University of Cienfuegos Opens to US Educators for the First Time in History

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
APRIL 14, 2015

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APRIL 14, 2015 – CIENFUEGOS, CUBA For the first time in the island nation’s history, American educators are being invited to the campus of a provincial university for a conference on internationalization.
The conference has been named the 1st Annual Workshop of Strategic Alliances for the Internationalization of Higher Education and will take place from October 27-30, 2015. The purpose of the conference is to promote study abroad programs and international collaboration. The Ministry of Higher Education has a conference centered on internationalization every two years, however, this is the first event of its kind at one of the provincial universities.

“With all of the excitement around normalization between the United States and Cuba,” says Dayni Deysi Diaz Mederos, assistant director of international relations for the University of Cienfuegos and member of the Workshop’s organizing committee, “it is important for people to remember that collaborative research and the exchange of ideas is how people and nations come together in a way that promotes mutual respect.”

Despite the long standing embargo, the University of Cienfuegos is no stranger to global education. In the 2012-13 academic year, it boasted students from 68 countries and has collaborated with over 140 universities worldwide. University officials hope that all of the new media attention will spark renewed interest in all of Cuba, not just Havana. “We have been engaged in exchanges and collaborative projects with universities all over the world for some time now and we have many exciting projects happening right here on campus” says Ms. C Lourdes T. Pomares Castellón, Director for International Relations for UCF. “We look forward to the United States becoming a part of our community here.”

UCF has hosted conferences in the past in other fields like energy, the environment and comparative literature but this is the first of its kind focused on campus internationalization and study abroad.
Americans are being given access to the conference through Civitas GES (www.CivitasGES.com), a global educational services provider. Civitas GES has included the conference as part of a larger people-to-people trip that includes a visit to the capital and the University of Havana.