The Observatory of EU-LA Relations is a consortium of 31 leading academic and research institutions from both regions, originally selected by the European Commission (DG RELEX and EuropeAid) in order to structure and monitor bi-regional collaboration. OBREAL-EULARO’s General Secretariat is held at the University of Barcelona. OBREAL has a long experience in managing EU projects and has extended its mandate well beyond its immediate university membership.

The Council of Rectors of Chilean Universities was created by a decree law in August 1954 as a coordination body of the university work of the country. It is composed by the rectors of the 25 public and traditional universities of Chile.  One of the contributions of CRUCH to universities has been the establishment of a system of selection and admission of students to its institutions through the creation of a University Selection Test. CRUCH has different coordination groups and commissions among its universities, including the international relations commission  as well as the academic innovation commission.

The Colombian Association of Universities (ASCUN) is the non-profit organisation that has brought together Colombian state and private universities for 58 years, and constitutes their representative body before government institutions, private sector and the international academic community. Of the 84 partner institutions, 50 are private and 34 are state entities. ASCUN is building university thought across six broad themes: university autonomy, academic quality, and university social responsibility, construction of the university system, university funding and internationalisation of the university.

AUGM is an association of 31 public universities from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay & Uruguay that aims at contributing to the HE integration of the countries of South America by strengthening internationalisation and research. It manages a regional mobility scheme for students and faculty members, facilitate dialogue among rectors, support young researchers and provide a platform to develop joint projects across members.

The Universidad Catolica del Norte (UCN) is a Chilean institution founded in 1956; it is a private university under public law. UCN is member of the Council of Rectors of Chilean Universities (CRUCH), and was six years accredited by National Accreditation Commission (CNA). UCN counts with: 43 Undergraduate Programs, 30 Graduate Programs, 12.000 Undergraduate and Graduate Students, 943 Professors. Since 1997 UCN has had experience in the preparation of important student mobility programmes and their implementation, including universities from Argentina, Bolivia, Peru and Paraguay. 

The University of Magallanes is an accredited Institution of Higher Education of the Chilean State, located in the Magallanes Region, Chilean Patagonia. Oriented mainly to the human capital training in this region and in the Chilean Antarctic.  Developing for this, teaching training, research and relationship with the environment pointing to the development of the region.

Aysén University (La Universidad de Aysén) is a newly established state university located in Chile´s extreme Southern region, founded in 2015 with the objective of contributing to the development of human capacity in a region that currently has very few public institutions of higher education. The region has a need to develop professionals who are able to take on the challenges of development, both in social and productive terms. Aysén University is a public institution that upholds and implements policies of equity and equal opportunities of access to higher education as well as the national policies relating to development of science and technology. 

The Universidad de Santander (UDES) is an institution of higher education with more than 30 years of existence and experience in education and research and more than 20.000 students. The University has oriented his strategic objectives in order to improve the quality of education, to strengthen the research, to involve the social and productive sector, to consolidate the information and communication technologies as models for education management and administrative modernisation; and promote the international cooperation in order to be a global University.

The Universidad de Ibagué (Unibagué) is a University with 7000 student located in Ibagué (Colombia). It has five faculties: Law and Political sciences, Economy and Administration, Engineering, Basic Science and Humanities. There are 17 undergraduate programmes: Law, Political Sciences, Economics, International Business Management, Financial administration, Public Accounting, Marketing, Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electronic Engineering, System Engineering (Computer Science), Industrial Engineering, Psychology, Communication, Philosophy, Architecture, Environmental Administration and two Master degrees in Engineering (Industrial Engineering and Control engineering). 

The Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja (UTPL) was founded by the Ecuadorian Marist Association on May 3rd, 1971, in response to the local need for a technical and humanist education supported by Christian precepts and values. UTPL is an autonomous institution, with social and public purposes, empowered to impart teaching, carry out research with scientific and administrative freedom, and participate in the development plans of the country, to give, recognise and validate academic degrees and professional titles.

Yachay Tech is the first research intensive university of Ecuador and a key part of a historical national plan that aspires to build a new economy based on knowledge, science and technology. Yachay Tech is a highly interdisci­plinary university that seeks to create a substantial impact on strategic in­dustries such as polymers, petrochemicals, nanotechnology, biomedicine, mining and information technology, offering an academic curriculum that combines basic sciences with applied engineering at each school.

