During 4-21 July 2022, the Sino-German Center for Sustainable Development (CSD) and the University of International Business and Economics (UIBE) jointly organized a specialized course “Contribution of International Development Cooperation to Development Issues: South-South and Triangular Cooperation and the 2030 Agenda”, as part of UIBE’s Summer School Programme.
It was the third year that CSD supports the introduction of such a topic to UIBE students during the Summer School Programme. Professor Citlali Ayala Martinez from the Instituto Mora in Mexico delivered the interactive online-course to 35 Chinese students who completed the class successfully, despite the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic and ongoing travel restrictions.
This year’s course provided the students with a broad understanding of development and development cooperation with voices from both the Global North and South, knowledge and tools to understand development cooperation instruments. Prof. Ayala introduced the history, concepts and frameworks of international development cooperation. Additionally, students also learnt about the general framework of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the strategies some countries adopt to implement it.
“Cooperation beyond national boundaries is a pioneering work of human, but it is faced with the problem of nationalism and geopolitics.”
“Economic globalization makes it easier for different countries to cooperate in many aspects.”
— Students from UIBE
Professor Ayala encouraged the students to actively exchange ideas and engage in discussions. She brought in perspectives from different cultural backgrounds, making the class sophisticated and attractive. “The mechanisms we have in place are far more mature and complex than I expected, but we should also think about how come despite of these, not every nation has achieved progress in the areas of basic human needs.”, said one of the students.
Besides theoretical and conceptual inputs, the students were provided with practical insights and food for thought about bilateral, triangular and multilateral development cooperation.
With the conclusion of 2022 UIBE summer school course, over one hundred students have participated in the learning about sustainable development and international development cooperation jointly organized by CSD and UIBE. For highlights about the 2021 and 2019 programmes, please watch the video.
