Page 21 - Revista del Observatorio de la Internacionalización de la Educación SuperiorVol 3. 2019

Notas Comité Editorial

7
opportunities or due to the inability to take advan- In a joint communication, the EU–LAC calls
tage of these opportunities. for joining forces for a common future, foreseeing
The link between education and the fast-chan- the promotion of a transformation towards green
ging nature of work worldwide must be reconsi- and blue economies and a transition to a circular
dered. This may occur through many initiatives economy that includes developing sustainable and
such as better foresight in programming, life-long smart cities, enhancing connectivity, using space
education plans, stronger partnerships with indus- technologies and advancing the digital economy;
tries, establishment of flexible professional skills moreover, all these initiatives require investment in
programmes and/or other options; however, fun- knowledge, innovation and human capital (as des-
damentally, education alone cannot solve the is- cribed by M. De Sole in ‘The EU–CELAC Common
sues of unemployment and social inclusion if it is Research Area state of play’).
not ingrained in a broader development plan of a The approach is not economically driven but
country or region, particularly in the case of EU or is formulated on the basis of shared values. This
LAC. may sound utopian, but it represents vital common
Unlike other historical periods, the changing grounds for planning long-term policies that can
dynamics of international cooperation is a key as- go beyond yearly economical checks and build the
pect for generating common (global) and evenly future.
distributed wealth. In fact, globalisation of markets If it remains consistent and constructive, the
and human resource mobilisation are changing re- dialogue on policy choices between EU and LAC
lations between countries and prompting the defi- will directly affect roughly 1.1 billion people wi-
nition of common policies from distant regions of thin these two areas, and their citizens will have
the world, beyond existing collaborations on voca- the opportunity to direct the policy decision path
tional drives. by means of democratic decisions and will even-
As countries face increasingly similar difficul- tually enjoy the benefits of it.
ties (unemployment, inequality, climate change, The outcome of this cooperation between the
etc.), there is now a call for universality and inte- EU and LAC will undoubtedly condition the course
gration of policies in terms of common goals and of the entire world economy from the viewpoints
shared results . of the critical mass expressed and of the capacity,
5
Hence, in such situations, EU–LAC Foundation, particularly in terms of sources, human capital and
established by the heads of state and government expressed knowledge.
of the EU and the Community of Latin American It is an opportunity that cannot be missed!
and Caribbean States’ (CELAC) members, provides
a great opportunity. Domenico de Martinis
Although this Foundation was created in 2010, Domenico.DeMartinis@miur.it
its constitutive agreement was operational in this
year (i.e. 2019), thereby establishing it as an in-
ternational organisation consisting of 62 mem-
bers—33 states of LAC and 28 members of the EU. 6

7 Joint Communication to the European Parliament and the Council
5 UNESCO (2015) Rethinking education: towards a global com- European Union, Latin America and the Caribbean: joining forces
mon good? for a common future https://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/sites/devco/
6 EU–LAC Foundation (https://eulacfoundation.org/en) files/eu-lac-communication_en.pdf

Revista Obies • Bogotá-Colombia • Vol. 3 de 2019
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