Established in 1956, the Universidad Nacional del Sur is a public university located in the city of BahÃa Blanca, 700 km South of Buenos Aires, and it is the oldest university in the Patagonia region. Teaching and research activities are organized into 16 academic departments that offer 60 undergraduate programs and 50 high quality post-graduate programs. Scientific research at the Universidad Nacional del Sur is strongly linked to regional issues and leading actors are usually recognized by academic, political and social institutions throughout the country. In addition, several professors and researchers are members of internationally relevant associations and work as visiting professors and lecturers at other universities, both in Argentina and abroad.
Many UNS professors carry out their research work at the institutes established by agreement with the National Board for Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET), the largest national body for scientific and technological research in the country. At present, there are 12 dual structure (UNS-CONICET) research centers, some of them related to the area covered by this project.
During the last ten years, the UNS has begun an internationalization process that implies the development and implementation of a policy of openness to the world. In order to achieve this goal, the UNS is developing several activities to promote mobility of undergraduate and postgraduate students, academic staff, and researchers; participation in regional and international networks; collaborative work with strategic partners in several regions of the world; development of academic postgraduate programs; subscription of agreements with foreign institutions; implementation of joint research projects with groups in other countries; creation of an English as a Foreign Language program for local students and of a Spanish as a Foreign Language program for international students; internationalization of the curricula of the different careers and promotion of undergraduate double degrees and postgraduate co-tutelle programs.
The UNS is very active in several university associations in Latin America and EUROPE, such as AUGM; UDUAL; OUI; AUIP; Red ORION and Red ALCUE (Universidad-Empresa)
It is highly important for the UNS to be able to continue participating in Erasmus programs since EMA2 and Alfa had a great impact on our students, especially at post-graduate level, and on capacity building for young professors and researchers in different disciplines. UNS large experience in Erasmus Mundus consortia, Alfa and now in Erasmus+ could help smaller or less experienced HEIs and also the coordinating university.