University Network

The Consortium and UniNorte working together

June 30, 2007 — The relation between the Consortium and the Universidad del Norte (Barranquilla, Colombia), keeps growing. It was first established three years ago in the process of supporting the Masters programme with emphasis in communication for social change, and a research project on participatory and community media.

The Masters programme was established and started its activities in March 2007 with thirty students and the research project has been completed with new perspectives on participatory monitoring and evaluation (PM&E). The materials are already available in Spanish and will be published in English by the Consortium.

Alfonso Gumucio, Managing Director for Programmes of the Consortium, recently visited Universidad del Norte and met with the group of students and Faculty (photos). New activities were agreed during the visit, as follows:

  • UniNorte will appoint two students to gather and enter information in the Body of Knowledge and I will supervise them.
  • The funds for visiting professors will be dedicated to academics from Latin America and other international professors will have to fund, at least partially, their travel.
  • A network of professors interested in the field and studies of communication for social change will be created with the participation of several universities of Colombia.
  • The partial scholarships that were not used in 2007 will be added to those that will be assigned in 2008. The idea is to start 2008 (the second generation) with at least 15 international students.
  • Universidad del Norte is willing to sponsor a large conference on communication for social change in 2009, so to attract more academics and students to the field.
  • UniNorte will explore the potential of establishing an online specialization on communication for social change, addressed to Colombian organizations that have development programmes with communication components.  The idea is also to encourage students of this specialization to continue their studies at the Masters programme.

Gumucio met with Alberto Martinez the new Head of the Communication Department, with Jesus Arroyave, the Director of the Masters Programme, and with Jair Vega, one of the professors.

Although no Consortium scholarships were granted during 2007 because of time and administrative constraints, more than 50 people wrote to the programme inquiring about the Masters degree, from 13 countries, including Chile, Bolivia, Honduras, Argentina, Venezuela, Ecuador, España, México, Guatemala, Perú, Nicaragua, Colombia and one from Pakistan.

Several references to the Masters programme have been published in various websites, including the Ministry of Education, the Latin American and Caribbean Youth Portal, Infoamerica, Media development, and La Iniciativa de Comunicación.

Download the agreement: 

English Version (PDF)  | Spanish Version (PDF)

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