UTEC awarded the first graduate degrees in water, a key area for the sustainable management of this resource

First 28 degrees in Sanitation and Sanitary Engineering were awarded and 26 of them will continue their training to complete the Master's Degree offered by UTEC with IHE Delft, the prestigious Dutch institute in water.
Uruguay has suffered a recent water deficit, challenges involving water were evident. Also, the government is promoting a new Sanitation Plan and seeks to address small communities. Training people in these areas are very important for the country.
"One of the challenges that exists in Uruguay is to train more professionals in water and sanitation issues, which is why the Technological University of Uruguay (UTEC) opened a postgraduate course in water issues. UTEC is delivering diplomas in water and plans to open a second generation in 2024. The training results from the agreement with the Dutch institute IHE Delft and UTEC," announced Héctor García, coordinator of the Graduate Program in Water and Sustainable Development at UTEC.
"It is necessary to continue training water professionals in Uruguay, generating local capacities," said García. Among the graduates are engineers from OSE and the Ministry of Environment.
One of the graduates is Andrea Gamarra, a sociologist and director of the Drinking Water and Sanitation Division of the National Water Directorate at the Ministry of the Environment. "We spent many years trying to adapt new technologies and governance into the institutional framework. For many years we have been trying to link it with health. We try to be disruptive, but sometimes we feel like we're on an island" between Sustainable Development Goals, political will, few resources, limited human resources, governance criteria, among other issues, Gamarra summarized. "We saw UTEC’s Graduate Program in Water as an opportunity to ferment that desire. Now we can say that there is training and that there are capacities" and "as the Ministry of Environment we are satisfied," she said.
"The climate crisis is a water crisis" and its link with health is clear, which is why training in water and sanitation is important, said Franz Rojas, director of Analysis and Technical Evaluation of Water and Sanitation at the Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean (CAF). "The region needs it and deserves it," he stressed.
“We also celebrate in this event de Global Sanitation Hub in Latin America”, and UTEC is already acting as a partner for the region, said Damir Brdjanovic, IHE Delft professor and Director of the Program at the Global Sanitation Graduate School, that receives support of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. With 55 members, this School has 1000 master students all over the world but mainly in Africa and Asia.

Unique postgraduate course in Latin America

This postgraduate training was not present in Uruguay until 2022, nor in Latin America. That year, it began to be taught for Uruguay and the region thanks to the agreement between UTEC and IHE Delft (a world-renowned institution that operates under the auspices of UNESCO) with the Global Sanitation Graduate School.
32 diplomas were awarded during the ceremony. 28 received the title as Specialists in Sanitation and Sanitary Engineering and 26 of them will continue their courses for another year to obtain the Master's Degree in this subject. The remaining four received diplomas for shorter courses.
The 26 master's students have already begun working on their theses, which include addressing problems and challenges of the Uruguayan productive sector and proposing alternatives. Some of the topics are: the floods in Durazno, the treatment of water resulting from industrial processes, the improvement in technology for application in the territory in water and sanitation issues in the country.
The support of the professors "has led us to this process to continue to the second step and continue towards the master's degree," said Mabel Licona who, from Honduras, participated in the distance learning degrees. This Program in Water has received participants and participants from Bolivia, Colombia, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, and Peru.
Initially, most of the courses were taught by foreign teachers with the collaboration of UTEC teachers. Currently, "the courses that are state of the art worldwide in the subject have already been transferred. With each edition of the postgraduate course, the participation of UTEC professors will be greater. Local capacities were established to continue training people in this area," said García.

A new generation in 2024

With new components such as water governance and management and water security plans, registration will open in 2024 for a new edition of the UTEC and IHE Delft Graduate Program in Water.
García explained that this responds to the need for training in these issues, which were surveyed both in Uruguay and in the region.

Watch the graduation ceremony here.