Institutional Development and Training in University Management (DIGU)
In the framework of the University Cooperation Program with Africa, the Institutional Development and Training in University Management (DIGU) program was carried out in 2009. The universities participating in the project were those that formed the Interuniversity Consortium of University Management (CIGU), the eight Catalan public universities of the ACUP (University of Barcelona, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Polytechnic University of Catalonia, Pompeu Fabra University, University of Girona, University of Lleida, Rovira i Virgili University and Open University of Catalonia, and the five African member universities of the consortium (University of Antananarivo (Madagascar), Cheikh Anta Diop University (Senegal), Eduardo Mondlane University (Mozambique), National University of Equatorial Guinea (Equatorial Guinea) and University of Yaoundé I (Cameroon).
The DIGU project aimed to establish stable relationships with African universities, strengthen the institutional capacities of participating universities through training courses and stays of managers and managers, encourage the exchange of experiences and good practices and establish a network. of knowledge among the participants.
The project was developed in four phases:
1. Preparatory phase
Through stays at the universities participating in the project, the various realities of African universities became known, which made it possible to identify the main needs in terms of university management.
2. First meeting: Barcelona - Catalonia
Over the course of a week, 15 directors and managers of African universities, together with more than 25 directors and managers of Catalan universities, worked on different topics identified as priorities in the field of university management by African universities. In addition, the participants had the opportunity to get to know the Catalan universities in situ.
3. Second meeting: Africa
Each university participating in the DIGU Program organized a one or two day seminar on a topic of special interest to its university in which different Catalan as well as national experts participated. These seminars involved a wider audience from each African university and even from other universities in the country. In this second meeting, work also began to finalize future collaboration projects between African universities and Catalan universities.
The seminars that were organized were the following:
a) “The implementation of the Bachelor's / Master's / Doctorate (LMD) system”
National University of Equatorial Guinea
b) “The university and its future: challenges of administrative organization and research” Cheikh Anta Diop University
c) “The role of the University for development through research management” University of Yaoundé I
d) “Management and internal quality assessment processes” Eduardo Mondlane University and Antananarivo University
4. Third meeting: Dakar
The DIGU program closed with a third meeting between the directors and managers of African and Catalan universities held at Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar, Senegal. This meeting was based, above all, on the formalization of long-term collaboration between Catalan and African universities, as well as on concretizing various future projects of interuniversity collaboration both in the field of university management and in the field. in the field of training and research.
