University leaders from Spain and Chile signed a joint declaration at La Laguna on the 20th, setting out cooperation on training and shared capacity. The next summit will take place in Chile in 2028.
The declaration casts university cooperation as a response to uncertainty and fragmented knowledge. Leaders from Spain’s CRUE and Chile’s CRUCH signed it at the closing session of a summit hosted by the University of La Laguna in Tenerife on 20 October 2026.
Julián Garde López-Brea, president of CRUE and rector of the University of Castilla-La Mancha, signed alongside Osvaldo Corrales Jorquera, executive vice-president of CRUCH and rector of the University of Valparaíso. The document was adopted at the II Encuentro de Rectoras y rectores España Chile: Una alianza universitaria al servicio de las personas y de Iberoamérica. The meeting took place on 19 and 20 October within Campus América 2026, which ran from 19 to 30 October. It followed the first Spain-Chile rectors’ forum, held in Santiago in April 2025. Around 40 rectors and rectoras from Spain and Chile attended the opening. Chile was the partner country for the 2026 edition of Campus América, a biennial University of La Laguna initiative promoting academic and scientific ties with Latin America, alongside cultural ties.
The declaration’s closing commitment says the universities of Chile and Spain have chosen cooperation amid uncertainty. It presents the sharing of capacity as a response to fragmented knowledge and calls for common responses to global challenges. Its priorities include joint research and academic mobility, alongside open science and internationalisation. The text also calls for shared educational programmes. It sets out a shared direction rather than creating a separate programme, budget or new regulatory framework.
The meeting’s agenda addressed the role of universities amid technological and social transformation. Topics included curriculum renewal and lifelong learning, as well as research and innovation. The agenda also covered knowledge transfer and scientific diplomacy, alongside the use of artificial intelligence in higher education. CRUE president Garde called for progress towards a common academic space between Chile and Spain that could become a reference point for Ibero-American cooperation. He described the partnership as a strategic, durable alliance serving society. Its priorities include transforming education and sharing opportunities, while protecting the university’s public mission.
At the closing session, University of La Laguna rector Francisco Javier García Rodríguez urged institutions to focus efforts on areas with the greatest potential. Garde praised the conference sessions and thanked the host university for its welcome. He also thanked CRUCH for its collaboration. He said the partnership had made progress and could advance further.
Marcela Momberg Alarcón, executive alternate vice-president of CRUCH and rector of Universidad Católica, also took part in the closing event. Nuria González Álvarez, president of Crue Sostenibilidad and rector of the University of León, read the declaration alongside Corrales and Momberg. The cross-border agenda differs from domestic education disputes such as the Madrid teachers’ row, which centred on public-school teachers’ protests.
The organisers announced that the third summit will be held in Chile in 2028.
