The Transformation for Sustainable Local Development (TODOS) project is an international and inter-regional cooperation initiative aimed at transforming higher education by enhancing its relevance to sustainable local development. The consortium brings together six universities and three national quality assurance and accreditation agencies from Cuba, Costa Rica, and Mozambique, with the support of four European institutions recognized for their expertise in fostering innovation, quality, and modernization in higher education. This partnership establishes an exchange platform among institutions in Europe, Africa, the Caribbean, and Latin America, facilitating the sharing of knowledge, experiences, and best practices.
The project's overall objective is to transform the relationship between universities and society by fostering academic and educational responses aligned with local needs and the challenges of sustainable local development. To achieve this goal, the project is structured around three key pillars: curricular innovation for sustainable local development; the professional development of university faculty as agents of transformation; and the strengthening of quality assurance, accreditation, and certification systems with a focus on social relevance.
Key specific objectives include the implementation of educational initiatives that strengthen the interaction between the university and society, the training of faculty to develop competencies geared toward the transformation of territories, and the design of indicators to evaluate, accredit, and certify various educational experiences, based on the significance of the link between the university and the local context.
Joaquim Chissano University participated in the First General Meeting of the TODOS Project, held from September 8 to 10, 2025, in Havana, Cuba, represented by Prof. Ana Nhampule, Dr. Erasmo Mabunda, and Dr. Genoveva Bene. The meeting brought together the consortium's partner institutions to assess the project's implementation progress, harmonize working methodologies, and define priority actions for subsequent phases.
In the context of curricular innovation for sustainable local development, national assessments regarding priority transversal competencies were presented and discussed, identifying both commonalities and specificities among the participating countries. Partners agreed on the structure and key content of the assessment report and refined the mapping of the relationship between universities and their respective territories.
