From December 3 to 14, 2024, the University of Osnabrück (UOS) hosted the winter school entitled “Ecotourism as a tool for social-ecological sustainability in Costa Rica and Germany”. UTN was represented by an outstanding delegation from different campuses and careers. The participating academics were:
- M.Ed. Brenda Ordoñez Noguera, professor of English at the Pacific Campus.
- Jenny Peña Leiva, professor of Ecotourism Management and Humanistic Education from the Guanacaste Campus.
- Dr. Fabricio Camacho Céspedes, professor of Forestry and Wildlife Engineering at the Atenas Campus.
- Dr. Gabriela Montes de Oca Vásquez, director of the Center for Sustainable Development Studies (CEDS).
In addition, six selected students from the Pacific, Atenas and Guanacaste campus participated, who took advantage of this opportunity to enrich their academic training in an international environment.
During the school, UTN academics, together with UOS professor-researchers, gave several lectures to both UTN and UOS M.Ed. in Geography teaching students. Among the UOS academics were Prof. Dr. Claudia Pahl-Wostl, Prof. Dr. Susanne Schlünder, Dr. Johannes Halbe and M.Ed. Dennis Wilke. Furthermore, academic tours to the Emsland Museum, the Bremerhaven Climate House and the Haltern water plant provided the participants with practical experience in applied contexts.As part of this activity, a meeting was held with Dr. Esteban Durán, coordinator of the Costa Rica Center of the UOS International Office. This meeting allowed strengthening institutional ties and exploring future collaborations between both universities, focused on academic exchange and joint projects.
This event marked an important milestone in the cooperation and articulation between UTN and UOS, facilitating not only the development of skills and knowledge in a global context, but also promoting new opportunities for research and social and ecological sustainability.