As part of the collateral program of the event, a group of 42 academics holding Master’s and Doctorate degrees from the universities of Maryland and George Washington (United States), met with their counterparts from the Manuel Fajardo University of Physical Culture and Sports Sciences (UCCFD).
The visitors learned first hand about the work of this institution, which is about to celebrate its 50th anniversary, a dream come true by the historic leader of the Revolution, Fidel Castro, and which has graduated more than 4,000 foreign professionals from all five continents.
We came to participate in this exchange. We have been very inspired by the way Cuba trains its physical education students and we hope to continue with this dialogue, the educators said.
In this regard, they discussed the most practiced sports in their country, including American football, basketball, athletics and baseball, which is very expensive to train due to the high cost of equipment.
The US delegation is headed by PhD. Laura Egel, who told Prensa Latina that they hope to continue to advance in projects of pedagogical alliances with Cuba in the sports field, and expressed the collective’s intention to continue to fight against the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States on Cuba for more than six decades.
In the academic field, the full professor and former president of the National Court of Scientific Degrees in Physical Culture and Sports Sciences, PhD. Ivan Roman, explained to the visitors how more than 418 doctoral theses were defended and 87 foreign students graduated between 2000 and 2021. Cuba pays special attention to this aspect, he said.
The director of International Relations at the university, Yosbany Velazquez, told Prensa Latina that the University of Cuban Sports has signed 135 international agreements, and undergraduate students from eight countries are being trained in the Bachelor’s Degree in Physical Culture and Sports.
The meeting, which will conclude on Sunday, has an intense program that consists of debates on such topics as sports and climate change, sports globalization and sports education in high competition, among others.
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