Erasmus+ project granted

EDO-UAB group has got funding to develop ORACLE project “Observatorio Regional para la Calidad y la Equidad de la Educación Superior en Latinoamérica” (Regional Observatory for Quality and Equity in Higher Education in Latin America) in the framework of Erasmus + Capacity Building call from the European Union. The project is based on the premise that it is impossible to achieve high levels of quality without considering equity. That’s why the project takes as a starting point the results of 4 previous research studies funded by ALFA III program where EDO participated as a partner. Specifically, the projects mentioned are:

- ACCEDES “Access and success of vulnerable groups in risk surroundings in Latin America”” – http://edo.uab.cat/accedes
- EQUALITY “Strengthening female leadership in Latin-American HEI and society” - http://www.equality-network.net/
- ALFAGUIA – “Comprehensive university management of desertion” - http://www.alfaguia.org/
- MISEAL – “Actions for social inclusion and equity in higher education institutions in Latin-America” - http://www.miseal.net/

Through this project, it is intended to create a Regional Observatory for Quality and Equity of Higher Education in Latin America. In order to do that, the project binds 35 universities together which belong to 15 different countries from Latin America (Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Uruguay, Venezuela) and 5 European countries (Austria, Denmark, Spain, Italy and Portugal).

In order to make this work, beforehand, in each of the 30 Latin-American universities, a Unit of Quality and Equity will be created, which will be addressed to propose and design actions, policies and strategies to assure equity in institutions. These institutional units will work as a network and will be the germ of ORACLE. Creating new structures will boost the Organizational development of higher education institutions of each Region.  

There are eight vulnerable groups included in the Observatory: indigenous people, women, handicapped people, non-usual students, people in low stages of IDH, immigrant people, ethnical minorities and rural citizens. ORACLE aspires to offer a comprehensive service, and unlike other initiatives, it won’t be exclusively about students’ academic promotion, but it will work with vulnerable people from different stratums (teachers, students, staff) and in its different institutional roles: teaching, research and management.

The project will be developed during 2017, 2018 and 2019, with a general budget of 94.190,00€, thus, being the first project of this call that will be coordinated by UAB.