Global Partner Spotlights

Colombia

The most important institution in Colombia that the University of South Florida partners with is the Universidad Del Norte - a higher education institution that has characterized itself as one that meets the needs of Colombia's Caribbean region through its community relations, deep sense of ethics, transparency, and excellence in its academic, extension, and research activities. Universidad Del Norte (UniNorte, UdN) has a large number of academic programs supported by a solid faculty and research system that make great contributions towards the development and growth of its Colombian citizens. 

USF Professor Jose Zayas-Castro presenting at Catesra Global in Colombia at Universidad del Norte

Both Universidad del Norte (UniNorte) and the University of South Florida (USF) are entrepreneurial and innovative institutions with shared commitments to student success, faculty excellence, research that benefits society, and strategic global engagement. For over thirty years, UniNorte and USF have worked together, and in tandem with their local communities, foster deep and sustainable global linkages that serve to bolster economic prosperity, educational attainment, and people-to-people relationships. The partnership between the two universities is designed to promote peace and prosperity by fostering bonds and trust between people from different cultures. Universities play an important role in forging such global alliances by engaging people in dialogue, learning, and innovation.

What characterizes this partnership as innovative is its depth and breadth, as well as its multidisciplinarity. What began as personal relationships among engineering faculty thirty years ago has expanded into a large-scale, multidisciplinary partnership that involves students, faculty, staff, administrators, the Mayor’s offices from both cities, as well as the local business communities. The relationship has evolved from humble beginnings into a high impact, strategic partnership that advances not only the missions of both universities, but the goals of our respective municipalities and regions. 

Sister-city beginnings

Florida’s pivotal role as a gateway to Latin America and Colombia's long history of relations with the United States and strong ties to Florida make it a natural partner for the Tampa Bay region – where the University of South Florida is located. A third of Colombians living in the United States call Florida their home, and Colombia is among Florida’s top trade markets (imports and exports). Florida exports to Colombia are valued at more than $5 billion and are second only to Brazil (2023).

Sister Cities International, a nonprofit organization, created during the Eisenhower administration, is designed to promote peace and prosperity by fostering bonds between people from different communities around the world. President Eisenhower reasoned that if people from different cultures could understand, appreciate, and celebrate their differences while building partnerships, the chances for conflict would lessen. 

Founded in 1967, the Tampa Sister Cities organization was established to “promote peace through mutual respect, understanding, and cooperation—one individual and one community at a time." The Colombian city of Barranquilla represents Tampa’s first official Sister City (1968). Of Tampa’s twelve Sister City partnerships, its relationship with Barranquilla is by far the most impactful and networked in terms of business community activities, collaboration in higher education, city-to-city engagement by elected officials, and cooperation across stakeholders such as the Ports and Airports of Tampa and Barranquilla. 

In the spirit of the Sister Cities goal of building global connections, USF signed a formal partnership agreement with UniNorte (located in Barranquilla) in 1993. Emerging from pre-existing faculty relationships between professors in the Engineering schools, it started when both universities shared a mutual desire to strengthen and enrich educational and research experiences for both faculty and students. This long-lasting relationship reflects the goals of USF as a globally-engaged research university dedicated to student success, where faculty across the University have been encouraged to propose collaborative projects resulting in the creation of numerous academic transfer agreements and student exchange programs. Presently, this initial partnership has proven to be both sustainable and widely interdisciplinary, expanding from Engineering to encompass other academic fields and offer students a variety of programs of study:

    • General Agreement for Collaboration (1993)
    • Student Exchange Agreement (1999)
    • Agreement for Study Abroad Programs (2000)
    • ATA Framework for Undergraduate Programs (2005)
    • Dual Degree for B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Computer Sciences, Civil Engineering, or Electrical Engineering (2005 – 2010)
    • Dual Degree for B.A in Business Administration, Marketing, Management, or Finance (2014)
    • Dual Degree for B.A International Studies and B.A. in Political Sciences (2017)
    • Dual Degree for B.A in Psychology (2017)
    • Dual Degree for B.A in Economics and B.S. in Quantitative Economics/Econometrics (2021)
    • Dual Degree for B.A in Communications (2023)
    • ATA Framework for Graduate Programs (2024)
    • Dual Degree, M.A. in TESOL (2024)
    • College of Medicine, Medical Clerkship & Observership Agreement (2020)

The USF-UdN programs consistently have an average of 15-20 students enrolled between the two institutions. More than 1,000 engineering students have been trained at USF, and more than twenty UniNorte former and current UniNorte professors have received doctoral degrees from USF and have returned to Colombia to conduct research and teach at UniNorte. 

expansion

Local Business Ties

Today, more than 100 students, faculty, administrators, and members of the local business community routinely travel to and from Barranquilla, and 200 students at USF and UniNorte connect via virtual global exchange experiences. Tampa Sister Cities, in partnership with USF, regularly hosts welcome events for students from UniNorte. 

At the local level, State and County/City sponsored trade missions, the activities of American Chambers of Commerce (AmChams), and the partnerships forged through the Sister Cities organization, serve to support and advance diplomatic, economic, and community collaboration. The partnership between the cities of Tampa and Barranquilla is supported by our elected officials, the diplomatic corps, the local business communities, and key anchor institutions in both cities including our universities, our respective ports and airports, and cultural organizations. The engagement is ongoing. For example, on the 46th anniversary of the signing of the original Sister City agreement, the mayors of Tampa and Barranquilla signed a reaffirmation of the Sister Cities Declaration in 2012. Sister City Proclamations on the 50th anniversary (2016), and again on the 58th anniversary (2024), recognize August 23 as the official Tampa-Barranquilla Day.  

