This year marks the 31st anniversary of the University of South Florida’s academic partnership with the Universidad del Norte (UniNorte) in Barranquilla, Colombia. Barranquilla is Tampa’s oldest sister city, dating back to 1966. Both cities have worked together on projects related to civic engagement, art, culture, and education.
Both UniNorte and USF are entrepreneurial and innovative institutions with shared commitments to student success and faculty excellence.
What began as a collaboration between engineering faculty from both institutions has expanded into a robust, multidisciplinary partnership. “The relationship between USF and UniNorte is very special,” says Adriana Morales, USF’s Global Partnerships Administrator. “More than 400 undergraduate students from UniNorte have participated in the academic transfer programs across 11 academic programs and have gone on to graduate from USF.” Both UniNorte and USF are entrepreneurial and innovative institutions with shared commitments to student success and faculty excellence. According to USF World Vice President, Kiki Caruson, “students and faculty from both universities have benefitted from mobility across borders. Faculty from UniNorte have been professionally trained at USF, and faculty from USF have benefitted from language programs hosted by UniNorte. These virtual exchange collaborations allow students and faculty from both universities to connect in meaningful ways without travel.”
Currently, the partnership comprises 12 Academic Transfer Agreements involving 11 undergraduate programs from the Colleges of Engineering, Business and Arts and Sciences. These agreements have allowed UniNorte students to obtain a degree from USF, while many students from USF have visited UniNorte through short-term, semester exchange, faculty-led programs, clinical rotations, and language immersion programs. Graduates now work at companies such as Cummins Inc, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, Intel Corporation, and Dell Technologies. While the majority return to work in Colombia, 240 work in the United States and in 119 other countries including Australia, Spain, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Chile, Venezuela, and Bosnia & Herzegovina.
The partnership allows for opportunities for faculty members as well. In addition to USF PhDs who have gone on to work at UniNorte, USF faculty members and administrators have traveled to UniNorte to attend their annual international conferences known as Catedras. These misions allow faculty and administrators from both institutions to explore new opportunities for cooperation, recruit for ongoing programs and collaborations, and follow up on established strategic goals.
There are currently 40 UniNorte students at USF, and around 46 are expected to start in the upcoming Fall to pursue degrees in the fields of Engineering, Psychology, International Studies, Political Science, and Business. Katherine Acuna, graduate assistant at USF World and a former UniNorte employee, interviewed one of them, Maria del Pilar Villacob Rodriguez majoring in International Studies and graduating this May.
Rodriguez said she chose the International Studies Program because she felt like it aligned with her personality and skills. “I've always been very interested in the political and cultural environment that surrounds me, and I’ve had a very deep curiosity for other countries. I feel like the International Studies Program encapsulates all of that. Coming to USF has broadened my view of the world.” She emphasized the support she’s received in the program, “since the very beginning staff members and professors have been very close to us and have been very clear on the fact that they want to see us being successful both inside and outside of the classes.”
Gloria Coolman, a USF student who is currently doing a semester exchange at UniNorte is a double-major in Psychology and World Languages with a concentration in Spanish. “I’ve been able to improve my Spanish here so much just in the last three weeks. The people are amazing, the food is wonderful, and the campus is great!” she gushed in a recent video.
UniNorte also represents one of USF's top partners for our Global Classroom Initiative. In the 2022-2023 academic year, nearly 43% of USF students who participated in a Virtual Global Exchanges (VGE) were partnered with UniNorte students. Faculty from USF and UniNorte regularly combine forces to engage in VGE, allowing students to interact virtually, and work on collaborative projects. In addition to assisting students in meeting course learning objectives, these experiences provide students with opportunities for intercultural communication, technical skill building, and project management experience – all key career skills for the modern workforce and beyond.
Now the partnership is expanding. Recently, academic leadership, and a faculty member from UniNorte visited USF. Lourdes Rey, dean of the UniNorte Language Institute, met with faculty and representatives from USF’s College of Education and USF’s World Languages Department to discuss potential new collaboration for students at the graduate level. Meanwhile, Dr. Humberto Gomez, USF PhD alumni and current Graduate Programs Director at UniNorte, met with representatives from USF World, USF’s Office of Graduate Studies, and leadership from the College of Engineering to explore the development of new programs and strategies to enhance international recruitment.
Another recent visitor was USF PhD alumni, Dr. Maria Gonzalez, Assistant Professor at UniNorte’s College of Law, Political Science, and International Relations. Dr. Gonzalez participated as a panelist in USF’s Global Symposium: Mapping Contemporary Challenges in Latin America and the Caribbean sponsored by Institute for the Study of Latin America and the Caribbean (ISLAC).