This Friday, November 15, 2024, the University of La Réunion with 8 other partners from the Indian Ocean officially launched in Mauritius the "UNIOR" network (IORA Indian Ocean University Network) in the presence of the Secretary General of IORA, the Australian High Commission in Mauritius and the French Embassy in Mauritius.

The network is composed of Curtin University (Australia), University of Mauritius, Paramadina University (Indonesia), University of Pretoria (South Africa), Jawaharlal Nehru University (India), University of Dhaka (Bangladesh), University of Nairobi (Kenya) and University of Seychelles.

A flagship action of the IORAG Work Plan for Academic Cooperation and Research (2022-2027) agenda, the launch of this network is fully in line with the objectives of IORA (Indian Ocean Rim Association).

This network of Indian Ocean universities, unique in its attachment to a regional intergovernmental organization, aims to establish a dynamic regional academic platform offering collaboration in research and education to address sustainable development priorities, strengthen leadership and institutional capacities, and promote regional cooperation in the Indian Ocean.

Three goals

It pursues three objectives: to be a key IORA platform offering effective research and education collaboration to advance knowledge and address the specific sustainable development needs of the Indian Ocean region, as identified in IORA’s priority areas and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals; to train regional leaders, build institutional capacity and enhance the knowledge of the academic community in the Indian Ocean region through the sharing of expertise; and to support the building of the IORA region.

It follows a summer school organised by the universities of Curtin and Mauritius, in partnership with the coordinators of each of the 9 universities, including the University of La Réunion, which took part for the first time. Bringing together 18 students from each of the institutions, this multidisciplinary summer school offered a unique opportunity for them to "study international relations while practising international relations" and to develop intercultural knowledge and skills through the intervention of academics, diplomats and the presence of students from different cultural and political contexts of the Indian Ocean region.

With this ambitious project, the University of La Réunion is continuing the deployment of its university diplomacy policy in the Indo-Pacific region and its anchoring in its geographical area.