OCUD is a joint initiative between CRUE Spanish Universities, the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation.
This Observatory was created on the initiative of the Internationalisation and Cooperation Commission of CRUE Spanish Universities and its structure forms part of the Conference of Rectors of Spanish Universities. As an executive and representative organ, OCUD has a Director and an Advisory Board made up of representatives of different Spanish, AECID, MAEC and CRUE universities.
The aim of OCUD is to be the benchmark for university development cooperation in Spain.
The Observatory is a central node in the network of cooperation development structures of all the Spanish universities. To this effect, an integrated information system that enables CUD knowledge to be improved, actions to be standardised, and joint strategies to be implemented was created.
The OCUD facilitates experience exchanges among universities and contributes to raising awareness of the work of the Universities in Cooperation, their potentialities and resources.
It also aims to improve relations with other cooperation agents and to collaborate more effectively in actions and joint projects to promote networking among the universities and with other cooperation agents.
The Observatory is an indispensable information source to definitively integrate the CUD into the Spanish cooperation system in all the processes of the cycle, through planning, implementation and evaluation.
The UdG is in 4th position regarding the Spanish Universities’ contribution to Official Development Assistance according to the "The University Cooperation for Development 2016” report, which reflects the Spanish Universities’ contribution to Official Development Assistance. The report is based on the "Aid follow-up survey" launched annually by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation (MAEC), in which the Spanish universities have taken part since 2006.