Both cities have devoted resources to ensuring that reciprocal trade missions occur on a regular basis. These trade missions are designed to boost trade and foreign direct investment and create jobs both abroad and at home. The missions include not just business entities, but a variety of participants including representatives from the education, arts, and cultural sectors. One of the most important outcomes of regular visits is the opportunity to establish and sustain personal relationships. As former Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn stated: "People want to do business and engage with people they know and trust."

Faculty Professional Development

More than 30 faculty members at each institution have been engaged in documented research collaboration since 2014. At least 3 peer-reviewed journal articles are co-authored annually with sustained research collaboration in the areas of mechanical and chemical engineering, materials science, chemistry, social psychology, and social sciences. Collaborative virology and infectious disease research has been funded by COLCIENCIAS (Colombia’s NSF), and collaborative entrepreneurial activities have resulted in registered patents for PID controller designs and other innovations in mechanical, electrical, and industrial engineering. Research collaboration in biomedical engineering is currently robust and represents a relatively new vein of faculty and graduate student engagement.

Through an agreement between the UniNorte Language Institute and the University of South Florida in May of 2019, 16 research professors visited the Universidad del Norte for two weeks, to learn the Spanish language and develop a parallel agenda that establishes links with peers on research topics and of common interests. Ten different units at USF nominated colleagues ready to not only improve their basic Spanish but substantively contribute to the USF – UdN partnership and seek ways to strengthen our academic and research linkages. Since the COVID pandemic in 2020, virtual language exchange activities have also increased - especially in USF Health.

Virtual Exchange

The mission of the Virtual Global Exchange Program at USF is to provide all students with international experiences through virtual collaboration with peers from around the world. Faculty work in tandem with partners overseas to develop curriculum focused assignments and activities meeting not only the intended learning outcomes of their courses, but practical technical and intercultural communication skills by virtue of the collaboration. In addition to serving our students, these experiences can facilitate faculty professional development, deepen new and existing institutional collaborations, and provide the opportunity to network with colleagues from around the globe – mirroring the benefits of their students.

Operation Global Action | Operation Global Action (OGA) is a four-week high impact global learning experience focused on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Students work in small groups with peers from partner universities from around the world to design solutions to challenges presented by industry and non-profit groups around one or more of the UN SDGs. During the 2019-20 Academic Year, USF sponsored team challenges to address issues related to healthy oceans, food security, and gender empowerment. The onset of the pandemic in March of 2020 necessitated a pivot to online delivery of the program. UniNorte was the first partner university to offer support for virtual programming and encouraged their students to remain engaged, albeit virtually. As a result, more than 200 students participated in OGA – the majority from USF and UniNorte. 

Subsequent virtual challenges have centered on issues related to innovation through technology for social good. Students engage with industry at home and abroad by developing proposals for innovative products, ideas, and inventions related to a specific challenge. All students earn a “Global Innovator” micro-credential upon successful completion of the program. Post-pandemic, the program continues as a virtual global learning option under the joint supervision of USF and UniNorte and has evolved into a signature program for the two universities. The program helps students develop a wide range of transferable skills and exposes students to peers from other cultures, backgrounds, and disciplines who bring different viewpoints and skillsets to the challenge – an environment that is representative of the way that people collaborate in the workplace. The success of Operation Global Action is due in large part to the partnership between USF and UniNorte. 

Cultural Exchange

Catedra Global | Every year since 2015, USF and UniNorte come together in Barranquilla (virtually during the pandemic) for “Cátedra Global,” an international conference hosted by UniNorte. This annual event allows faculty, administrators, academic advisors, staff, as well as local business leaders, to explore new opportunities for cooperation, discuss ongoing programs and collaborations, and review and update strategic goals. This institutional program at UniNorte offers a space for academic and cultural engagement to strengthen the cooperative ties between the Colombian Caribbean, the Americas, and the other continents. Recognized for its continuous and profound analysis of political, economic, educational, and cultural issues related to the current situation of the Americas, Catedra Global promotes debate, analysis, and academic discussions at the highest level for the benefit of our students. This week-long conference serves USF with a space for recruitment opportunities, administrative discussions, and presentations on topics of mutual interest. Catedra Global is the perfect scene for administrators to take the chance to develop joint initiatives and deepen strategic planning for the following academic year. 

USF Jazz at UniNorte | USF Jazz, the premier student jazz group in the USF School of Music, has been invited to perform for Catedra Global multiple times. The team, made up of professors, students, and graduates of the USF School of Music program, along with UdN music students, perform for those present. Their cross-cultural experience iss exceptional, and often sets the scene for hundreds of Barranquilla residents to bid farewell to the Catedra Global. In 2018, it also served to open the twenty-second annual Barranquijazz. This is the most important jazz and Latin jazz festival in Colombia and the Caribbean, and has been held annually every September since 1997 in the city of Barranquilla, Colombia.

Innovation

Fulfilling a Need

Colombian businesses are increasing their presence and operations in the U.S. and in Florida, bolstering their need not just for English speakers, but for Colombians with actual living experience in the United States and knowledge of U.S. business practices. Universities serve as key producers (and exporters) of skilled talent and are essential to the economic vitality of their regions. Currently, USF supports over 100 Colombian students (most from UniNorte or Barranquilla) on Optional Practical Training in the U.S. – the vast majority of whom are employed in the fields of business and engineering. 

The Colombian-American Chamber of Commerce in Barranquilla (Barranquilla AmCham) collaborates closely with UniNorte and USF to sponsor business and training initiatives, educational programs, and projects aimed at promoting economic collaboration and bilingualism across Tampa and Barranquilla. Established in1998, the AmCham includes more than 180 companies as members and functions as an important connection to the Colombian business community for both USF and UniNorte.