DIEGO project answered to the necessity to cover the growing request of energy in Latin America with clean and sustainable sources and to have new professionals able to effectively operate in the sector. All countries involved in DIEGO have a great potential in term of renewable energy generation. The National Governments are promoting national laws to support RES adoption, mainly of small systems, which can contribute to the reduction of poverty and security of supply, meeting the energy needs also in remote areas.The main objective of DIEGO project was to improve the capacities of n. 6 Universities in Latin America (n.2 in Guatemala, n.1 in Uruguay and n.3 in Argentina) on renewable energy, energy efficiency and sustainability, training new experts prepared for the labor market. The European partners (Sapienza University of Rome, University of Cadiz and University of Cyprus) contributed, among other activities, in the development of the courses, in the training of local experts and in the management of the action.DIEGO, according to the specific needs of the Universities, focused on the development of six modules on renewable energy as Solar Photovoltaic, Solar Thermal, Wind Energy, Biomass and Geothermal, Energy Efficiency and Emerging Technologies. More than 100 students have been trained and 26 of them had the opportunity to do a 6 weeks Internship in Europe.The project met all the objectives and produced the following outputs and results: - n. 1 Report about Universities needs and 1 report on “Local needs and national status on renewable energies”.- n. 1 manual on “Methodology for the development of courses on RES” - n. 107 participants to the one-day seminar on Bologna process- 17 bilateral agreements signed by consortium members, - One-week course held at UNIROMA1 on Universities internationalization (13 staff members trained)- n. 6 syllabus and didactic materials developed specifically for each LA universities- n. 6 DIEGO courses accredited into the 6 LA universities- n.1 didactic laboratory set up / improved in each LA university including Video conference tools- n. 2 e-modules delivered on MOOC platform (finalized by 264 students)- n. 215 students selected and successfully approved at least one DIEGO course- n. 26 best students selected in the LA university participating in n. 6 weeks of intensive courses in Europe- n. 5 final conferences organized within the LA universities (n. 227 participants in total)- n. 8 international project meetings- Scientific and dissemination papers followed DIEGO implementation as well as planned joint courses and new collaboration among participants Universities.The Consortium is planning to submit new projects on forecasting calls and to improve the scientific collaboration (mobility of students and staff) also involving Universities in rural areas.

The main objective of the PONCHO project is to encourage the process of internationalization of Latin American Universities partners in the project, with special focus on the Universities of peripheral areas of the region, whose geographical position or the volume of students have been unable to develop their internationalization in the same way as capital universities or major universities in the region. The PONCHO consortium is then composed mainly with universities having no experience in project of capacity building (former Alfa) and only 4 Latin American institutions have experience: Asuncion, Goias, San Simon and Nacional del Sur. Hence the exchange of good practices from the more experienced partners to the not so experienced partners is highly valued in order to increase, not only EU-Third country cooperation, but also Third country-Third country cooperation.To develop its objectives, PONCHO will work at three levels: at technical level: through the training of the IROs staff; at academic and students level: through the organization of Info days and Students Camp where academics and students will receive training and awareness session to approach them to internationalization, intercultural and integration using non-formal training tools; and finally at institutional level: through an online platform and the organisation of International Fair where the institution will be able to develop on one side their support process for a good internationalization and on the other side, through international marketing and network, to increase their international presence. The focus of active participation and collaborative decision making of the project will be implemented in the preparation, management, dissemination and optimization and quality control and through the PONCHO platform the consortium will not only be able to work together but also to develop new collaborations with other universities of the region.