CLACSO-National University of San Luis Cooperation

On Friday, October 30, CLACSO signed a cooperation agreement with the National University of San Luis in Argentina. Representing the Latin American Council of Social Sciences were Karina Batthyány, Executive Secretary; Pablo Vommaro, Director of Research; and Gonzalo Basile, Co-coordinator of the CLACSO Working Group on International Health and Health Sovereignty. Representing UNSL were Héctor Flores, Vice-Rector; Ana María Garraza and Luján Correa, Dean and Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences; and Daniel Lozza, Coordinator of the Chair of Community Health and Well-being at the Faculty of Social Sciences.

Ana María Garraza emphasized the honor that the agreement with CLACSO represents for the university in the province of San Luis, because the joint work can "be approached from various perspectives, from research, from academic training, from outreach, and, fundamentally, from exchange and interaction between different realities. Of course, this will be beneficial for the members of our academic unit in all its departments."

Karina Batthyány , in turn, conveyed her “pleasure at moving forward with this cooperation agreement with the National University of San Luis. For CLACSO, working with the various public universities in the region that make up our network is of particular importance. Furthermore, we already have two member centers from this University in the CLACSO network, which today has more than 700 centers in total.” She added that this agreement “in the area of ​​health is a topic that has always been important to CLACSO—which is why, among other things, we have working groups dedicated to this issue—but which today acquires a particular relevance that I don't need to explain given the current situation… The approaches obviously transcend the purely health-related dimension, understanding health in its various dimensions, which, of course, include social dimensions in the broadest sense.”

Pablo Vommaro added that this type of agreement with public universities helps "promote, among other dimensions, research at CLACSO through working groups, research, training, publications and other areas of action... CLACSO is committed to public science, to free attendance and to pertinent, situated, relevant, rigorous, and committed research," which will be reinforced with this agreement, he concluded.

Finally, Héctor Flores considered that “this is a way to initiate a special relationship with CLACSO” and shared his vision of “a different view of the University, an open University, a University connected to the community, which is why this year we have strengthened ties with many local institutions. We are working with unions, intermediary organizations, the municipality, and various institutions linked to sectors such as disability and senior citizens. All of this has enriched us because we are convinced that we are not only going to transmit knowledge or teach, we are also going to learn.”