Latin American Centre,

Based on its increasingly focused activities in Latin America as well as its long-standing relationships in the realms of science and culture, the FHNW fosters exchange and research cooperation between the Northwestern Switzerland educational area and the Latin American region with a particular emphasis on Colombia.

In the area of teaching (degrees and continuing education), the FHNW offers a raft of activities and programmes designed to provide students with international skills and improve their career prospects.

• Student exchange programmes: those studying economics, technology and art at the FHNW can spend a semester at one of 43 partner universities in Latin America.
• Student project work: students explore Latin American themes as part of supervised project work/internships (assignments, bachelor’s and master’s theses).
• Entrepreneurship Summer School: for several years, FHNW offered a two-week summer school on intercultural entrepreneurship in cooperation with EAFIT University (Colombia). The programme combined projects in the private, the non-profit and the sustainability sector. Classes were held in Basel and Medellín and were open to all FHNW students. The summer school is currently on hiatus, but serves as a benchmark for future projects in international higher education.
• CAS in Land Administration: in partnership with Switzerland’s State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), the FHNW Institute of Geomatics offers a continuing education programme for professionals in Colombia that is aimed at promoting the decentralisation of land administration and the re-surveying of the country.

Networks and activities facilitated by the FHNW in Latin America provide lecturers and researchers with myriad opportunities to collaborate in joint education and research projects with scientific partners in the region.

• Teaching assignments in cooperation with Latin American partners: lecturers have the option, e.g. as visiting professors, of undertaking teaching assignments of varying duration at one of our partner universities.
• Organisation and hosting of international conferences: the Institute of Geomatics organises the annual Geo-Python Conference for the geomatics research community: the three-day event offers users and developers of this popular geospatial programming language a chance to exchange ideas and experiences at the FHNW. The 2019 edition of the conference brought 200-plus participants from over 30 countries to Muttenz, including many from Latin America.
• Seminar and conference papers: FHNW staff are encouraged to present their know-how in the form of lectures and presentations at high-profile seminars and research conferences with a Latin American dimension, including those run by the Latin American Council of Management Schools (CLADEA) and the Conference of the Americas on International Education (CAIE).

• Consultancy project funded by SECO: as part of the Multipurpose System for Land Cadastres project, the FHNW School of Architecture, Construction and Geomatics has developed a land surveying projection system that supports the implementation of far-reaching land administration reforms in Colombia. April 2020 saw Colombia’s Geographic Institute Agustín Codazzi (IGAC) take the decision to use the FHNW’s projection system for all cadastral applications.
• Joint development of an educational institution: the FHNW is helping Colombia’s Universidad del Norte establish a college of art in Barranquilla by developing a curriculum for the degree programme in Cultural Entrepreneurship it is planning. The development process places art, design and the economy in symbiosis with aspects such as cooperation, co-creation and co-existence. The project is being piloted in 2021.
• Visiting professorship at the FHNW School of Life Sciences: the FHNW School of Life Sciences has maintained close links with the Universidad de Sonora in Mexico for many years. This takes the form of student exchanges and a visiting professorship at the School in the field of biomedicine and health sciences. The current incumbent is Prof. Dr. Aracely Angulo-Molina.

The FHNW is actively represented in Latin American networks by its staff.

The FHNW maintains relations with partner universities in Latin America.