With the goal of providing a job opportunity for young people from Cuba, UCAM has initiated a new training course in the Caribbean country. A large group of students have started their classes in the fields of business, gastronomy and hospitality, as part of the 8th edition of the project 'La Moneda Cubana: Training Programme for Young People', which is coordinated by the Murcian university, through which they will obtain qualifications equivalent to those of Vocational Training. As a novelty, this year there will be a Higher University Course in Financial Economic Management and Marketing.

The official ceremony to launch this course took place this week, presided over by María Dolores García, UCAM president, accompanied by Ángel Aguilera, director of the “La Moneda Cubana” Project; Antonio Alcaraz, academic coordinator of the Project and vice-rector of University Extension, and Gonzalo Wandosell, dean of the Faculty of Economics and Business. The event was attended by members of the Cuban government, representatives of various Cuban institutions, professors, staff and graduates of the Project. The Universidad Católica de Murcia has been providing training in collaboration with various Cuban institutions since 2008 on the initiative of its founder, José Luis Mendoza.

A large group of young Cubans are being trained by UCAM in 'La Moneda Cubana'.

María Dolores García stressed that ‘there are many young people who have projected their hopes, their lives and their careers in this training in order to have a good professional career’. She recalled that this collaboration with Cuba began 15 years ago ‘thanks to the relationship between my husband, José Luis Mendoza, and the Dominican Order, with the aim of providing a service to the young people who came to the parish centre for training. There we began to offer studies in volunteering and social development’.

The UCAM president also valued the intense collaboration that has been in place with different Cuban institutions over the years, such as the University of Havana, the Oficina del Historiador, as well as the one that is currently underway with the Moneda Cubana.

Memorial Mass for the soul of José Luis Mendoza

As part of the acts of this institutional trip, the Cathedral of Havana hosted a Eucharist in memory of the founder of the Universidad Católica de Murcia, José Luis Mendoza, the driving force behind the extensive collaboration that exists between the University and Cuba, and which has led, among other things, to hundreds of young people from the Caribbean country without prior training, gaining access to the job market.

Members of the University at the end of the Eucharist in the Havana Cathedral.

After the celebration of the mass, the UCAM delegation had an affectionate meeting with Juan de la Caridad García, Archbishop of the Archdiocese of San Cristóbal de La Habana, with whom, according to the UCAM president, ‘we have a very good relationship; he is a man, a pastor, who is fully devoted to his diocesans’.

The UCAM president held a meeting with the archbishop of the Archdiocese of San Cristóbal de La Habana.

In addition, taking advantage of the stay in the Cuban capital, the university delegation took part in a homage to the historian Eusebio Leal Spengler, who died in 2020. During the event, María Dolores García presented a plaque to his family as a tribute to the Cuban intellectual, who had a close relationship with José Luis Mendoza.

In addition, a meeting was held with the management team of the Faculty of Biology of Havana and the Montaner Anthropological Museum, with the aim of launching training programmes in the areas of anthropology, health and nutrition in the near future.