The New York Public University Systems, the leading urban public university in the United States, announced the signing on Friday, 7 December 2018, of multilateral academic collaborations with the Ministry of Education (MINERD) and the Ministry of Higher Education (MESCYT) of the Dominican Republic. Leaders from the City University of New York (CUNY) and the State University of New York (SUNY) met on 7 December 2018, for the signing of the agreement with Dominican Republic Education Minister Andres Navarro and Higher Education Minister Alejandrina German. Also attending were New York Representative, Dominican-born Adriano Espaillat and Dominican Republic consul general Carlos Castillo. The agreement calls for a series of academic collaborations.
Speaking at the event, New York State Secretary of State Rossana Rosado called the agreement“a great opportunity for New York’s CUNY and SUNY students to learn, develop and strengthen ties with the Dominican Republic.”
The CUNY Board of Trustees Chairperson William C. Thompson Jr. concurred: “Just as Dominicans constitute the largest immigrant group in the five boroughs, they represent the largest ethnic group in the university, with more than 22,500 undergraduates and 1,200 graduate students who comprise 8.7 percent of CUNY’s total enrollment. In an important sense, then, we are all one people – and it will behoove us all to make the most of this great opportunity.”
As reported, the initiative was spearheaded by Representative Espaillat and will enable colleges and universities to develop teacher trainings, academic exchange programs and collaborative research in the areas of energy and the environment, management and mitigation of disasters, and information and communication technologies, among others. CUNY and SUNY have an enrollment of an estimated 40,000 students of Dominican descent. At the signing, Espaillat said: “It remains critical that we work together to ensure a solid foundation for innovation, progress, and achievement to better prepare our students and teachers for a global competitive society today and in the future.”
Signing for the New York public university system at the ceremony held at the SUNY Global Center were: CUNY Board of Trustees Chairperson William C. Thompson Jr. and Interim Chancellor Vita C. Rabinowitz; SUNY Board of Trustees Chairman H. Carl McCall, and Sally Crimmins Villela, SUNY Associate Vice Chancellor for Global Affairs. They were joined by Espaillat, Castillo, Higher Education Minister Alejandrina Germán and Vice Minister Victor Sánchez of the Dominican Ministry of Education.
It was explained that each New York university system will enter into an independent agreement with each Dominican ministry, with the agreement providing a framework for future arrangements between the individual universities and colleges in each system. In practice, each institution will explore ways in which they might develop academic cooperation through future projects, programs and activities. These could include the development of refined trainings for primary and secondary school teachers; exchange initiatives that provide academic and professional experiences; and sharing of academic and scientific information of mutual interest, and participation in international networks and events.
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