News & Posts

On Friday, November 28, 2025 , we carried out a new round of activities within the Warmi VIVAmente  project, this time fully centered on Christmas gastronomy . It was a hands-on, creative afternoon filled with festive aromas and a chance to connect with the culinary traditions of the season. 🎅🔥 👩‍🍳 What We Made With the support and guidance of our Gastronomy students, participants prepared: ⭐ Star-shaped Christmas bread , a soft, aromatic dough perfect for sharing. 🍠 Car

The Well-Being and Integration Program for Out-of-Town Students at the University of Cuenca , focused on psychosocial, tourism-gastronomy, and financial support , has officially been selected  for implementation from September 2026 to August 2028  🙌.This achievement comes under the 14th Call for Community Service Projects  from the University of Cuenca’s Community Engagement Office. 🎓🤝 🔗 Continuing the Warmi VIVAmente Project ComUnidad Vivamente builds on the foundation l

The PREIT-tour and World Heritage City research groups from the University of Cuenca actively participated in the REDU 2025 Congress, presenting two papers addressing urban transformations in Cuenca's Historic Center. 🏙️🎓 The first paper, "Learnings from Mixed Methods to Explore Heritage, Leisure, and Tourism in Cuenca’s Historic Center,"  was presented by Víctor Caldas F., Byron Alvarado, Mateo Erazo, and Shanaya Quezada. This work focuses on participatory methodologies fo

Last week, a mapping and data collection workshop  brought together students from Hospitality and Tourism  and Architecture and Urbanism , guided by professors Gabriela García  and Freddy Espinoza . The activity was part of the project “Balance Between Tourism and Heritage: Glocal Indicators for Urban Sustainability in Cuenca’s Historic Center,”  carried out by PREIT-tour and Ciudad Patrimonio Mundial 🌍📊. The session blended mixed groups from both disciplines, creating a tr

Last week, we kicked off the first session of the Warmi VIVAmente project  ✨—an initiative designed to support the wellbeing of women students from outside Cuenca who live on their own, blending tourism and culinary experiences to enrich their daily university life 🌿🍲. The gathering took place in the auditorium of the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism , where we welcomed the new Warmis  💛. We started with an introduction to the project and a warm welcome, followed by sh

Applications are now open for the ICP-Connect Scholarships 2026 , funded by VLIR-UOS , aimed at outstanding students from Africa, Asia, and Latin America  with an interest in hospitality  or culinary arts . This scholarship offers the opportunity to study in Belgium  with full financial support . Eligible Programs (Hogeschool VIVES – Bruges): Bachelor in Hotel Management – Hospitality Management Bachelor in Hotel Management – Culinary Arts What does the scholarship cover? Sel

Last week, the research groups PREIt-tour  and World Heritage City  actively participated in two academic events focused on the analysis of the city and tourism. 🏙️🎓 The first took place at the IX Ecuadorian Congress on City Studies (IX CEC) , organized by CIVITIC  and PUCE Santo Domingo . In this event, we presented papers examining the phenomenon of short-term rentals through platforms like Airbnb  and their effects on the Historic Center of Cuenca . 🏘️📊 During the same

The University of Cuenca has been awarded FIASA I+D  funds for the project: “Use of genetic diversity and development of technological solutions for the sustainable management of tamarillo (Solanum betaceum) in Region Six of Ecuador.”  🎓🌿 This project is led by a multidisciplinary team  that includes: The Faculty of Agronomy  and the Faculty of Hospitality Sciences  at the University of Cuenca, Technical staff from INIAP , Researchers from the Catholic University of Cuenca