The added value of the university is expressed through four characteristics:
- ULB-Cooperation is “anchored” in its university, i.e. present on the campus, in regular collaboration with the various ULB actors.
- It is “scholarly“, i.e. it undertakes actions on a scientifically objective basis, plans its actions in a logical sequence, associates research with actions in the field, calls on experts, collaborates in the writing of publications, etc.
- ” Intermediary“, i.e. facilitating and maintaining links between academic and civil society actors, allowing scientists to benefit from the expertise of local populations/actors, and vice versa.
- “Innovative“, i.e. initiating action research, promoting an interdisciplinary approach, generating new knowledge, offering a creative perspective. In a transversal way, it is the management of knowledge that is at the heart of our university identity, and it is on this question that we work, to build proposals for useful and effective practices.
In concrete terms, our health projects are a fertile ground for research and action research that feed the creation of useful knowledge. Whether it is a question of thinking about a more appropriate supply of health care in a highly urbanized environment, or the path towards the establishment of universal health coverage, the collaborators of ULB-Cooperation are mobilized to think about and produce elements that will make it possible to improve the living conditions of populations. In agri-environment, trainees, students and doctoral students have access to land that is a source of multiple experiments in agronomy, sustainable environment, sociology… In Burkina Faso, a partnership around a university research project is addressing issues of protected area management by balancing the sometimes divergent needs of the parties involved. Issues related to the monitoring and evaluation of cooperation projects, ways of approaching and inciting change at societal levels are also areas of training and active reflection.
In a transversal way, the question of knowledge management is at the heart of the university’s identity, in order to build practical and efficient proposals on the way to societies that respect fundamental rights and equitable international relations.
