Universidad de la Salle

La Salle University is strengthening its commitment to the internationalization of its programs and Lasallian community through the leveraging of technical and financial resources with national and international actors. The Directorate of International and Interinstitutional Relations and the Agronomic Engineering and Agricultural Engineering programs formulated the project “From Deep Colombia to global consciousness: For peace and sustainability” that will allow a group of students from Utopia conformed by rural men and women, Afro and/or victims of the conflict with limit resources and academic excellence, to live an international experience for the first time in their lives.

Through the project, students will be able to learn and experience methodologies by approaching similar training projects in agricultural sciences, the aim is to strengthen professional and future contribution in their regions. Likewise, the project will allow them to interact with students and professors from Universidad Zamorano (Honduras) through various activities such as seminars, workshops and technical visits, with the purpose of learning about successful cases of agricultural entrepreneurship, recognize good practices, establish spaces for reflection, develop multicultural skills, generate professional contacts and interact with international peers.

Utopia is a rural model of higher education for peacebuilding and territorial development that promotes education and productive opportunities for young people in rural areas of Colombia. Comprehensive training helps the beneficiary student to make a difference in their territory, to which the graduate returns. Therefore the impact of the Utopia project is of exceptional relevance.

Our institution thanks Icetex for supporting the initiative, without their support it would not have been possible to provide these opportunities to our Lasallian community.