On Rural World Day, which is celebrated on May 15, we honor the saint patron saint of farmers - Saint Isidore - and we also take the opportunity to reflect on the challenges facing rural areas and how we can help them from the universities.

In an increasingly urbanized territorial context, rural communities are often marginalized, facing problems ranging from depopulation and the aging of their inhabitants to the scarcity of basic public and private services subject. Primary sector activities, traditional in these areas, have not escaped the difficulties either. And sample of this have been the recent mobilizations led by farmers, who have brought their tractors (and their demands) to the very heart of the cities.

The progressive withdrawal of agricultural and livestock farms is caused, preferably, by the lack of generational replacement and by the low expectations of economic profitability of the sector, asphyxiated as it is by the escalation of production costs, the difficulty of competing in price with the productions of other countries and the increasing sanitary and environmental regulations.

The farmers' mobilizations -as well as the platforms and parties that seek to capitalize on the political representation of the group of territories that we know as Empty Spain (an ill-advised name by all means, although that is another matter...)- are only a palpable manifestation of the anguish and frustration of the people who live in the rural world and a symbol of the struggle for their own survival.

In this difficult context, it is worth asking, as we did at the beginning, what role universities should play in the search for solutions to the challenges of the rural world. It is clear that, beyond their role as educational institutions and research, universities are also motors of innovation and important agents for the dynamization of the local and regional development . Their potential to contribute to the sustainable progress of rural communities is very great, but to take full advantage of this potential it is necessary to strengthen the link between the rural world and academic institutions.

In this sense, local communities can greatly benefit from the expertise and resources of universities in different areas. For example, the applied research can help address specific problems of the rural world, such as sustainable management of natural resources, agro-livestock development , cultural heritage conservation and many other issues. Universities can also collaborate with rural communities in the development of training programs better adapted to their profiles and needs.

In addition to these already important areas of cooperation, partnership between the rural world and universities can have a deeper impact by involving university students in projects developed in the rural world. This promotes a greater understanding of the complexities and challenges faced by these communities. And this, in turn, can lead to a broader cultural change that values and supports rural life and the contribution of rural areas to society as a whole.

For some years now, many Spanish universities have been committed to this task, either through the program Campus Rural, promoted by the Ministry for Ecological Transition and Demographic challenge , or under the impulse of regional governments, provincial councils or other public and private entities. In the specific case of the University of Navarra, we try to do our bit through two programs: "Revitalizing rural heritage" and "Kinesis", sponsored by the Government of Navarra and the La Caixa Foundation, the first, and the European Commission, the second.

Through them, dozens of university students have already carried out internships in small villages, getting to know first-hand the rural environment of Navarre and many of the interesting initiatives in which they have collaborated. Satisfaction is high on both sides: the agents who promote the internships are very grateful for the knowledge, enthusiasm and fresh vision provided by the young university students; while, for them, the approach to the professional challenges they face and the daily coexistence with the people of rural areas are a very valuable professional and life experience. It is also valuable to know that they are part of a great collective challenge as it is to reverse the fate of many villages.

Fortunately, we are already seeing these and other inspiring examples of the promise partnership between universities and rural communities. By working together, we can harness the power of Education, research and, above all, the drive that young university students possess to meet the challenges of the present and build a better future for the rural world.