El papel de la investigación desde la universidad para la cooperación y el desarrollo humano y social

Abstract

The importance of education and research regarding human and social development has been acknowledged since long in different international environments, ranging from the Stockholm Declaration of 1971, in particular in its principles 19 and 20, to the Worldwide Conference on Higher Education of 2009 held under the overarching theme The New Dynamics of Higher Education and Research for Societal Change and Development. As a matter of fact, this latteracknowledges that, specially in these times, investment in higher education becomes paramount, since it is one of the main actions that help to build an integrative society and to promote research. There are many experiences during the last years that leave no room for doubt that through their teaching activity and research universities help to eradicate poverty, foster sustainable development and give steps forward towards the achievement of the internationally agreed upon development objectives, for example, the so-called Millennium Development Goals and Education for All. Therefore, there is a need to define strategies that, on the one hand help to implement international research initiatives dealing with issues relating to society welfare,and on the other hand help to increase the number of international research teams. Nevertheless, if we really wish those strategies be beneficial for all of us, they should comply with equity principles regarding both access and results, foster quality and respect cultural diversity. Within the framework previously defined, this paper has a double objective: to review the contribution made by research to human and social development along time, and to spread the contributions from the research carried out by our team within this area.