OBREAL Global

Mission:

• Promote Interregional policy dialogue in Higher Education and Research and promote synergies between governmental, academic and social sectors, taking into account the specificities and heterogeneity of each region around the world;
• Create cross-regional, South-South-North, global bridges for enhanced development in the higher education and research sectors specifically, via collaborative multi-regional projects.

Vision:

• OBREAL Global’s vision is to facilitate and accomplish sustainable South- South-North cooperation based upon equal treatment, mutual knowledge transfer, and a commitment to common global challenges.

• Foster Interregional policy dialogue in Higher Education and Research
• Promote intra- and inter- regional integration as a key component of South-South-North collaboration
• Promote a truly internationalized perspective of Higher Education and Research.
• Generate collaboration spaces for higher education institutions, the youth sector, industry, and public authorities in promoting human development.

OBREAL Global has transformed over the past years from an association that primarily promoted European Union-Latin America cooperation in higher education and research (2004-2017), to one with a broader inter-regional mandate and membership scope, committed to strengthening South-South- North cooperation within and between regions (2017-).

2020/21 has been a busy time period, whereby, in the midst of a global pandemic, OBREAL Global has consolidated ‘Chapters’ in South America, Central America, the Caribbean, India and Africa, each of which is driven by membership and has shaped its own needs and priorities. In the midst of this, OBREAL Global has taken steps to promote inter-regional dialogue and exchange on key topics of common interest, ranging from internationalization of learning, digitalization, international research management and the role of universities in local development.

Thus, OBREAL Global focused its activities combining a very concrete transversal approach based on concrete projects on relevant HE and Research topics with an effort to promote policy dialogue from an inter-regional perspective. As a membership organization, OBREAL-Global works very closely to address the needs and priorities of her members and to promote exchanges and synergies among them.

OBREAL Global is now working in a major action to promote Access and Quality in AFRICA. The HAQAA2 Harmonisation of African Higher Education, Quality Assurance and Accreditation (HAQAA) is an initiative that has been established to support the development of a harmonised quality assurance and accreditation system at institutional, national, regional and Pan-African continental level. https://haqaa2.obsglob.org/

During the last 10 years, OBREAL-Global has been working mainly in LAC on Curricular Innovation. Mainly focusing on competences and Qualification Frameworks both in South and Central America.

During the last years, OBREAL-Global has launched a multiregional project (https://vitaglobalproject.org/) focused on To build capacity to develop joint programmes in agriculture, viniviticulture and oenology at the masters and doctoral level, so as to internationalise and integrate curricula, widen mobility opportunities for students and staff and ultimately internationalise the university contribution to local development. In particular the VITAGLOBAL project has been discussing the implementation of a flexible and modularized approach to curricula development as a mean to support internationalization processes.

Together with the AUF, OBREAL-Global has conceived and promte an action dedicated to promote mini-research projects in franco-phone Africa focused on main global chllanges (from water issues to sustainability issues). The project is funded by the ACP fund

Together with the AUF, OBREAL-Global has conceived and promoted an action dedicated to promote mini-research projects in Francophone Africa focused on main global challenges (from water issues to sustainability issues). The project is funded by the ACP fund. One of the aims of the project is to bring together researchers, research institutes and HEI to focused on sustainability.