Hundreds of young Cubans have already managed to join the labour market thanks to the training provided by UCAM in Havana as part of the project 'La Moneda Cubana: Youth Training Programme'. 

This week, 200 students from the Caribbean country have graduated from UCAM as university technicians in cuisine and cookery, in the eighth edition of this training programme. The event, held at the Lázaro Peña Theatre in Havana, was attended by Ángel Aguilera, general coordinator of the Project; Antonio Alcaraz, academic coordinator and UCAM Vice-Rector of University Outreach, and Gonzalo Wandosell, UCAM Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Business. It was attended by local authorities such as Maikel Borrás, vice-president of the Asamblea Municipal del Poder Popular de la Habana Vieja; Eddy Fernández, president of the Federación de Asociaciones Culinarias de Cuba (Federation of Culinary Associations of Cuba), as well as representatives of the Ministry of Education and the Office of the Historian of Havana. 

This programme lasts two years and is comparable to Vocational Training in Spain. It is open to young Cubans who are not working and have no previous vocational training, who are studying under the auspices of UCAM to specialise in tourism, hospitality, gastronomy and languages. This training began in the Caribbean country at the initiative of the UCAM founder, José Luis Mendoza, and is now being continued by its president, María Dolores García Mascarell.  

Antonio Alcaraz valued ‘the positive attitude of the Cuban authorities towards the UCAM and the entire Moneda Cubana project with which we are very excited’, and announced the forthcoming signing of an agreement with the University of Havana ‘which will allow us to teach a double degree with this institution in some subjects that we are currently designing’.