Institutional strengthening of Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Amazonia

UNAL-1TBI coordinates the NPT project “Strengthening Amazonian knowledge and environmental management” with the National University of Colombia, Sede Amazonia. The project started in 2005 and will be completed in 2010.

Project objective

The project aspires to improve the region´s high school graduate population´s access to the university, and help them successfully face the challenge of higher education. It also aspires to widen and enrich regional knowledge in themes related to environmental management, the sustainable development of the Amazonian region, knowledge sharing, and political ecology.

The objective of the project is to strenghten the institutional capacity of UNAL-Amazonia in education, research and extension related to environmental management.

Results

  • Boost to the recognition by Universidad Nacional of the relevance of external offices
  • Stakeholders informed on and closely involved in activities of the University
  • Educational programmes developed and implemented to improve the access of students to the university
  • BSc programmes developed
  • PhD programme on Amazonian studies in development
  • 3 PhD studies carried out by staff of UNAL
  • Long-term environmental research agenda set in place and partially developed
  • Semi-annual organization of Month of research
  • 4 staff members followed MScs training in The Netherlands
  • 13 students involved in research
  • Number of visiting researchers strongly increased
  • 11 books published
  • Seminars, workshops and discussion fora organized
  • Collaboration with international partners strongly increased
  • Administrative and financial processes improved
  • Infrastructure improved
Project's webpage

Links to participating organizations:

Universidad Nacional de Colombia – Sede Amazonia
Rural development sociology group- Wageningen University (WUR)
Development Research Institute (IVO) - Tilburg University
Plant ecology and biodiversity group - Utrecht University
Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics (IBED) - University of Amsterdam
Centre for International Cooperation (CIS) - Vrije Universiteit
NPT - Nuffic