In recent days, professors Gonzalo Patiño Benavides, director of the Instituto de Proyección Regional y Educación a Distancia -Ipred, and Nelson Rodríguez López, from the School of Biology and director of the research group in Plant Ecophysiology and Terrestrial Ecosystems, visited the facilities of the Universidad Popular del Cesar-UPC, in Valledupar, and the Instituto Nacional de Formación Técnica Profesional-Infotep, in San Juan del Cesar, in south-central La Guajira.
The purpose of this visit was, especially, to strengthen ties between the aforementioned institutions and the Universidad Industrial de Santander, “with the aim of carrying out in the short and medium term actions and activities that promote regional development, embodied within the guidelines and essential points of the regionalization policy of the Universidad Industrial de Santander, which was recently presented to the Academic Council by Professor Gonzalo Patiño Benavides. In this sense, several possibilities of research projects, courses and mobilities and academic-scientific exchange can be given between the Universidad Industrial de Santander and these institutions, which are also part of the northeastern region and part of the Colombian dry Caribbean,” said Professor Nelson Rodríguez López.
Among the key aspects discussed were issues related to “the dynamics of economic activity related to agribusiness, sustainable tourism and biotechnology applied to agricultural, environmental and industrial sectors. Also under discussion were processes related to the application of strategies associated with sustainability and energy transition and agricultural transition related to the use and application in these territories of technologies such as agro-photovoltaics as a sustainable alternative for integration between renewable energy and agricultural production, explained Professor Rodríguez López.
He emphasized that “possibilities related to the progress in agro-industrial development processes for the cultivation of fique in La Guajira, which is also another of the productive chains of interest, and restorative and regenerative family agriculture, were also analyzed”.
These meetings with directors and professors of these institutions of higher education also addressed relevant aspects of the development of sustainable agroforestry systems involving coffee, cocoa and the use of bio-inputs of interest for this region.
It is hoped that this will strengthen the ties of cooperation for the northeastern region between the public higher education institutions of Cesar and La Guajira and our Universidad Industrial de Santander,” said Professor Rodriguez Lopez.
