The European Capacity Building in Higher Education programme has assigned the University of Cadiz as the coordinator of the project “Development of psychological and psychopedagogical support services in Angolan universities” (AngoSAP).
This is a highly competitive programme funded by the European Union, for which 790 applications have been submitted.
The Erasmus+ Capacity Building in Higher Education programme supports the modernisation, accessibility, and internationalisation of higher education in partner countries outside the EU.
The project awarded to the UCA involves four Universities from Angola (Universidade Óscar Ribas, Universidade do Namibe, Universidade Lueji Ankonde and Escola Superior Pedagógica do Bié) and one from Germany (Hochschule RheinMain), in addition to Spain represented by the coordination established at the UCA. It should be noted that AngoSap has a budget of €362,253 to be developed over three years.
The main objective of the project is to create a psychological and psychopedagogical care service at the four universities in Angola, providing them with the necessary infrastructure and training for human resources to operate, drawing on the experience and best practices developed by the existing SAP (Psychopedagogical and Psychological Care Service) at the University of Cádiz.
The first consortium kick-off meeting took place on March 6 and 7, 2024, at the Universidade Óscar Ribas in Luanda, Angola. During this meeting, the six participating project partners established the work agenda, project deadlines and evidence of execution, the planning of specialised training, and each partner's responsibilities in the project's development. Furthermore, the meeting was attended by the heads responsible for the implementation of the project from each university, as well as Psychology specialists who will be able to implement the SAP in their respective universities.
A visit was also made to the Gregorio Semedo Polytechnic Institute in Lubango on 8 and 9 March, where work is already underway on new proposals for international cooperation.
From the University of Cádiz, the project was attended by its coordinator, Jose I. Navarro Guzmán, and Álvaro Rodríguez Mora, both from the UCA's Department of Psychology, as well as Mariló Gómez Domínguez, a technician from the Vice-Rectorate for Internationalisation. It is estimated that the next meeting will take place at the University of Cádiz at the end of 2024.