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atin America and the Caribbean have worked intensively to strengthen regional integration and to arrive at the World Conference on Higher Education 2009 with concrete proposals. These proposals are based on the Plan of Action coming from the Declaration of the Regional Conference on Higher Education, CRES 2008, held last year in Cartagena de Indias.

In order to move forward with the Plan of Action of the Declaration of CRES 2008, our region has sponsored various academic meetings in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama, Santo Domingo, Venezuela, and recently in Peru during the III Meeting of University Networks and Council of Chancellors of Latin America and the Caribbean, which once again affirmed higher education as a public good, curricular convergence, university training as open, flexible, and diverse education, highlighting its intercultural and interdisciplinary nature, and the importance of strengthening the inclusion of science, technology, and innovation within governmental public policies in order to achieve human and sustainable development in which is present the urgent deci-

The III Meeting of University Networks and Council of Chancellors of Latin America and the Caribbean recently held in Lima reaffirmed a joint position to be fostered by Latin America and the Caribbean at the World Conference on Higher Education 2009. The event was also an appropriate venue to launch ENLACES and to present the development of the on-line portal, that will carry the same name. These initiatives are products of the Plan of Action. Also during this time, various texts have been produced that complement those presented by IESALC during CRES 2008. Ana Lúcia Gazzola and Sueli Pires produced the publication Toward a regional policy for guaranteeing the quality of higher education for Latin America and the Caribbean. The Brain Drain, Academic and Scientific Mobility. Latin American Perspectives: Networks is another publication edited by Sylvie Didou Aupetit and Etienne Gérard. Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean edited by Francisco López-Segrera, Colin Brock, and José Dias Sobrinho. In addition, new research, coordinated by Daniel Mato entitled Inter-cultural Institutions of Higher Education in Latin America. Construction processes, innova-

The World Conference of 1998: the importance of the control of knowledge

Publication: Thinkers and Pioneers of Latin American Universities

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Latin America and the Caribbean committed to the Word Conference 7

Betting on the integration of Latin America and the Caribbean

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ENLACES: The Latin America and Caribbean Higher Education Area: A platform for the region 8

Publication: Universities and developmentin Latin America: successful experiences of research centres 11

Blogs on Higher Education to be disseminated by IESALC

Publication: Towards a regional policy for assuring the quality of higher education in Latin America and the Caribbean

We are beginning a new phase of reflection and dialogue that can facilitate progress in public policies of countries in the area of higher education.

Integration and cooperation are at the top of the agenda of Latin America and the Caribbean

Editorial

sion to construct a stronger Latin American and Caribbean integration that is able to respond to globalized contexts.

tions, and challenges. Finally, under the general editorship of Hebe Vessuri, this period witnessed the launching of there were three new issues of the journal Higher Education and Society.

Our students have also worked with an eye toward the World Conference. The Continental Latin American and Caribbean Student Organization, meeting in Havana, Cuba in May of this year agreed to defend public education and to encourage a profound reform on academic structures.

The general scope of this World Conference, the focus of which will be Africa, presents us with great challenges in terms of what we can learn from all regions and the forms of mutual cooperation in order to face the greatest challenges of higher education.

We wish to build a Latin America and Caribbean that fosters integration through the education not only of our countries, but also through exchange and closer relationships with other regions. The work has been arduous.

But it has been useful, and facing the world challenges presented to higher education is the principal goal of our region.

José Renato Carvalho Director a.i. UNESCO-IESALC

Contents “Latin America and the Caribbean play an important role in the realization of CMES 2009”, said Paulo Speller, Vice-President for Latin America and the Caribbean of the International Commission of UNESCO for the preparation for the World Conference of 2009 2 Local and Global Challenges: a Strategic Agenda for Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean.

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2009 World Conference on Higher Education (WCHE) “The New Dynamics of Higher Education and Research for Societal Change and Development” Provisional Program 4 How the region prepared for the World Conference 2009

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“In the field of education, regional integration is a reality”. This is the belief of the Minister of Education of Colombia, Cecilia María Vélez White, host of CRES 2008.

