Uruguay

Cultural, scientific and technical cooperation

Our very high-level scientific cooperation is centred on the Pasteur Institute of Montevideo (IPM), a medical research and prestigious training centre, and on research and mobility programmes (Amsud-Pasteur and ECOS cooperation programmes, etc.). It was boosted recently with the signing of a cooperation agreement between our Academies of Sciences in March 2014 and an agreement between the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) and the National Research and Innovation Agency.

The visit to France by President Vázquez in October 2015 was an opportunity to significantly strengthen academic and research cooperation (agreement on mutual recognition of qualifications, Campus France mobility agreement for Uruguayan scholarship holders, INRA framework agreement).

With nearly 100 Uruguayan students enrolled in French universities (three-quarters of them in Master’s and PhD programmes), France ranks fifth among countries welcoming Uruguayan students. Building on the opening of a Campus France office in Montevideo and the launch of the France Alumni platform in 2015, French university programmes are gaining ground. This was furthered by the signature a working holiday visa agreement in February 2016 when the President of the Republic of Uruguay visited (entered into force August 2016).

We maintain intensive cultural cooperation. While the study of French suffers from competition with English and Portuguese, over a thousand students attend the Jules Supervielle Lycée in Montevideo and Uruguay has a network of seven Alliance Française branches. A policy on the resumption of the teaching of French was formalized by the signing of a joint declaration by the French and Uruguayan Presidents in October 2017. To support these commitments, France has assigned an international expert to work with the Administrative Education Authority (ANEP) as part of the digital Plan Ceibal.

The French Embassy awards a special label to cultural activities which is well known in Uruguay. It encourages our cooperation in a wide range of areas in collaboration with Uruguayan authorities: contemporary creation, travelling exhibition of photographs of paintings from the Louvre Museum, and the training of artists.

From March to June 2019, the National Museum of Visual Arts of Montevideo is holding a Picasso exhibition, the first of its scale held in Latin America.