National University of Chilecito (UNdeC) is an Argentine Public higher education institution. It pursues scientific and technological excellence, building on the region's features and seeking to become a national and international reference in the disciplines that characterize it. It thus blends national accountability with regional commitment and an international outlook. UNdeC has about 5,000 undergraduate students.

The Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar), one of the most recognized institutions of higher education in Brazil and Latin America has 45 years of existence. The university was created in 1968 and its academic activities began in 1970. Today, it has 4 campuses in the cities of São Carlos, Araras, Sorocaba and Buri all located in the state of São Paulo. The academic activities of UFSCar are tied to 48 departments organized into eight academic centers. The university community is formed by 1,186 faculties; 963 technical and administrative staff; almost 14,000 undergraduate students, being 1237 students of distance learning courses and 4145 graduate students.

Founded in 1839, Universidad de la República (UDELAR) is the oldest state-owned, free and co-governed university in Uruguay. Its main duties are education, research and relation with the community. According to the Constitution, UDELAR is responsible for the country's Higher Education, and it issues the validations of all foreign degrees. It offers courses in all areas of knowledge. UDELAR attends 85% of university students in the country. The university gathers over 109.000 undergraduate students, more than 11.000 professors and researchers and 6.200 non-teaching staff.

The Universitat de Barcelona (UB) was founded in 1450. It is structured in 5 campuses with 20 faculties and university schools, and has 106 departments teaching a complete range of courses including 69 undergraduate degrees, 67 Ph.D programs and 130 Bologna masters, as well as its own specially tailored postgraduate courses. Is the only Spanish University to appear on the list of the world's 200 best universities. The UB participates in an average of 150 European projects per year, for an amount of about 20 million euro a year.

The University of Coimbra (UC) is a Portuguese public HEI with more than 700 years of experience in education, training and research. The first Portuguese university and for a long time the only one in the country, UC has affirmed its position over the years with a unique mix of tradition, contemporaneity and innovation. Today, UC is a large complex structure with three campuses, 25,000 students, of which 16% are international students from 90 different nationalities, and 2,800 academic and non-academic staff members highly active and committed to the quality of research and education as well as to the development of knowledge and technology transfer activities.

The University of Bologna was founded in 1088 and is considered to be the oldest university in Western Europe. Nowadays, it still remains one of the most important higher education institutions across Europe with around 85.000 enrolled students, 11 Schools, 35 research departments, 6000 employees. The University of Bologna is today the most internationalised of all Italian universities. The number of foreign students regularly enrolled is around 6000, while another 2000 arrives every year on international mobility programmes such as LLP/Erasmus, Overseas and Erasmus Mundus Action II. 

Sapienza University of Rome, founded in 1303 by Pope Boniface VIII, is one of the oldest universities in the world and the second largest University in Europe, greatly able to manage its outstanding numbers: 120.000 enrolled students, 8.000 of them coming from outside Italy and 1.000 incoming and outgoing exchange students each year, 11 faculties which cover any kind of scientific and social area with their 63 departments, more than 4.700 professors and researchers and 4.300 administrative and technical staff. Sapienza offers a vast array of courses: around 260 degree programmes at Bachelor and Master level, 80 PhD courses, one to two year long lasting professional courses and Specialization Schools, Master degree programmes entirely taught in English (including a full 6-year long lasting degree in Medicine and Surgery), plus many English-taught single courses in various disciplines.

Université de Montpellier (UM) is a research-intensive university where education and research cover most of the Scientific and Technological fields. UM gathers around 43,000 students and 4,618 staff with an overall budget of 385 million euros. Studies are organized into three fields: Fundamental and Applied Sciences, Human and Social Sciences (Law, Economy) and Health studies. Research is structured into 76 laboratories most of which are in partnership with well-recognized French research organizations such as CNRS, IRD, INRA or CIRAD.

