educational system and in it students will be able to see firsthand the pedagogic techniques used in the island’s primary and secondary schools.
A second project involves the José Martí Pérez University of Sancti Spíritus and the Ignacio Agramonte Loynaz University of Camagüey with the Lehman College of New York, and seeks to explore new pedagogic focuses in English as a second language, as well as in language, mathematics and health sciences. The courses will include short-term experiences in Cuba with the aim of transforming the way in which the global commitment is perceived in the New York campus.
Meanwhile, the University of Havana and the National School of Public Health are sharing experiences with Michigan State University and three associated centers: Marian University, Meharry Medical College, and Western Michigan College. This project aims to integrate students from the medical specialties to form interdisciplinary collaboration work teams in healthcare and to take into account the social and cultural problems.
In addition, the University of Cienfuegos and the University of Central Florida are working together in a program that will give their students the opportunity of working in a six-week summer session, during which they can acquire practical experience in the production of bilingual multimedia and receive other contents related to the island’s means of communication.
University of Central Florida. Photo: www.facebook.com / UCF.
Another project links the University of Connecticut with the Institute of Animal Science, the Havana Agrarian University, the National Institute of Agricultural Sciences and the National Center of Agricultural and Livestock Health of Cuba. Field studies will be carried out on economic, environmental and social issues that have an impact on agricultural production and food security in the United States and Cuba.
Finally, the University of Havana and the Center for Martí Studies have partnered with the University of Massachusetts in a project focused on the island’s public health system and the health challenges in the United States. This project will bring about the integration of non-traditional specialties and study areas, including engineering and nursing, and will have a compulsory Spanish course for the U.S. participants.
The 100.000 Strong in the Americas Innovation Fund is considered the leading educational initiative in the western hemisphere. Its objective is that 100,000 Americans study in Latin America and the Caribbean in 2020, while the same number of young people from the region do so in the United States.
Esther D. Brimmer, Executive Director and CEO of NAFSA, said they fully trusted that these programs will help students acquire the global skills they need to cross borders and become globally committed leaders.
With 10,000 members throughout the world, NAFSA is the largest non-profit professional association devoted to international education programs and policies. Founded in 1948, its main headquarter is in Washington DC.
Academic collaboration between Cuban and U.S. institutions has continued despite the U.S. blockade on the island. After the reestablishment of relations between the two countries, the education exchanges and visits by U.S. students have increased thanks to the relaxing of the travel to Cuba regulations implemented by Obama, now threatened by the new administration in the United States.
