Between 6 and 8 July, the V Academic Summit Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) and the European Union (EU) was held at the University of Alcalá, in Alcalá de Henares, Spain (https://portalcomunicacion.uah.es/diario-digital/actualidad/La-Universidad-de-Alcala-acoge-la-V-Cumbre-Academica-America-Latina-y-el-Caribe-Union-Europea), with the aim of promoting an Academic Integration Agreement – an institutional framework for the creation of a Common Space for Higher Education, Science, Technology and Innovation. This is a project that started in 2013 in Chile and has the participation of more than two thousand professors and university authorities. UAL was represented by Professor Nancy Elena Ferreira Gomes, Professor of the Department of International Relations, and Director of the FUNIBER Delegation in Portugal (https://www.funiber.org/).
Topics such as “Challenges to Democracy in Europe and LAC”, “Climate Change, options for Europe and LAC”, “The University and the Culture of Peace”, “The vision of the Rectors of LAC and the EU on the Construction of a Common Space of Higher Education, Science, Technology and Innovation”, “Development, present and future of the Strategic Partnership of LAC and the EU: the role of Education”, “The future of Higher Education: threats, challenges and opportunities”, “The contribution of the LAC – EU Academic Community to Strategic Autonomy and the Global Challenges of the 21st Century”, among others, were the subject of debate and reflection by the Academic Community gathered in the facilitating context provided by the Spanish Presidency Exercise of the Council of the EU (1 July – 31 December 2023) on the eve of the III EU-CELAC Summit, from 17 to 18 July in Brussels.