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The Glossary of Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean unifies the vocabulary of the region

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ENLACES: a model of cooperation and integration

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Specialists to interact with the public at the “Weekly Discussion of Higher Education” 9 Web portal of Initiatives in Higher Education: a proposal for integration

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puntoEDU, the podcast of Higher Education

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Publication: Intercultural Institutions of Higher Education in Latin America.

Processes of institution building, achievements, innovations, and challenges

Publication:“The brain drain, networks, and knowledge transfer”.

Disconnections and new modes of articulation in Latin America and the Caribbean

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Transforming Latin American Universities

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Latin American and Caribbean students present at the World Conference on Higher Education 2009 15

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Publications 2006-2009

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Publication: Higher Education and Society in their new era with the approach of the World Conference 16

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Publication: “Cultural diversity and interculturality in higher education.

Experiences in Latin America” is a publication launched during CRES 2008 13

“Latin America and the Caribbean play an important role in the realization of CMES 2009” Interview with Paulo Speller, vice-president for Latin American and the Caribbean of the International Commission of UNESCO for the preparation for the World Conference on Higher Education 2009

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ust two weeks away from the World Conference on Higher Education (CMES) 2009, UNESCO-IESALC interviewed Dr. Paulo Speller, the only Latin American member of the preparative committee for this international event. On this occasion, the academic spoke to us about the role that the African continent and Latin America and the Caribbean play in the Conference, and about the principle challenges facing education in this new century.

In your opinion, why is it important that Africa be the special focus of the World Conference on Higher Education? How can Latin America and the Caribbean contribute to strengthening relations with African countries?

The African continent has been systematically excluded from the political agenda, and even from the daily news, except for when it is relevant to other regions, and above all when the interests of former colonial powers are at stake.

It is for this reason that it was decided to give priority to discussions of the strategic role of higher education in Africa. Simultaneously with reaffirming the declaration and recommendations of the WCHE 1998, we wish to move forward in the formulation of actions related to the role of universities in the region – especially those institutions that respond to public interests. It is precisely here that Latin America and the Caribbean can cooperate based on the principles of solidarity with the African region and countries.

A concrete example is the creation of UNILEB, the University of Luso-African International Integration. This is an initiative of the Brazilian government, together with the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries (“CPLP” in its acronym in Portuguese), but which can extend to other countries on the African continent.

More than a Brazilian action, it is a joint one between the Brazilian government and the other countries of the CPLP, and more especially a joint action between UNILAB and the universities of the CPLP countries, in which training will be shared between universities of the region so that students will conclude their courses after a professional curricular internship in their countries of origin and will receive their diplomas signed by UNILAB and the university of their own countries.

The Regional Conference on Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean (CRES 2008) that produced initiatives based on the Plan of Action from CRES 2008 was the preparatory event of the region for participation in the World Conference on Higher Education (WCHE 2009). As the sole representative of the region on the committee

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of the World Conference on Higher Education, what are your expectations for the progress of higher education for Latin America and the Caribbean as a regional block?

Latin America and the Caribbean will exercise an important role in the WCHE 2009, just as they did in 1998, and in organizing the first regional meeting in Havana in 1996, by proposing themes that were adopted at both world conferences. However, on the regional level there is still much to be done in the face of the unrelenting advance of institutions of higher education that are motivated exclusively by business interests. The expansion of higher education based on poor quality makes no contribution whatsoever. Once again, it is necessary to reiterate the key role exercised by States in the formulation, implementation, and assessment of policies of higher education. In this sense, we expect more effective action on the part of the governments of the region. Brazil, in particular, the largest country of the region, has sought to make up for lost time in the prioritization of profit-seeking institutions by carrying out a strong expansion of public institutions, with rigorous normative regulation of private institutions through the National Council of Education, in the hope that this trend will be maintained by the Brazilian State.

Given that the realities of each country are so distinct in terms of higher education and the current global economic crisis, what will be the greatest challenges in improving higher education?

