PREFALC Programme

The France-Latin America-Caribbean Regional Programme (PREFALC)

Calls closed

Closed since

28 March 2024

L'appel est fermé depuis le 27 avril 2023

The France-Latin America-Caribbean Regional Programme(PREFALC) programme was created in 2003 by the Ministry of National Education, Higher Education, and Research (MENESR), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Development (MAEDI), and the Fondation Maison des Sciences de l’ Homme (FMSH). The French National Research Institute for Sustainable Development (IRD) has also been a key partner from 2007 until 2017.

This programme supports university cooperation projects between French, Latin-American, and Caribbean higher education institutions.

PREFALC provides a two-year funding scheme for the mobility of teams of researchers and lecturers from French higher education institutions looking to undertake master’s-level teaching placements in partnership with at least two Latin-American and/or Caribbean universities, in the following areas: the humanities and social sciences, information and communication sciences, agronomic and ecological sciences, physical and chemical sciences, medicine and human biology, mathematics, science of the earth and the universe, and engineering sciences.

OBJECTIVES:

To develop exchanges and training opportunities between higher education institutions from France, Latin America, and/or the Caribbean;
To support the mobility of researchers and lecturers to help them carry out master’s-level training seminars and units of study that are fully integrated into existing French, Latin-American, and Caribbean master’s programmes, eligible for ECTS (credit hours) accreditation or recognition of periods of study;
To strengthen institutional cooperation for higher education institutions and French engineering schools with their Latin-American and Caribbean partners by enabling synergies with pre-existing programmes (including the FITEC programme, ECOS, COFECUB, STIC & MATH AMSUD, ERASMUS, etc.);
To foster the development of a pool of future PhD students in partner institutions;
To promote the regional dimension of university cooperation by going beyond the purely bilateral framework and creating lasting academic networks.

→ The project must involve at least a higher education institution and one equivalent institution in at least two different countries from Latin-American or Caribbean.

→ The project highlights units or seminars (number of hours to be carried out according to the ECTS nomenclature and topics to be addressed) which would be integrated within the Master model of the French, Latin-American or Caribbean partner, in order to make visible the respective contributions in term of contents and methodologies. French, Latin-American or Caribbean partner must indicate the specificity of this unit in any communication Medias used to promote his Master.

→ The project are proposed by the International Relations Office of a French higher education institution, called coordinator, in reply to a call for proposal published at the beginning of each calendar year. They are selected on the basis of a pedagogical project and a provisional budget, and are assessed by an expert.

→ The final selection is made by the scientific and career Committee PREFALC, composed of representatives from MESRI, MEAE and FMSH, with the support of external experts and regional diplomatic positions concerned.

→ Once selected, the French Institution becomes, through his project manager, responsible for the implementation and the pedagogical monitoring of the project, as well as of the intermediate and final reports. It is bound by a convention to the FMSH, which is in charge of the secretariat of the programme.

→ Eligibility conditions and applications terms are specified in the call published at the beginning of each calendar year.

PREFALC is an original project in the global university landscape. It has already co-financed more than 135 projects, involved more than 300 French and Latin American/Caribbean partners from some 20 countries, and benefited more than 7,000 students through 1,100 modules taught. It has also led to nearly 2,000 missions by teacher-researchers and has contributed to the emergence and consolidation of regional academic networks.