Alberto Barbieri received the National Order of the French Legion of Honor

French Ambassador to Argentina Claudia Scherer-Effosse decorated wednesday at Dr Alberto Barbieri with the insignia of Officer of the National Order of the Legion of Honor in recognition of his professional, academic and international career and his management as Rector of the University of Buenos Aires (UBA).

The National Order of the Legion of Honor is the the most famous and the most important French distinctions. It was established by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1802 and is awarded to men and women, French or foreign, for the extraordinary merits rendered in the relationship with France.

Barbieri declared on receiving the distinction: “The values ​​of France are very present in Argentinian culture. Freedom, equality and education as the engine of progress are deep traces of our society ”.

The Rector of UBA said: “I stress the value of education because I am, indeed, a product of public education. Everything I have accomplished in my professional and academic life owes it to public education. This recognition which is granted to me is a demand for education as a vector of equal opportunities ”.

Barbieri also said of the strategic link between UBA and France: “These same French principles and values ​​that I have applied throughout my career also guide me in my responsibilities at the head of the University of Buenos Areas. France is a key partner in our process of internationalization and global cooperation, in particular with the European Union. The actions – among others – of the Franco-Argentinian Center for Advanced Studies, the collaboration with the Luis Pasteur Institute and the multiple cooperation agreements with various French academic units, to which must be added the recent strategic alliance between the UBA and the ‘National School of Administration of France and the new UBA-Europe program are clear signs of our firm determination in consolidating our alliance based on knowledge, science and technological innovation ”.

International and Argentinian personalities who have received the French Legion of Honor

The Legion of Honor has been awarded internationally to personalities in culture and art like Steven Spielberg, Clint Eastwood, Alfred Hitchcock, Sean Connery and Walt Disney, painting like Henri Matisse, sports like Zinedine Zidane and Michael Schumacher and science as the co-discoverer of the AIDS virus Luc Montagnier and explorer Jacques Cousteau.

Among the Argentines who have received the Legion of Honor are the writer Jorge Luis Borges, the plastic artist Julio Le Parc, the designer Quino with Mafalda, President of Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo Carlotto’s stele, the international conductor Mauro Colagreco and the tango singer Susana Rinaldi.

Barbieri was appointed Knight of the National Order of the Legion of Honor on June 14 by the President of the French Republic, Emmanuel Macron, and on Wednesday he received the medal. The French government indicated that the prize “is recognition of their work and the work they have developed in the service of Franco-Argentinian relations and university cooperation”.