Higher education is experiencing a process of diversification and expansion which is increasing throughout the world at a time when university access is no longer the privilege of elites and is open to sectors that were previously excluded from institutions of higher education. In this sense, the greatest challenge is to maintain academic quality accompanying this differentiation and growth. How can this be accomplished? First, one must have the solidarity-based cooperation of consolidated institutions in other regions and countries. Second, the extremely rapid development of information and communication technologies must be incorporated into higher education, making possible its extension to all parts of the globe, assuring academic quality. The African continent, as well as other regions of the planet and even countries that have universities in more developed regions, should receive this solidaritybased support, without, however, permitting the weakening of consolidated institutions. Last but not least, there remains the greater ongoing challenge of giving priority to the improvement of the quality and the coverage of basic education throughout the world, and seeking the on-going training of teachers.

Dr. Paulo Speller, Professor in the Department of Theory and Fundamentals of Education of the Institute of Education (IE), in the Federal University of Mato Grosso, since 1980. President of the Commission of Implementation of the University of Integration Luso-afro-brazilian (UNILAB) / Minister of Education (Brasil); Adviser of the Commission of Higher Education of the National Council of Education (CES/CNE) / Minister of Education. He holds a Doctorate in Political Science from the University of Essex, England. He conducts research into political education. He was a consultant to UNESCO in Angola and Cape Verde. He was Rector of the Federal University of Matto Grosso, in the periods from 2000 to 2004 and 2004 to 2008, and President of the National Association of leaders from Federal Institutions of Higher Education (ANDIFES).

He joined the Autonomous National University of Mexico (UNAN), where he earned a Master’s Degree in Psychology. He volunteered in Mozambique, where he coordinated in the Ministry of Health the National Program for the Formation of Health Agents for village communities, under the sponsorship of UNICEF. Current VicePresident for Latin America and the Caribbean of the International Commission of UNESCO for the preparation for the World Conference of 2009.

Local and Global Challenges: a Strategic Agenda for Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean

By Ana Lúcia Gazzola Director 2006-2008, UNESCOIESALC and president of CRES 2008 cesses of regional integration, as well as constituting a forum for the analysis and discussion of themes that can make up a regional agenda for higher education, science, and technology for the sustainable development of the Latin American and Caribbean region.

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ooking toward the next UNESCO World Conference on Higher Education (98+10), which will take place in Paris in 2009, IESALCUNESCO and the Ministry of National Education of Colombia have organized the Regional Conference on Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean (CRES-2008), with the theme Local and Global Challenges: a Strategic Agenda for Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean. Our objective is to generate a broad moment of reflection, commitment, and action so that institutional and public policies of higher education can benefit from the progress offered to us in the XXI century within a regional context in which education as a public good – outlined at the conference in 1998 – is established as a principle.

Within this historical framework, CRES 2008 was conceived as a meeting that will generate proposals fostering the strengthening of pro-

In the process of preparing for CRES, we have fostered the development of a set of texts on change scenarios in higher education in the region, published in Spanish and in English, and with a complementary cd-rom in the work “Trends in Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean”. These texts, written by teams of representative consultants throughout the region, make up the base documents for discussion in Cartagena de Indias. We also felt the need to carry out an assessment of the impacts of CRES-1996 in our region, understood to be a point of departure for the analysis of changes that have occurred and the prospects that these present. The results of this reflection are available in the book “Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean: Ten Years After the World Conference of 1998”, which is also a base document for the Regional Conference on Higher Education, CRES2008. Other titles that we are launching during CRES are the “Glossary of Higher Education of LAC”, in Spanish and in English; “Universities and Development in Latin America: Successful Experiences of Research Centres”; “Latin American University Thought. Thinkers and Pioneers”; and “Cultural Diversity and InterCulturality in Higher Education. Experience in Latin America and the Caribbean”. We will also be launching at this time issues 2 and 3 of the Higher Education and Society Journal. CRES2008 marks the beginning of the celebration of 30th anniversary of our institution. Beginning as CRESALC in 1978, until today, IESALC has presented itself as a strategic instrument for the development of higher education in the region. We

hope that CRES 2008 will be an opportunity to consolidate its political action as a network of networks and agent of regional integration.

