Over the week of October 15-19, the Miguel Hernández University of Elche (UMH), through its Vice Rector for Internationalization and Cooperation, Vicente Micol, and the Deputy Vice Rector for Internationalization, Alberto Rodríguez, was represented at the Congress of the Americas on International Education (CAEI) in San Jose, Costa Rica. While in that part of the world, Vicente and Alberto also took part at Study in Spain fairs, which on this occasion took place both in the Costa Rican capital as well as in the cities of Bogotá (Colombia) and Lima (Peru).

Both UMH representatives highlighted the participation at these events as a great opportunity to promote the international strategy of and benefits of learning at the UMH. The congress and these fairs drew over 4,000 people from higher education institutions from all over the world.

To be more specific, around one thousand people attended each of the three Study in Spain fairs, and there, almost 3,000 students expressed their interest in the education offered by the Miguel Hernández University of Elche. In the case of the UMH, Colombia stands out as a country of particular interest, as it is the second largest source of international students currently enrolled at the Elche university.

Moreover, the congresses of the Americas on International Education are one of the main events of reference for universities and higher education institutions within the American continents, and on this edition of the event, it attracted over 700 participants from institutions the world over. The presence of the UMH has enabled it to consolidate and expand academic cooperation agreements with Latin American universities, particularly in terms of mobility for faculty and investigators, as well as for entrepreneurship and the advancement of scientific parks.

This meeting also served the UMH to strengthen its relationships with the main public universities of Costa Rica, including the University of Costa Rica (UCR), the National University (UNA), and the Technological Institute of Costa Rica (TEC). While in the Americas, UMH representatives also met with represented from the Dominican Republic’s Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology, in addition to universities from that country, with the aim of exploring new avenues for collaboration.

Currently, the UMH maintains 21 agreements with universities from Colombia, 4 with Costa Rica, 12 from Peru, and an additional 12 in the Dominican Republic. Nurturing these alliances, and even expanding and improving them, represents a boost to UMH internationalization efforts, and these rebound and provide great benefit for the UMH university community who wish to participate in international mobility programs.