The Universidad Industrial de Santander (UIS) strengthens its commitment to regional development, discussing an international alliance with the University of Montreal (Canada) and the company DSAHR, with a view to the implementation of the Veterinary Medicine program at the Malaga campus, and promote the binational Herd Health project Colombia-Quebec-Canada.
In light of this, on Monday, researchers, teachers, businesspeople, and executives from the three institutions met in the Boardroom of the UIS Academic Vice-Rector’s Office to advance the search for partnerships aimed at productive innovation, training in preventive animal health, livestock data analysis, and the use of technologies such as artificial intelligence. Among the guests were Emile Bouchard, Veterinarian and Bovine Internist at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Montreal, Quebec, and Master in Bovine Preventive Medicine from the University of California, Davis, USA, two-term president of the World Association of Buiatrics, and associate professor at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Montreal; and Jorge Castillo López, veterinarian and coordinator of the Livestock Health Improvement Program in Colombia.
“The UIS would be a leading university in student mobility and research. This alliance allows us to work together for the improvement of Colombian livestock and, above all, for the quality of life of milk producers,” said Jorge Castillo López, veterinarian and coordinator of Colombia’s Livestock Herd Health Improvement Program.
Castillo, who is leading the project with the support of the University of Montreal, highlighted the similarities between the productive ecosystems of Quebec and the province of García Rovira, which will facilitate technology transfer and the feasibility of a binational pilot.
“The Garcia Rovira region has everything to become an agri-food technopolis. This alliance will allow new generations of veterinarians to work with a territorial approach and world-class tools,” he added.
Professor Luisa Mendoza, professor and researcher of the Zootechnics program at UIS Malaga, highlighted the concrete benefits that this cooperation will bring: “We will have more tools for our students, from the use of livestock software for decision making, to the possibility of participating in exchanges or postgraduate programs with international universities,” she explained.
In addition to presenting the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of the University of Montreal, the only French-speaking faculty in the Americas accredited by the AVMA, the use of software developed by DSAHR, a Canadian spin-off that connects production data with veterinarians in real time to monitor animal health, reproduction and nutrition, was also presented.
“This type of alliances position UIS as a university with territorial impact, but with a global projection,” Mendoza emphasized.
The conference is part of the process of opening the new Veterinary Medicine program at UIS Malaga, which will join the already consolidated Zootechnics program. With this alliance, the UIS not only consolidates its academic presence in the province of García Rovira, but also strengthens its internationalization with concrete purposes: to train comprehensive professionals, transform the Santander countryside and improve the living conditions of rural communities.