I wish to extend the thanks of IESALC to all of those who have contributed to the realization of CRES-2008: first to the donor countries and responsible agencies, in Colombia the Ministry of National Education and COLCIENCIAS; in Brazil, the Ministry of Education; in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, the Ministry of Higher Education; in Spain, the Spanish International Cooperation Agency; and in Mexico, the Secretary of Public Education. We also thank the support of the Colombian Association of Universities – ASCUN, the Andrés Bello Agreement, the United Nations Information Centre, and UNDP in Colombia. Finally, I extend my gratitude to all of those who have worked in the organization of the event, and to the participants, who make possible the necessary reflection on the strategic role of higher education in our region.

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2009 World Conference on Higher Education (WCHE) Provisional Program “The New Dynamics of Higher Education and Research for Societal Change and Development” (UNESCO, Paris, 5-8 July 2009) Sunday, 5 July 2009 Opening Ceremony: Higher Education’s Role in Addressing Major Global Challenges Stakeholders’s Panel: Responses Monday, 6 July 2009 Plenary Session I: From 1998 to 2009 and Beyond: The New Dynamics of Higher Education and Research Regional Preparatory Conferences: Highlights Trends in Global Higher Education Introductions to Themes of Parallel Sessions • Internationalization, Regionalization and Globalization • Equity, Access and Quality • Learning, Research and Innovation Plenary Session II: Round Table Africa: Promoting Excellence to Accelerate Africa’s Development: Towards an African Higher Education and Research Area Tuesday, 7 July 2009 Round-table: The Social Responsibility of Higher Education: Addressing the Challenges of Our Times Parallel Sessions and Special Events Wednesday, 8 July 2009 Parallel Stakeholders’ Panels Plenary Session III: Beyond Talk: What Action for Higher Education and Research?

Closing Plenary: Which Way Forward for Higher Education and Research?

Commitment by UNESCO and Partners

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eginning with the Regional Conference on Higher Education of Latin America and the Caribbean (CRES 2008), held in the city of Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, governments, academics, civil society, and students have actively participated in the development and execution of the Plan of Action generated through the CRES Declaration, 2008.

Various higher education actors have worked to produce proposals and to develop, for example, the innovative area for the convergence of higher education best known as “ENLACES” (the Latin America and Caribbean Higher Education Area). Its construction began in Panama City last November and has grown at subsequent meetings. In addition, different authorities and academics met in San Salvador de Jujuy, Argentina in order to foster the Plan of Action of CRES as the essential instrument for university development. At another meeting in Mexico, participants defended solidarity-based international cooperation in higher education.

During a meeting of academics in Ecuador that produced the Galapagos Declaration, it was decided to define university training as education that is open, flexible, and diversified, emphasizing the importance of its intercultural awareness and interdisciplinary nature.

In Santo Domingo as well, the meeting of Organizations and Networks of Latin American and Caribbean Universities emphasized the importance of including science, technology, and innovation within governmental public policies in order to contribute to the building of Latin American and Caribbean society.

The meeting in March, 2009 of the National Inter-University Council – CIN - of Argentina requested that the Declaration of Cartagena be put into practice. Later, in São Paulo, Brazil the Association of Universities of the Montevideo Group – AUGM - ratified recognition of higher education as a social public good and emphasized the roles of teaching, research, and extension in university life.

How the region prepared for the World Conference 2009

Internationalization of Higher Education, the relation between Universities – the Private Sector, and the State, and Governability in Institutions of Higher Education. There was also as an inter-institutional seminar with international participation sponsored by the Ministry of Education, Conciencias, and the National Department of Planning that had as its central theme the discussion of science, technology, and innovation for competitiveness and strategic social justice based on ten years of academia-based regional development, growth and strengthening.

Students also participated. The Continental Latin American and Caribbean Student Organization - OCLAE - met in Havana, Cuba in May of this year and agreed to defend public education and to encourage a profound reform of academic structures.

The most recent event, held in Lima at the beginning of this month, was an opportunity to bring together these impressions, perspectives, and requests in order to reaffirm a single position of Latin America and the Caribbean at the World Conference on Higher Education 2009. The meeting in Lima was also an auspicious venue for inaugurating ENLACES and for presenting the development of the web portal of the same name.

