The OVERALL AIM of the INNOVA project is to improve the research management of Higher Education Institutions in Bolivia and Paraguay, with a specific focus on Climate Change.This goal will be achieved by implementing the following SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES:- Firstly, development and consolidation of Research & Innovation policies in Bolivia and Paraguay, with a specific focus in Climate Change, in order to meet international standards. - Secondly, setting-up of an innovative Forward-Looking Platform to orientate coordinated and sustainable policymaking in the field of research management in Bolivia and Paraguay, drawing upon foresight methods.INNOVA will contribute to tackle the manifest HEIs underperformance on Research and Innovation in Bolivia and Paraguay. The current situation calls urgently for effective formulation of legal and policy frameworks to articulate R&D actions at HE systemic level, which INNOVA will foster through fruitful interplay between HEIs, private sector and policymakers to move forward on S,T&I. In order to generate systematic impact, INNOVA will leverage the involvement in the Consortium of the Ministries responsible for HE from both countries together with a balances combination of public and private HEIs in the region, accompanied by two experienced EU partners.

Institutional weakness and the lack of territorial management instruments and mechanisms is one of the main problems faced by local , departmental and national governments in Latin America in the field of management and development of rural territories. To face this situation, initiatives to be taken must necessarily include research on management and territorial development mechanisms at municipal level, the dissemination of good management practices of territorial development and mostly the diffusion of new ideas and postgraduate training under a pragmatic pedagogical approach focused on action and case studies.EARTH project addresses the lack of skilled human resources and to the weakness of training programs in HEIs related to rural development management and planning. Overall objective is to capitalise the experience of EU partners, in view of enhancing the management, governance, teaching, research and outreach capacities of PC HEIs’ to reinforce their role in the promotion and management of processes of local rural development. This will allow to better align PC HEIs research and teaching activities with pressing local socio-economic challenges and key national development goals related to rural development and to become better integrated into their external environment and be better positioned to contribute to local economic growth of the rural sector. These objectives will be realized also through an online library, a white book summarizing and presenting a repertory of good practices, a method manual, online workshops and international courses for putting in common educational programs, quality assurance procedures, teaching materials, and to improve them with input from society in terms of required skills and jobs in rural development topics. As a result, the promotion of homogenization dynamics affecting educational patterns will improve international cooperation ability and effectiveness supporting the efforts played at national and regional levels.

Internationalization is a common objective of LA HEIs. Two of the most common strategies for the internationalization of postgraduate education are:1) International academic association for the development of joint programmes;2) International postgraduate mobility with academic recognition.Shortage of agreed indicators that allow the characterization and measurement in a comparable way of the principal variables involved in the mentioned two strategies has certainly contributed to hinder their implementation. Particularly important is the lack of a broad consensus on two essential components of postgraduate education that are worldwide recognized:a) Student centered learning (SCL), mainly in relation to three elements that are useful in the operationalization of said SCL: learning outcomes, competences and credits;b) Quality assurance.In this context, this project aims at creating, developing and sustaining a Latin American network of Ministries of Education and Universities, both public and private ones, in order to contribute to the internationalization of postgraduate education, by means of the consensus on standards related to substantial variables linked to student-centered learning (learning outcomes, competences and credits) and quality assurance. Consensus not only to be applied in the postgraduate programmes provided by the universities that take part in the project but to be also used as a common platform, which will be continuously updated, for all those countries and universities who wish to internationalize their postgraduate programs. Such space will be constantly open to the incorporation of Ministries of Education and Universities from other LA countries who wish to contribute to the accomplishment of the objectives of the network.The expected impact of the project is to favor the deployment of the two main strategies that have the HEIs for the internationalization of postgraduates: joint programmes and mobility with academic recognition.

A global discussion is taking place among Higher Education (HE) stakeholders to strive for HE that does better justice to the needs of the learner and of society. The relevance of study programs is probably the most pressing issue in HE today worldwide, including the countries in South America. In the public eye HE institutions should offer high quality programs that contribute significantly to the welfare of society by preparing graduates well for work and for civic and social engagement. To meet this need, a paradigm shift is required from traditional expert-oriented teaching to student-centred and active learning, based on competences and learning outcomes. Although there is full awareness that this shift is to be made, HE institutions and their academic staff in SA (and beyond) lack capacity, expertise and experience to make this happen. Building on work already done in Europe and in LA, ACE aims to develop effective mechanisms to give student-centred education a serious boost by acting as a catalyzer in 6 South-American countries, involving 13 key universities. ACE covers in each country 1-4 core academic fields, Nursing, Environmental Engineering, Education and History, representing as many HE sectors. At the heart of the project are 20 local working groups (WGs) consisting of 5 academics and of 5 student representatives each. The broad involvement of (local) staff and students is a unique feature. The WGs are all represented in transnational Subject Area Groups. Its members will be empowered to train their local WGs to reform their own programs. For this purpose, subject area qualifications frameworks will be made, based on (updated) meta-profiles developed in earlier LA projects. These will be complemented with in-depth training at 7 transnational meetings. As a result, ACE will result in 20 well informed learning communities that have reformed their programs and be equipped to assist other programs to make the reforms so urgently needed.

"The project presented pretends to create a Regional Observatory for Quality and Equity in Higher Education in Latin America (ORACLE). The project is based on the assumption that there is no possible quality without equity. For it, the project involves the participation of 35 universities from 15 countries from Latin America and 5 European countries. It will be developed for 36 months from 2016 to 2019.ORACLE is an innovative project although it seeks to give continuity and sustainability to 4 ALFA.3 projects supported by the EU. In order to achieve an optimal function of the Observatory, previously, it is going to be built a Quality and Equity Unit (UCE) in each one of the 30 universities that participate in the project. These UCE's will propose and design actions, policies and strategies of institutional quality assurance and equity. Likewise, these institutional units will operate in a reticulated way and they will be the starter point and the main emphasis of ORACLE. The creation of new structures will encourage the Organizational Development of the Higher Education institutions of ""la Región"".The groups in vulnerable situation that ORACLE's Observatory is focused on are a total of eight: indigenous people, women, people with disabilities, non- traditional students, population with very low HDI, immigrants, ethnic minority groups and citizens from rural areas. ORACLE aims to provide an integral and integrated service and, unlike other initiatives, it is not exclusively circumscribed on the academic development of the students, but it will also work with people in vulnerable situations among all levels (professors, students, administrative staff and managers) and all institutional functions: teaching, research and management."