Staying true to the vision of its founder, the late Professor Franco Rizzi — who envisioned a “University without walls” — UNIMED is reaching beyond the Mediterranean and building bridges with Sub-Saharan Africa.
This year’s edition of the UNIMED Week closed with a focus on the collaboration with Sub-Saharan Africa Universities. The final session shone a spotlight on new and growing initiatives that aim to connect African and European institutions through collaborative projects rooted in internationalisation, sustainable development, and innovation.
While Mauritania remains the only Sub-Saharan country officially represented among UNIMED’s members, UNIMED is working also with other countries such as Niger, Kenya, Botswana, Ethiopia, Cape Verde and Sao Tomé and Principé and is eager to further develop collaborations with other universities from the region.
Starting with the GOOD MAUR-NIG project, launched in 2024 with Mauritanian and Nigerien universities, UNIMED commitment to Africa is today represented by two recently launched projects, namely CVEinAI and CULTIVAR. Here below you will find information regarding each project.
GOOD MAUR-NIG: Strengthening Internationalization of Higher Education
The GOOD MAUR-NIG – Optimized Management of the Internationalization Development Organization in MAURITANIA and NIGER gathers 8 partners of the European Union and the Sub-Saharan Africa with the aim of optimizing the internationalization strategies of 5 universities in Mauritania and Niger by strengthening the skills of their administrative and academic staff, implementing international activities and positioning themselves in relation to existing opportunities.
Discover more here.
CVEinAI: Building Critical Thinking Around Artificial Intelligence
As Artificial Intelligence reshapes every sector of society, universities must prepare their students and staff to critically engage with its ethical and societal implications. The recently launched CVEinAI – Critical Virtual Exchange in Artificial Intelligence project responds to this call by applying the Critical Virtual Exchange (CVE) methodology to foster intercultural and interdisciplinary collaboration between European and Sub-Saharan African higher education institutions.
Thanks to a consortium of 8 full partners, coming from Europe, Botswana, Ethiopia and Kenya and 13 associated partners from across Europe and Africa as well, CVEinAI will engage 2.400 students and 50 educators.
Discover more here.
CULTIVAR: Leveraging Cultural Heritage for Sustainable Development
In Cape Verde and São Tomé and Principé, the project CULTIVAR – Promoting sustainable development in tropical islands: strengthening capacities for enhancing cultural heritage, traditional know-how, and local food production supports the power of cultural heritage and traditional knowledge to promote sustainable tourism and local food. As Small Island Developing States (SIDS), both countries face unique vulnerabilities to climate change and development challenges. CULTIVAR addresses these issues by creating an interdisciplinary higher education ecosystem rooted in the principles of Education for Sustainability.
Discover more here.
