BM 68 – Supporting the construction of the Eurolatinoamerican Knowledge Area
After 27 years of the Erasmus Programme with nearly 3.000.000 students engaged in mobility programmes among the countries of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), the European countries must look to expand their horizons regarding their internationalization strategy.
The European Students’ Union sees with hope and optimism the construction of the Eurolatinoamerican Knowledge Area of Higher Education that will bring together the European countries with the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean around the subject of Higher Education, Science, Technology and Innovation, based on the principles of equality, social commitment and
cooperation between nations.
The constitution of this framework of cooperation is the key to continue to uphold the principles that brought together the countries within the EHEA and to create a tool to promote the European culture and the enhancement of our society.
Furthermore, the constitution of this area will enable the establishment of strong and continuous ties of this two internationalization frameworks, promoting the development and improvement of them both. This will enable not only the development of HE systems in the participant countries but the development of the social progress necessary to withstand the future challenges that lay ahead of us.
Sixteen years have passed since the inception of this idea during the Summit of Heads of State of the European Union and Latin America and the Caribbean, which took place in Rio de Janeiro in 1999 and the subsequent 6 summits that took place in Madrid (2002), Guadalajara (2004), Vienna (2006), Lima (2008), Madrid (2010) and Santiago of Chile (2013). This constant work states the willingness and the
effort of the governments involved in this shared process. ESU, as the representative of Higher Education Students in Europe shows its hope in this process and urges the institutions involved to expediting it in order to establish this framework of cooperation
among nations.
The work conducted in the development of the EHEA can set an important initiative and serve as a good practice to develop this new framework that is why the academic cooperation among countries is necessary to create a comparable, compatible and comprehensible structure between the Higher Education systems of Europe and Latin America and the Caribbean. Furthermore, for all of this to be possible we urge our governments to improve training and transparency systems in the areas of curricular structure, recognition, Equality on access and social dimension.
For all of the reasons mentioned above, ESU believes that the Higher Education students of the Europe, and Latin America and the Caribbean, must assume the task to encourage the creation of this project and work in the strengthening of ties between student movements of our regions. It is of the upmost importance for the students’ voices to be heard in this process in order to ensure that our
principles and our rights are preserved since the early stages of the process.
