Coimbra Group Cooperation with the Global South
19 December 2023
The Survey on Cooperation with the Global South, targeting Coimbra Group (CG) member universities, was initiated within the Latin America Working Group and conducted in cooperation with the Development Cooperation Working Group (the Development Cooperation Working Group changed name to Global Partnerships Working Group in December 2023). The primary objective of this survey was to outline the existing collaborative efforts and the main areas of expertise and excellence of CG Universities, particularly in the context of their cooperative engagements with the Global South. The results were presented in the joint meeting of the working groups in November 2022 and are now published.
The UNESCO and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs), as well as numerous funding calls, highlight the importance of tackling global challenges and the importance of fostering partnerships with the Global South. The aim was to map out the possible common topics of interests based on strong/strategic areas of research expertise of the individual CG universities. The purpose was also to try to “cross-pollinate” the thematic expertise with experience in a certain geographical area. With these results, we aim to identify some of the themes of potential future cooperation, and to explore diverse possibilities for multidisciplinary cooperation, among different regions in CG Universities’ cooperation.
The survey was designed to be answered at the university level, therefore offering an overview of the strategic decisions and crucial collaborative efforts at the university level. The survey was not intended to be comprehensive but rather give an overview and show some trends is the cooperation. In the survey the respondents were asked to give examples of their university’s cooperation rather than report all the activity. The results reflect the situation reported by the respondents at the time of answering the survey.
A total of 16 CG Universities replied to the complete survey. The results reveal certain trends in cooperation and thematic interest areas which are likely common amongst CG universities. The data collected through individual responses provides a valuable source of information, which CG universities can then utilise by contact specific CG universities when they prepare cooperation in a specific area or around a specific topic.
The study comprised mainly open-ended questions, in order to get a general overview of activities and modes of cooperation. It is important to note that the depth of responses varied among participants. Whenever possible, hyperlinks were also provided to facilitate further exploration of additional information. Due to time constraints, the unavailability of some websites in English, or non-functional hyperlinks, not all extra information provided could be thoroughly investigated.
The purpose of the survey is to be a starting point for discussions and to identify common areas of interest among different CG universities and to share information topics of common interest. The accompanying material includes an appendix with aggregated response data and contact information of respondents, allowing for further inquiries regarding specific university cooperation and expertise.