Cuba: Continuing our academic partnership
In November, a Belgian Ministry delegation visited several academic institutions in Cuba. It underlines our strong connection and tradition of cooperation. Only in 2025, several new VLIRUOS projects with a Cuban academic partner started. With as a highlight our first EU-funded Erasmus+ project and a new Institutional University Cooperation (IUC) project with the University of Holguín (UHo).
Our first EU-funded Erasmus+ project started in November 2025, with partners in Cuba, Belgium, The Netherlands and Spain. The project foresees capacity building in renewable energy management and will contribute to more energy efficient and operationally reliable digital and academic services on Cuban campuses. It will also support the development of data-driven transition policy at five higher education institutes and support the Cuban Ministry of Higher Education in ensuring uptake via the development of national policy plans.
The University of Holguín (UHo) is one of the six newly admitted universities in the phase-in stage of an Institutional University Cooperation (IUC), a ten-year collaboration. The goal is to reinforce UHo’s research and innovation capabilities to address national challenges in energy, water and agriculture. Smart cities address these challenges using technology and software. The development of smart cities in Cuba is still limited, with initial efforts in Havana, Santa Clara and Santiago de Cuba. We'll strengthen UHo's Doctoral School in Engineering Development and its research capabilities and impact through projects in software development, smart agriculture, government and electricity.
With these projects we aim to continue our long tradition of academic cooperation with Cuba. Even as the Belgian embassy prepares to close, Cuba will remain an important partner. We are thankful to the embassy in Havana, who has been highly supportive of the academic cooperation of VLIRUOS, ARES and the Institute of Tropical Medicine. Together with the Belgian government, we are confident that we will find solutions to keep facilitating visas and mobility between our two countries, keeping close relationships.
The delegation who visited the institutions in November was composed of Concepción Muñoz González (Belgium’s Development Cooperation), Amadeo Bosser (Ministry of Foreign Affairs), Mathias Kende (Belgian Ambassador in Cuba). Staff from the Belgian Embassy in Havana organised the visit with support of VLIRUOS. They met with partner institutions of VLIRUOS, ARES and the Institute of Tropical Medicine, including the University of Havana, the Pedro Kourí Institute (IPK), La Universidad Tecnológica de La Habana “José Antonio Echeverría” (CUJAE), and Universidad Central “Marta Abreu” de Las Villas (UCLV).