October 19, 2022.The Latin American and Caribbean Energy Organization (OLACDE) and the Valencian International University (VIU) have signed an inter-institutional cooperation agreement. The purpose of this alliance is to establish actions and mechanisms for joint collaboration to promote energy development through academic activities, training tools and the exchange of information and knowledge.
These include activities focused on the development and implementation of research programs and the dissemination of energy-related experiences. The main areas in which OLACDE and VIU will work together include: energy integration and cooperation; development of renewable energy sources; hydrocarbons; electricity; nuclear energy; energy and environment; energy planning; and energy policies.
OLACDE and VIU strengthen, through this agreement, their alliance for the development of future joint training initiatives, through the School of Engineering, Science and Technology (ESICT) of VIU and for the creation of a monitoring committee for the established activities.
On OLACDE’s side, this commission will be formed by Guillermo Koutoudjian, Director of Integration, Access and Energy Security, and Pablo Garcés, technical advisor. On the VIU side, this committee will be formed by Ernesto Lopez, the Director of Development of VIU’s School of Engineering, Science and Technology (ESICT) and Kristin Dietrich, the Director of VIU’s Official Master’s Degree in Renewable Energies.
For Eva Mª Giner Larza, Rector of the Valencian International University, this agreement represents “a boost in cooperation and participation by the School of Engineering, Science and Technology (ESICT) of VIU with important entities such as OLACDE, which work for the development of energy and renewable energy sources in a region as key as Latin America. In the face of climate change, our society, its institutions and organizations face great challenges. Therefore, universities have the responsibility to train and integrate students in related fields. From VIU, we continue working to make this training as complete as possible”.
In the same sense, Alfonso Blanco, Executive Secretary of The Latin American and Caribbean Energy Organization, points out that “OLACDE has to support the development of the energy sector in our region. Support for public policies, for the advancement of a dynamic sector that can generate wealth and advance the economies of our entire region,” he said.
“That is why it is important to have an agreement that allows us to train human resources, for an entire region in terms of energy transitions, which today are one of the main lines of action to act on climate change and also to identify in energy transitions, a mechanism to generate employment, add value to our economies and enable the development of the region.”
For Néstor Sanchez Doreste, Director of the School of Engineering, Science and Technology of VIU, this agreement is an important step, given that in the current context of international energy crisis, collaboration agreements like this one between OLACDE and VIU are essential to train more and better professionals and researchers capable of initiating future actions and projects that allow an energy transition according to the demands and needs of today’s society”.
Latin American Energy Organization (OLACDE)
Latin American Energy Organization (OLACDE) is an intergovernmental public body of technical cooperation and advisory constituted on November 2, 1973, through the signing of the Lima Agreement, ratified by 27 countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, with the fundamental objective of fostering integration, development, conservation, rational use, commercialization and defense of the region’s energy resources.
Valencian International University (VIU)
The Valencian International University-VIU is one of the leading online universities in the Spanish-speaking world. It has more than 15,000 students of 73 different nationalities, a faculty of more than 1,200 teachers, most of whom combine their professional and academic activities, and more than 3,300 agreements for internships and collaborations. The Valencian International University- VIU is part of Planeta Formación y Universidades, Grupo Planeta’s international higher education network.
It has twenty-two educational institutions in Spain, Andorra, France, Italy, North Africa, the United States and Colombia. Every year more than 100,000 students from 114 different nationalities are trained through its business schools, universities, specialized colleges and vocational training centers.
