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

She took up her new post at the III RIdDU Meeting, which brought together dozens of ombudsmen (also known as ombudsmen or defenders) from partner higher education institutions in Rio de Janeiro. The organisation’s coordinator is now Dante Haro, from the University of Guadalajara (Mexico).

The participants in the meeting 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, lists Rosa Vasconcelos, who is also a professor at UMinho’s School of Engineering and vice-president of the global organisation IEEE Education Society.

RIdDu was set up in 2015 and, according to its statutes, thinks of the university for society, while today it also seeks to have society within the academy. The network brings together institutions from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Spain, El Salvador, Mexico, Panama, Peru and Portugal, which is represented by eight institutions: the universities of Beira Interior, Coimbra, Fernando Pessoa, Lisbon, Minho and Porto, the Polytechnic of Porto and the Manuel Teixeira Gomes Higher Institute. The next RIdDU meeting is in 2024, in Peru.

Congratulations to Professor Rosa Vasconcelos on this milestone and for internationalising the name of the University of Minho.