Last Friday in Maputo, the Polytechnic University and the Latin American Council of Social Sciences (CLACSO) established an inter-institutional cooperation agreement to promote, foster, develop and implement training, research, dissemination and publication activities for mutual benefit.

CLACSO currently brings together 654 research centers and graduate schools in the social sciences and humanities in 51 countries in Latin America and other continents. The aim of this partnership is to promote concrete actions for the benefit of the citizens of the countries of each party over the next three years.

The cooperation agreement was signed by the rector of the Polytechnic University, Narciso Matos, and the research director of CLACSO, Pablo Vommaro, representing Karina Batthyány, the executive director.

The event was the culmination of a five-day event, the REGS International School, a platform for dialogue, exchange, integration and solidarity between academics, including teachers, researchers, postgraduate students, activists and representatives of civil society organizations and public policy makers, organized in Maputo by the Polytechnic University and CLACSO, in collaboration with the Eduardo Mondlane University (UEM).

Speaking on the occasion, the rector of the Polytechnic University, Narciso Matos, said that the meeting, which was attended by 12 countries from Latin America, South Africa, the United States of America and Mozambique, was the result of a combined effort to bring together interests and values among citizens from all over the world, with a focus on the Global South.

"It was clear from the warmth and enthusiasm that the participants had built more than just channels for exchanging information. Bonds were created here that I hope will be replicated and become a basis for continued scientific research and joint discovery," he emphasized.

For CLACSO's Research Director, Pablo Vommaro, the agreement signed consolidates and formalizes the relationship between the institutions and promotes the work planned by the Knowledge Network on the Right to Education in the Global South (REGS), which is of a collective and cooperative nature.

"I think the most important thing we've managed to build over these five days has to do with concepts, emotions, bonds and bodies too, because we've been able to socialize, exchange experiences and, above all, dialogue. It was good to recognize diversities from the recognition of difference in order to build something common," she concluded.

It should be noted that the meeting took place under the slogan "The Right to Higher Education in the Global South: Horizons, Disputes and Meanings" and aimed to exchange knowledge and experience on the current situation of higher education systems in the Global South.