Since the 1980s, on the European and global level, there has been a large increase in the number of agreements between universities, and programmes of international exchange encouraging mobility of students, lecturers and researchers, and transforming the classic functions of the institutions of higher education. The internationalization of education offers has become a major and shared issue, and digital tools serve this ambition in a positive way.
At the closing of the Euro-Mediterranean
conference of Barcelona in 1995 , the vice president of International Relations at the Université de la Méditerranée
imagined a new type of European training cooperation based on the common Mediterranean identity and the use of techniques
of distance learning.
In order to successfully accomplish this project of a Euro-Mediterranean university, a contemplation group was formed,
rapidly transforming itself into a leading committee with the support and personal participation of the president of the
Université de la Méditerranée, who listed it as one of the priorities of the four-year plan of the establishment.
From 1996, a leading committee has carried out a feasibility study for the universities of the Mediterranean Basin with
which very old historical ties have been made - quite numerous and very prolific from a scientific point of view.
This study has clearly shown the necessity for sharing training and research resources on regional subjects of common
interest.
First, a diagnostic of the needs of cycle 3 professional training was presented, among others for health, environment,
management and economy. Then, the extent of the listed needs has led to an expansion of these domains to all the disciplines
where needs are expressed. Also, the Université Téthys adopts an open model for adjusting its offers to the identified needs.
This is how, during the four-year studying phase,
twenty-two universities
, representing eight countries of the Mediterranean shores, have come close and later associated around an operational project
putting expertise into circulation.
The framework agreement of cooperation between universities of 29 January, 2000
founded the Université Téthys. It is the first contribution to the construction of a Euro-Mediterranean space for higher education
and research.
Open University of the Mediterranean Region
Connecting people, knowledge exchange and cultures