SLE University cooperation with Colombia, Mexico and Peru

Background

The present DAAD financed project between SLE and three partner universities in Colombia, Peru and Mexico aims to improve the role and significance of Latin-American universities in contributing to regional and local development strategies through applied research that is commissioned by decision makers from governmental, non-governmental or private sector institutions. The main objective is to establish “action and decision-oriented research” (ADR) in the organizational structures of the partner universities. ADR has been developed by SLE and is used to prepare and conduct SLE overseas projects. The present proposal is designed as a follow-up project and is based on the positive achievements of the 2014-2017 DAAD cooperation between SLE and Universidad Autónoma de Manizales (UAM) in Colombia.

Objectives

• Consolidation of ADR within the UAM and other universities in the coffee region of Colombia
• South-South cooperation and knowledge transfer of ADR to new partner universities in Mexico and Peru.
• Creation of an international community of practice in ADR and its application and further development, including the experiences of other SLE-partner universities in Mozambique and Brazil.

Partner Universities

• In Colombia: Universidad Autónoma de Manizales (UAM)
• In Peru: Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos (UNMSM)
• In Mexico: Universidad Autónoma de Nayarit (UAN)

Activities

• Formation of ADR steering committees in all involved partner universities
• Capacity building and training in ADR (using the recently published ADR handbook in Spanish)
• Sustainable establishment of ADR within the management structures of the partner universities
• Acquisition, preparation and implementation of ADR studies in the partner countries
• Introduction of ADR to decision makers on local and national level
• Development of a web-based learning and dialogue platform to further improve and disseminate ADR in Latin America
• Conduction of ADR conferences to exchange experiences and present concrete results of ADR studies

Project coordination: Gesa Grundmann
Supervision: Dr. Karin Fiege