Participation in Networks related to Cooperation and Sustainable Development

UIC Barcelona is an active member of several networks and commissions that promote sustainability, cooperation and sustainable development. 

• It is part of the Conference of Rectors of Spanish Universities (CRUE), which is the main interlocutor of universities with the central government and plays a key role in all regulatory developments affecting higher education in the country. It has several Sectoral Commissions, which are advisory and working bodies, which are set up to advise the General Assembly in decision-making and promote networking activities of common interest to all universities. UIC Barcelona is part of:
  • CRUE-Sustainability: This sectoral commission gathers the experience of universities in environmental management and risk prevention, promoting the exchange of good practices. This sector committee has established working groups and UIC Barcelona participates in the following:   
    • Teaching Working Group
    • University Sustainability Assessment Working Group (GESU)
    • Healthy Universities Working Group

• The Crue Sectorial Commission for Internationalisation and Cooperation works as an integrated network of universities, whose common objectives are the promotion and sharing of university policies of internationalisation and cooperation, facilitates the interchange of information, contacts and good practices, encourages the internationalisation of Spanish universities and university cooperation in development, as well as formulating proposals and general recommendations in its field of action.

• Cooperación Española (Spanish Cooperation) is the sum of all those people, institutions, resources and capacities that Spain makes available to developing countries to contribute to human development, the eradication of poverty and the full exercise of rights. This will promote the creation of partnerships for the SDGs between different agents of international cooperation, public and private, business sector and civil society, both Spanish and partner countries. It will allow them to maximise synergy, complement resources and enrich learning techniques, allowing them to increase the scope of development interventions.

   

• Cooperación Universitaria al Desarrollo (CUD) (University Development Cooperation) is the set of activities carried out by the university community and oriented towards social transformation in the most disadvantaged countries, in favour of peace, equity, human development and environmental sustainability in the world. Institutional and academic support have an important role in this transformation. The work of the university in the field of development cooperation is closely linked to its natural field of activity: teaching, research and knowledge transfer. Spanish universities are represented in the Council for Development Cooperation.

   

• The Observatorio de la Cooperación Universitaria al Desarrollo (OCUD) (University Cooperation Observatory for Development) aims to be the benchmark of University Development Cooperation in Spain and to become  a central node in the network of development cooperation structures of all Spanish universities , to help exchange and share experiences between universities, to help discuss with the different public administrations instruments to support the CUD, and to make  the work of universities in cooperation, their potential and resources more visible.

UIC Barcelona has partnerships for the development of policies related to the SDGs with different bodies and organisations:

• Interuniversity Council of Catalonia (CIC) for the implementation of Agenda 2030. UIC Barcelona is currently participating in the social commitment commission.
• Justicia Global Ajuntament de Barcelona (Barcelona City Council Global Justice), participating in the working group of universities based in Barcelona.
• Barcelona + Sustainable
• The mission of the Spanish Sustainable Development Solutions Network - REDS, to collaborate in achieving the 2030 Agenda by mobilising and raising awareness of the different sectors of society about the Sustainable Development Goals, as well as to promoting their incorporation into future policies, the business sphere and general social behaviour. Its vision is to contribute to the creation and implementation of transformative solutions for sustainable development and to the inclusion of the 2030 Agenda as a cross-cutting element of society’s actions.
• Sustainable Development Solutions Network - SDSN, a United Nations initiative to implement the Sustainable Development Goals through research, policy analysis and global cooperation.
• The Higher Education Sustainability Initiative (HESI), launched in the lead-up to the Rio+20 Conference in 2012 as an open partnership between several United Nations entities and the higher education community, aims to enhance the role of the higher education sector in advancing sustainable development by facilitating multi-stakeholder discussions, actions, and the dissemination of best practices.
• Scholas Catedras, in which UIC Barcelona participates actively in the scientific committee. SDGs 4, 12, 13 and 17 are specifically being worked towards.
• UIC Barcelona and Calonge i Sant Antoni Town Council have signed a cooperation agreement to promote entrepreneurship.