Siezing upon the opportunity to extend its global reach and partnerships, the University of Miami last week signed a collaboration and student exchange agreement with the Universidad de Oviedo, ranked one of the best global universities in Spain.
The academic partnership agreements were signed by Jeffrey Duerk, executive vice president for academic affairs and provost at the University of Miami, and Santiago Garcia Granda, president of Universidad de Oviedo, located in Asturias in the north of Spain.
Lourdes Dieck-Assad, UM’s vice president for hemispheric and global affairs, Leonidas Bachas, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, and Tomas Lopez, chair of the college’s Department of Art and Art History, also participated at the signing ceremony.
“The partnership with Universidad Oviedo represents a central pillar of the University of Miami’s aspiration to become recognized not only as the hemispheric university, but also as an active participant at the global level,” said Dieck-Assad.
The Memorandum of Understanding formalizes an agreement to work jointly on the academic exchange of faculty and students, research projects, sabbatical leaves, development and exchange of materials aimed at education and research, organization of conferences and seminars, and other collaborative activities.
The student exchange agreement enables expanded opportunities for undergraduate students to carry out studies between institutions by waiving tuition charges on a reciprocal basis, assisting participants in obtaining the appropriate visa for the period of exchange, facilitation of housing accommodations, and by offering academic counseling to students.
The agreement encourages participants nominated by their home institution to apply for admission by filling out an application with the host institution.
“Exchange programs are testaments to the ways in which academic institutions can enhance the learning and social experiences for students,” said Bachas, adding that the agreement “significantly promotes the benefits of long-term academic connections between students and faculty, while also showcasing UM’s commitment to comprehensive internationalization of the curriculum.”
Dieck-Assad said the agreement with an institution with the prominence of Oviedo “demonstrates UM’s eagerness to create and share knowledge through collaborations beyond borders that seek to address real word issues and produce tangible global impacts. We are confident that this new partnership will result in multiple avenues for student and faculty mobility and innovative research collaborations.”
