International USC

Cooperation between Spain and South American, Saharan Africa and Mediterranean countries as regards science and research within the AECID programme is aimed at strengthening the coordination and coherence of the cooperative development policies with the science and technology policies, by facilitating interactions between the Master Plan for Spanish Cooperation (2005-2008) and the National Plan for Scientific Research, Development and Technological Innovation (2008-2011), in order to drive and foster stable links for research and teaching between university groups and scientific bodies in Spain and South America. The offer of grants will promote the undertaking of combined research and teaching projects, as well as complementary and integrated actions to strengthen the Interuniversity Cooperation Programme (ICP).

The overall aim of this programme is to strengthen the institutions and structures that support the system of science, technology and innovation, by the establishment, development and consolidation of stable networks for scientific and research cooperation, between combed groups from the Spanish Universities and organizations and other countries, in priority areas for bilateral cooperation of Spain with each of them.

As regards the existing categories, the main modifications in the 2009 ICP call are as follows:

- Category A, Research: must now be linked to development objectives, defined and prioritized by the counterpart.

- Category B, Training: aimed at specialized training programmes, linked to demands and priority needs defined by member countries.

- Category C, now denominated PREPARATORY ACTIONS, will be aimed at fostering mobility and exchange of information for preparing cooperative university projects that will be competitive within any of the other categories in the next ICP call.

- Category D, Integrated actions for Strengthening of Institutions, will receive more resources than in the previous year, and may include grants related to the project objectives. The following objectives will be taken into consideration in assessing Category D grant applications:

• Improvement and modernization of academic management
• Strengthening of important lines of research and scientific innovation
• Support for infrastructures of general use
• Libraries and documentation
• Promotion of ITC and distance learning
• Other objectives of value to the institutions involved