The European University, together with the Embassy of Paraguay in Portugal and IPDAL - Institute for the Promotion of Latin America and the Caribbean, promoted the event "Paraguay's challenges as a tourist destination" on February 20, which was attended by the Minister of Tourism of Paraguay, Angelita Duarte de Melillo.
One of the aims of the meeting was to give European University tourism students the opportunity to present their ideas on the subject of Paraguay as a tourist destination, as part of the active Challenge Based Learning methodologies that are part of the European University's academic model. In addition to the Paraguayan Minister of Tourism, the event was attended by the Rector of the European University, Hélia Gonçalves Pereira, the coordinator of the Tourism and Hospitality area at the European University, Sofia Almeida, the President of IPDAL, Paulo Neves, and the Paraguayan Ambassador to Portugal, Julio César Duarte Van Humbeck.
The EU and IPDAL have a long-standing relationship in which, over the years, Latin American countries have presented challenges to tourism students. Recognizing this relationship, whose main objective is to promote models of cooperation with the emerging countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, the Paraguayan Minister of Tourism took advantage of her visit to Portugal to visit the European University.
"The EU's focus is to promote collaboration between students and foster the development of sustainable tourism. The EU's cooperation is embodied in our academic model, as we comprehensively incorporate the SDGs into the curriculum to provide an education aligned with the principles of sustainable development, promote global understanding through international collaboration by encouraging student participation in sustainable tourism projects, and adopt an interdisciplinary approach to address the challenges of sustainable tourism from diverse academic perspectives," says EU Rector Hélia Gonçalves Pereira.
Every two years, the European University challenges IPDAL to invite Latin American and Caribbean countries to come to the university to present their challenges to the students. Last year, representatives from nine countries came, resulting in 31 groups working with the involvement of more than 100 students. The students presented their projects in Poster format (A2).