Non-profit municipal entity linked to the Department of Bahia State Education, of public, multidisciplinary and multi-regional nature, UNEB is the largest institution in the North and Northeast of Brazil, with 29 Departments of Higher Education installed in 24 municipalities of Bahia. In addition to the academic activities of teaching that include undergraduate and graduate broad sense and strict sense in different areas of knowledge and the development of research and extension, the institution reveals its ability to dialogue with different sectors and stakeholders, a broader dimension of communication with society.

Established in 1956, the Universidad Nacional del Sur is a public university located in the city of Bahía Blanca, 700 km South of Buenos Aires city, and it is the oldest university in the Patagonia region. Teaching and research activities are organized into 16 academic departments that offer 61 undergraduate programs and 65 high quality post-graduate programs, most of them in science and technology.  At present, there are 2,800 faculty members, 22,800 regular undergraduate students and 1,300 postgraduate students enrolled in specializations, masters, and doctor’s degree programs.

The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) e.V., founded in 1925, is the organisation of German higher education institutions and student bodies, devoted to internationalizing the system of scientific research and innovation. By awarding scholarships and providing customised programmes which promote transnational cooperation and university partnerships, DAAD provides students, researchers and lecturers the chance to study, work and conduct research at the best institutions in Germany.

ANECA is a public independent Agency that was set up on 19 July 2002, in compliance with article 31 of the Spanish Universities Act. Its mission is to contribute to the improvement of the quality of the higher education system by way of the evaluation, certification and accreditation of degree programmes, academic staff and institutions. The main purpose of ANECA is to monitor the performance of the public service of university education according to objective procedures and transparent processes, and to reinforce transparency and comparability as a means for the promotion and quality assurance of both public and private universities and their integration into the European Higher Education Area.

The Coimbra Group  of Brazilian  Universities  (GCUB)  was forrnally  appointed  as an Association  of University  Presidents on November  27th, 2008.  It is composed  by public and confessional/community universities,  and its mission  is to foster  interinstitutional   and international   integration  by means  of staff and student  mobility  programs,  besides  promoting  the sovereign  internationalization  of Brazilian Universities  with foreign  partners  throughout  the world.  GCUB  integrates,  through  the University  of Coimbra  (its invited member  university),  a wide  network  of arcane  Western  universities,   thus fostering bonds of scientific,  pedagogic  and cultural  exchange. 

With almost 33 000 students, circa 100 course offerings and 40 Institutes, the historic Technische Universität Berlin (TUB) is one of Germany’s largest and most internationally renowned technical universities. The range of services offered by its seven faculties serves to forge a unique link between the natural and technical sciences on the one hand, and the planning, economics and social sciences and humanities on the other. TUB is a member of the Top Industrial Managers for Europe Network which allows student exchanges between leading European Engineering Schools. TUB is also a member of the Conference of European Schools for Advanced Engineering Education and Research. 

The Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), located in Porto Alegre, Brazil, is a public, comprehensive university of 53.000 members. With 89 different undergraduate courses and 30.000 students, UFRGS ranks among the best universities in Brazil and in Latin America. At graduate level, UFRGS offers 170 specialization courses, 9 professional master programs, 72 master programs and 69 PhD programs, of which 30 are considered of “international level”, according to CAPES, the Brazilian national evaluation agency.  Being one of the top Brazilian Universities, UFRGS maintains a comprehensive set of research projects with most relevant public and private institutions. It hosts a Confucius Institute; cooperates intensively with DAAD, British Council, French Agence Nationale pour la Recherche, or US National Science Fundation. In Latin-America, UFRGS is founding member of Asociación de Universidades Grupo Montevideo (AUGM).

The Consejo Interuniversitario Nacional (CIN) was founded in 1985 by the Decree of the President of the Republic of Argentina. CIN is a public body that coordinates and propose policies and strategies for university development, which brings together national universities and the provincial recognized by the Nation, they are definitely organized. The functions of CIN in the framework of autonomy, enshrined in the Constitution and expressed in the respective university statutes, without prejudice to responsibilities under national laws and activities and supported efforts arising from the principle interuniversity coordination, among them are: Promote common research programs, either national or regional basis.

ANDIFES in an association of Rectors of all the 65 Brazilian Federal Universities, gathering and defending interests of those universities, with their funders (the National Government e its ministries) and other stakeholders. Among ANDIFES objectives, it is pointed out, the enhancement of the students and staff mobility, both national and international.