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From Middlesbrough to Havana

Alan Clements, Professor of Computing, has a new role in Cuba. He has been appointed Visiting Professor to the University of Information Sciences in Havana, Cuba, - the first Western academic to be awarded the role.

Professor Clements, 59, was invited to visit the Cuban University by one of their academics, Tomás López Jiménez. Tomás was aware of Alan’s judging role on the international IEEE Computer Society competition. Due to the US boycott, Cuban institutions are able to take part in the competition but not allowed to win a prize. Professor Clements flew to Cuba for the first time to deliver lectures and was offered the Visiting Professorship until 2010. He has recently returned to Cuba for more lectures and said: ‘It is an exciting opportunity to be working in a developing country that has overcome many of its problems. I was impressed by the quality of the University buildings and the standard of education appears comparable to Europe. The staff are incredibly young, very, very enthusiastic and keen to make contacts with British and European organisations and companies.

‘All education is free in Cuba; a vast effort has been put into public education despite the shortages. The government has a different system as they aim for their student population to reflect the gender balance, so there’s a much closer male/female split. I was given a lot of freedom while I was there, to go where I wanted and take photographs.’

Alan will be returning to Cuba later this year and has started to learn Spanish. He said: ‘I’m beginning to make sense of the average Cuban newspaper article. Although I can’t speak any Spanish yet!’

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