The University of Oviedo will coordinate an Erasmus Mundus-Action 2 project titled "PUEDES"-Participación Universitaria para El Desarrollo Económico y Social en Latinoamérica (University Participation for the Economic and Social Development in Latin America). The Erasmus Mundus-Action 2 project, entirely funded by the European Commission, seeks to promote academic mobility and cooperation in the field of higher education, allowing European universities to create a Consortium with universities in other countries to offer mobility grants from and to Europe.

In the case of "PUEDES", the University of Oviedo leads a plan made up by a total of 20 associates in which 6 European universities take part, located in Germany, France, Greece, Italy, Poland and the United Kingdom, and 13 Latin American Universities, located in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Paraguay and Peru. The application also incorporates another 6 universities from Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Cuba as associates to the project.

"PUEDES" has a budget of over 4 million euros that will fund the mobility grants for university Undergraduate and Postgraduate (Master's Degree and PhD) students, researchers and administrative staff. The mobility between Europe and Latin America, and viceversa, will take place between the 2014-2015 and the 2016-2017 academic years, with a duration of 6 to 36 months.

During this period, 141 mobility grants will be offered in Latin America to 108 students, 20 researchers and 13 members of the administrative staff, as well as 49 mobility grants from Europe to 40 students, 7 researchers and 2 members of the administrative staff. The grants will cover the expenses for food and accommodation, mobility, health insurance and enrolment, if applicable. The amount of the grants ranges from €1,000 to €2,500 per month.

"PUEDES" is a project that is also designed paying much attention to the development of the regions that are identified in the call as "the most underpriviledged ones" in the Latin American countries of the Consortium, so 7 universities belong to these regions in Argentina, Colombia, Mexico, Paraguay and Peru. Moreover, places are reserved for students who find themselves in a very vulnerable situation.

The places for mobility offered touch upon all the fields of knowledge, but priviledge those that are deemed the most important for the social and economic development of the participating countries: Business Administration and Management, Engineering and Technology, Law, Medical Sciences and Social Sciences.

In the same call that has just been resolved, two other proposals in which the University of Oviedo participates as a member of the Consortium have been selected: the "EUREKA" project, coordinated by the Carl von Ossietzky University of Germany for mobility with Latin America, and the "SWAP AND TRANSFER" project, coordinated by the University of Trento of Italy for mobility with South-Eastern Asia.

Thus, the University of Oviedo currently participates in 5 Erasmus Mundus-Action 2 projects, since, alongside the leadership of the "PUEDES" program and the participation in the aforementioned other two programs, it is also involved in the "MEDASTAR" Erasmus Mundus-Action 2 project, which was funded in 2011 and offers students mobility towards Lebanon and Egypt, and as an associate in the MOVER project, coordinated by the University of Murcia and directed at Asian mobility.

All these projects will contribute to the international recognition of the University of Oviedo and to an increase in the number of international students that each year come to our academic institution.