Pulse-C: Advancing the Twin Transition of Higher Education in Cuba
In a newly awarded Erasmus+ project, VLIRUOS joins forces with four European and five Cuban universities, plus a government agency.
Building upon a research partnership that spans almost two decades, we aim to accelerate the energy resilience of higher education in Cuba. Together, our electrical engineers, physicists and IT specialists will co-design new energy measurement systems, implement new solar panel technology and develop a blended learning lab. We are advancing the twin transition of higher education on the island, strengthening sustainable energy management on the one hand, and digital transformation on the other.
As the geopolitical context is turning ever more complex, this project becomes all the more important. It explains why we continue to believe in the transformative power of higher education. Scientists can establish real impact at community level. With regards to the energy revolution, they are building low-cost solutions that are ready for replication across Latin America.
As universities across the European Union seek to reclaim their relevance as drivers of social change, they may find inspiration in this kind of academic collaboration. In January, we have had the opportunity to exchange perspectives, as our Cuban partners visited Green Energy Park, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Ghent University and Howest to explore the Belgian variants of the energy and IT solutions that they have been developing in recent years.
This project is a collaboration between VLIRUOS, four European universities (Howest, Ghent University, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, and Hanze (NL)), five Cuban universities (University of Havana, Universidad de Cienfuegos, Central University of Las Villas, Universidad de Camagüey, University of de Sancti Spiritus), a European government agency (Obreal), and the Cuban Ministry of Higher Education.
