'Universidad de La Habana is one of Latin America's oldest and most prestigious universities. The university is an outstanding partner for us, one with whom we can achieve good exchanges in research and teaching, strengthen our Latin America focus and enhance student mobility,' said President Burkhard Freitag. The next steps will be to establish exchanges at the doctoral and postdoctoral levels and a staff mobility exchange. President Freitag added that he considers scholarship programmes for Cuban doctoral candidates to be another important pillar for the partnership. The University of Passau also envisages setting up a double master's programme with La Habana.
Following the signing of the framework agreement, the Cuban guests held talks with professors from all faculties. Professor Ursula Reutner, Vice President for International Relations, commented on the highly positive mood of all participants. 'The agreement allows us to see the transformational processes underway in Cuba first-hand and explore these in relevant research projects.' The visit was made possible with the support of the Hanns Seidel Foundation.