Before the end of 2024, education in Colombia has just felt a strong blow, after the efforts of international cooperation will be in vain to build the new headquarters of the National University in the municipality of Tumaco, Nariño.
The Invest International organization confirmed that it took away from Colombia the donation of 12 million euros that they had allocated to support the work, which would strengthen access to higher education in the Colombian Pacific. The decision would be due to the constant non-compliance that would have occurred with the work of the academic center.
In a three-page letter addressed to the Minister of Education, Daniel Rojas, and the rector of the National University, Leopoldo Múnera, Invest International ratified its decision to suspend participation in the project to build the headquarters in Tumaco. In addition, they explained that the Minister of Foreign Trade and Development of the United Kingdom ended that donation known as ‘Orio’.
“The project was reviewed by our Investment Committee (IC) as part of Invest International’s internal procedures related to the periodic evaluation of the entire portfolio of our grant-funded projects, and the IC decided to suspend our participation. For this reason, Invest International did not continue its evaluation of the Final Assessment Reports and will not provide you with a SoNO. (or a Declaration of Objection),” the international organization reported in a statement.
For this reason, they detailed that “despite our mutual efforts, the project could not meet the mutually agreed final deadline for signing the works and audit contracts, and the obligations contracted under the donation agreement remain unfulfilled.”
After the withdrawal of the donation became known, the director of Unal, Leopoldo Múnera, He published a statement on his X account in which he explained that for 8 years he has tried to maintain cooperation between the parties, since the agreement for the operation and maintenance of the ‘Tumaco-Pacífico-Campus’ project was signed.
However, regarding Invest’s decision, Múnera explained that “it was taken despite Colombia’s statement on November 15, 2024, and the dialogues held between the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.”
