Abstract:

This paper develops the authors’ experiences (from Almería, Spain), that have been involved in the task of cooperating in the further development of education (research and teaching) on Mycology and Plant Pathology of arid zones in southern Mediterranean. The authors are active in the province of Almeria, which belongs to the arid areas of Spain, and also has the largest desert in Europe. Thus, previous experience in research and teaching tasks, physical presence, b-learning and e-learning, and dissemination workshops and other activities in the province of Almeria, are used for the successful development of this international cooperative action. To this end, they are participating in a multiyear project under the inter-university cooperation program (PCI) of 2010 of the Spanish Agency for Development Cooperation (AECID), Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation (MAEC), where develops C/030908/10 preparatory action titled "Collaborative Research and Teaching about Mycology and Plant Pathology in Dry Areas." This paper and presentation describes the factors affecting the preparatory phase of this collaboration between a European university (University of Almeria, Spain) and one of the Maghreb (University of Mouaskar, Algeria): previous contacts, linguistic matters, created expectations, initial problems, current situation studies, planned fortifications, etc. to the interest of other cooperation in educational and scientific subjects.

Keywords:

Arid zones, dry areas, education, International Cooperation, Maghreb, Mycology, Plant Pathology, research, science, Euro-Mediterranean, Europe.