A delegation from the Canary Islands government recently visited the Moroccan region of Souss-Massa, whose capital is Agadir, to strengthen mutual cooperation. The two public universities in the Canary Islands, led by their rectors, were part of this institutional representation and took the opportunity to sign several agreements with Ibn Zohr University.
In the case of the University of La Laguna, Rector Francisco J. García Rodríguez signed a framework agreement with his Moroccan counterpart, Nabil Hmina, outlining the commitment to collaboration between both institutions and the general conditions that will govern any future projects. The signing took place at the headquarters of the Souss-Massa Regional Council, with Moroccan local authorities, the President of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo Batlle, and the Regional Minister for Universities, Science, Innovation, and Culture, Migdalia Machín Tavío, in attendance.
Later, at the Ibn Zohr University Rectorate, García and Hmina finalized several other specific agreements. One of these, coordinated by the Vice-Rectorate for Internationalization and Cooperation, headed by Inmaculada González, establishes the foundation for a student exchange program that will facilitate academic mobility and the recognition of studies completed toward a university degree. Additionally, the Vice-Rector noted that the Moroccan institution has also been included in the new K171+ Mobility Project with non-EU countries, which the University of La Laguna will present to the EU in mid-February.
Another specific agreement focuses on the design and delivery of a micro-credential in sustainable resource management in the tourism sector, the development of international mobility programs for students and staff, and the promotion of joint research focused on knowledge transfer in the tourism field. At the University of La Laguna, the coordination of this agreement is the responsibility of Jano Jiménez Barreto, Vice Dean of International Relations and Mobility of the Faculty of Economics, Business and Tourism.
Signing of the specific agreements at the Moroccan university.
Promoting Spanish and strengthening its teaching through academic, scientific, and cultural cooperation, as well as student and faculty mobility, is the focus of another of the signed agreements. The agreement is coordinated on the Spanish side by the Department of Spanish Philology at the University of La Laguna, and more specifically, by the Research Group on the Analysis of Grammatical Instruction in Spanish as a Foreign Language (AIGELE), which it directs. Antonio Cano Ginés.
Finally, an agreement focused on renewable energies to promote the circular economy was also signed. This will launch a project to transform biomass and other waste into multifunctional carbonaceous materials useful for preparing compound catalysts with applications in electrochemical energy storage and conversion systems. The Professor of Physical Chemistry at the University of La Laguna will coordinate this collaboration. Elena Pastor Tejera.
According to the Vice-Rector for Internationalization, this has been made possible thanks to the collaborative effort of the Moroccan and La Laguna academic communities, based on several previous working meetings where points of interest were shared and common priorities were defined.
Also present on this visit to Agadir were the rector of the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Lluís Serra Majem, who also signed collaboration agreements in other areas with the Ibn Zohr University; and the general director of the Technological Institute of the Canary Islands, Guayarmina Peña García.
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