National University of Asunción, founded in 1889, is the first institution of higher education, and also the oldest and the most traditional in the country. Currently it has 45,000 undergraduate students, 5,000 postgraduate students, 5,000 doctoral students and 100 full-time researchers. The university has offices in 12 departments of 17 in the country. It has the coordination of scholarships and academic mobility that is responsible for the management, dissemination and preparation of scholarships and announcement of international academic mobility.
National University of Asunción participates as a partner in Alfa, seven projects financed by the European Union. It participated in the Alfa III Program – Knowledge, Inclusion and Development, whose objective was to improve access to university education, in particular to lifelong learning of people in situations of social disadvantage, developing the connection and integration between University and the institutions, companies and social parties in the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), recipients of the intervention, through the crucial role of the universities in the design and implementation of the Pacts for Learning and Knowledge .
These projects are managed by the international relations office of our university called the International Relations Office within the General Postgraduate Office, directly depending on the Rectorate. It was structured in 2010 in order to strongly promote internationalization through participation in the various scholarship programs, academic mobility and partnership projects. Through the International Relations Office, participation in programs of:
- Academic mobility such as: ERASMUS, FUNDACIÓN CAROLINA (doctorates and research stays), MACROUNIVERSIDADES (mobility of degree and graduate studies), AUGM (mobility of degree, postgraduate and managers), MARK (mobility of degree for accredited careers in Mercosur), PAME UDUAL (mobility of degree), Pablo Neruda (mobility of postgraduate), and others.
- Cooperation projects financed by the European Union as a partner
- Observatory of networks of good practices of strategic management of universities in Latin America and Europe – TELESCOPI
- Knowledge, Inclusion, Development (Conocimiento, Inclusión, Desarrollo – CID)
- Integral Abandonment of University Management – (Abandono Integral de la Gestión Universitaria – GUIA)
- Building Capacity of University Associations in fostering Latin-American regional integration – Alfa Puente
- IES Integrated Information System in Latin America for Higher Education – INFOACES
- Interuniversity Framework Program Policy of Equity and Social Cohesion in Higher Education – RIAIPE 3
- Regional observatory on quality and equity of higher education in Latin America – ORACLE
Cooperation projects at the MERCOSUR level as coordinators
- Strengthening of the International Relations Offices as a strategy to improve institutional management and integration of the Higher Education Institutions of MERCOSUR – FORIs
- Strengthening Inclusion in Higher Education – FORIES
Capacity in Human Resources
This Directorate has three coordinations: coordination of academic mobility, coordination of project management and communication coordination, through which common actions are carried out with respect to UNA’s internationalization policies.
The coordination of project management has sufficient for technical and infrastructure capacity to manage projects, networks and associations, as well as to control and supervise them.
The coordination of academic mobility has sufficient for technical experience for the preparation, dissemination and management of scholarships and announcement of international mobility. The international relation office has extensive experience in this field and currently manages an interesting flow of foreign students. Within it our university has a supporting role to other academic units.
The coordination of the communication is responsible for the activities of dissemination of open announcement to the academic community, and establishes internal and external communication channels of our directorate of international relation.
These three areas of work are coordinated in an effective way so that the university participates in international cooperation networks, in the process of insertion of the academic community into international mobility, with the constant support of the authorities.
This organization has the infrastructure and qualified human resources for the internationalization activities of the academic community.
For the budget administration, it has a General Directorate of Administration and Finance that works in coordination with the management and the resources received are oriented to the specific assignments for the activities to be carried out within the framework of international cooperation.