The Student Ombudsman at the University of Minho and President of the Portuguese Network of Student Ombudsmen (RPE),  Rosa Vasconcelos, has been elected coordinator of the Ibero-American Network of University Ombudsmen (RIdDU), which brings together 70 academies from 11 countries.

She took office for the 2025-2027 term during the 5th RIdDU Meeting, which brought together dozens of ombudsmen (also called ‘ombudsmen’ or ‘defenders’) from partner higher education institutions in Mexico City a few days ago. Rosa Vasconcelos is the first Portuguese woman to lead this body and had already been vice-coordinator for the two-year term that has now ended.

The participants reflected on the role of ombudsmen in promoting and guaranteeing human and university rights, access to education, and academic autonomy. They also addressed democratic values and the culture of peace in the face of global challenges such as social inclusion, the climate emergency, artificial intelligence, and extremist movements, according to Rosa Vasconcelos, who is also a professor at the UMinho School of Engineering and vice-president of the global organisation IEEE Education Society.

RIdDU was founded in 2015 in Córdoba (Argentina) and brings together institutions from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Spain, El Salvador, Mexico, Panama, Peru and Portugal. Our country has nine members in RIdDU: the universities of Beira Interior, Coimbra, Fernando Pessoa, Lisbon, Minho and Porto, the polytechnic institutes of Beja and Porto, and the Manuel Teixeira Gomes Higher Institute. The next RIdDU meeting will take place in Portugal in 2026.