The Dean at the Faculty of Social and Legal Sciences of Elche, Carmen Victoria Escolano Asensi, welcomed a visit by a delegation from the Catholic University of Louvain (UCL) of Belgium on February 21, 2020. Leading the Belgian representatives was Alain Schoon, professor emeritus from the Catholic University of Louvain, member of its Faculty of Economic, Social and Political Sciences and Communication, and a guest lecturer at the Free University of Brussels-VUB, European Institute of Public Administration – Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management.

Their meetings, wherein Michelle Copmans, a UCL political science graduate student, along with Vicente J. Pérez, the UMH Area Coordinator for the Bachelor’s in Audiovisual Communication Projection, also participated, helped to strengthen ties between the UCL and UMH. They first produced a framework agreement (already in process), and then subsequently reached specific agreements on collaboration, research, and Erasmus+ mobility with the different degree programs offered by the UMH faculty.

The Catholic University of Louvain, founded in 1425 by Pope Martin V, is the world’s oldest catholic university and is characterized by a marked humanist nature. It has sites in Louvain-La-Neuve, Brussels Woluwe, Mons, Tournai, Brussels Saint-Gilles, Namur, and Charleroi. There, it conducts fundamental and applied research and forges links with the socio-economic world. The UCL campus at Mons (Hainaut Province) specializes in human and social sciences, and is home to two units:

– Louvain School of Management (LSM)

– Faculty of Economic, Social and Political Sciences and Communication (ESPO)

These both offer highly specialized training on public administration, information and communication, engineering management, international relations, science management, human and social sciences, and political science.