The Diplomat
The diplomat Manuel Hernández Ruigómez, current Consul General of Spain in Mexico, has been awarded the Medal of the European University of the Atlantic (UEA) for his professional career and his support for the creation of the International University of Cuanza, in Angola, when he was Ambassador to that country.
The awarding of the Medal was unanimously agreed by the Governing Council of the UEA, which has its headquarters in Santander, and is the highest distinction awarded by the institution to individuals or entities to reward “their relevant and extraordinary merits in the social, academic, cultural, artistic, scientific and technical fields”.
In the case of Manuel Hernández Ruigómez, the Governing Council highlights his “brilliant international diplomatic career” and his support for the establishment of the EU’s “sister institution”, the International University of Cuanza, “which today represents -it says- the best example of fully Iberophone university entrepreneurship on the African continent”.
In October 2021, the President of Angola, João Lourenço, inaugurated, in the city of Cuito, the new campus of the International University of Cuanza, promoted by the Ibero-American University Foundation (FUNIBER), which is also the promoter of the European University of the Atlantic.
The university centre is a Spanish-Angolan cooperation project which, in addition to the different disciplines it teaches, promotes the teaching of the Spanish language in all its courses, with the aim of providing linguistic competences to the students who will do double degrees with the UEA.
