EL-GATE: A MULTIMODAL TRAINING EXPERIENCE LIVED BY LATIN-AMERICAN UNIVERSITY MANAGERS

EL-Gate aims at strengthening the management and governance of Latin American Universities in identifying and implementing cooperation activities. Specifically, it strives to improve the capacities of International Department managers of Latin American Universities to design and implement a more effective and efficient university cooperation model, recognized and formalized into the university organization chart, integrated into the university development strategic lines, and able to find and to put resources in action (human, technologic and financial) to run cooperation activities.
The project rationale for focusing on capacity building of university international departments is the recognition that universities play a key role in the knowledge-based economy, considering they are situated at the crossroads of research, education and innovation. In fact, alongside their mission to produce and transmit knowledge through research and teaching activities, universities are called to open up more to industry, to lifelong learning and labor market needs, in addition to regional development strategies, in order to contribute to economic competitiveness and social cohesion. It is within this context that some European universities are adapting new models of integration in local systems and cooperation at a global level, acting as a gate between local and international dimensions, linking local actors to the knowledge produced by the world community of teachers and researchers. The present paper aims to provide a brief background of the state of EU-Latin American relations, followed by a description of EL-Gate methodology, findings from the first phase of the project’s first year, and their implications for the upcoming course.