For CRES, the most important event of the region, a processed was developed that was carried out principally at two levels: national and sub-regional. At the national level, each country worked with its own methodology and prepared its own content, linked key themes for discussion. In addition, each country made its own political arrangements in order to achieve the best possible reflections on the subject.

On the sub-regional level, events were organized that were great moments of academic discussion in order to provide input for the documents and sessions of CRES 2008.

Among these events were the meetings of

university chancellors, councils of chancellors, and of international networks that took place in Brazil and Caracas and which defined ten key themes of the Conference and of the general working methodology. As a result, IESALC organized the research entitled “Trends of Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean” that resulted from the basic documents for discussion of each of the key themes.

More than 70 consultants from all countries in the region participated in carrying out this research, contributing their efforts, knowledge, and experience in order to enrich these texts.

All of the above represents a consistent effort of more than three years in order for the region to organize strategically as a solid block and defend its real diverse needs and visions at the World Conference.

In addition, meetings took place in Argentina that analyzed “Social Change in Latin America and the Caribbean and their Impacts on Higher Education”, and “University Challenges of the XX Century”, with the participation of strategic actors from the academic community of the region. In Brazil a meeting took place to assess the “Social Commitment of Universities in the Region”, and in Colombia another to work on the theme of “Regional Integration”, with the participation of the countries of the Andean sub-region.

For its part, in the host country of CRES 2008, the National Ministry of Education and the Colombian Association of Universities -ASCUNfostered the development of five thematic forums treating the themes of Regional Integration, the Financing of Higher Education, the

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“In the field of education, regional integration is a reality” This is the belief of the Minister of Education of Colombia, Cecilia María Vélez White, host of CRES 2008.

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olombia was chosen by the Administrative Council of IESALC-UNESCO to host the Regional Conference on Higher Education – CRES 2008, due to the progress that the country has made in higher education.

As Minister of National Education of Colombia, a joint organizer together with IESALC, of CRES 2008, and as host to the event, we interviewed the Minister of Education of Colombia, María Vélez White, who offered some reflections on the theme.

Q/: What is the strategic importance of holding this Regional Conference on Higher Education?

This conference is extremely important for this moment in the Latin America and Caribbean region. I believe that there are two enormous challenges: the region must grow in higher education if it wishes to be competitive. Although all of the countries are trying to increase their coverage, this growth must be accompanied by significant improvements in the quality and pertinence of educational offerings. Holding this conference under these circumstances and with these stated goals allows us to meet and support one another, recognizing the best results and the errors of each in order to work better toward the goals.

Proof of the importance of the event is the magnificent response in terms of registrations for this regional meeting. We have in CRES the most important representatives in each area of higher education in the entire region working with great commitment, and we are certain that it will produce satisfactory results for our countries.

Q/: What is the relevance of arriving at the World Conference on Higher Education in 2009 with a position as a regional block on this theme?

The Latin America and Caribbean region is that which has demonstrated the most rapid and best organization in preparation for WCHE 2009. When a region organizes to think about its themes, needs, and interests, and is able to present a declaration such as that which will be produced at this meeting, it can really make sure that its voice is heard and its opinions taken into account for decision-making on the world level. It is also important to consider that up to the WCHE meeting we must further develop the analyses presented at CRES. This could be done through regional sub-groups according to interest and specialties that make it possible to complement and further develop the arguments on each theme, and thus lend more force to the regional Latin America and Caribbean block at the world conference.

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Q/: As the host minister, what does it mean for Colombia to house the CRES 2008 event?

For our country, it is important that people come and see all that we have done; that they confirm the very profound changes that have taken place, that they note the progress that is occurring in higher education. The development of the country in this area during the last decade has been recognized by the international community in our being chosen as the host country. I believe that since the year 2000 we have progressed greatly in this sector, with serious and continuous accreditation processes, and with the efforts of all universities to response to new quality demands. That academic actors from the region come and see for themselves what we are doing lends us credibility before them, and this is important in order to change any distorted perception that people may have of the Colombian reality, with so many themes that appear on the international agenda, sometimes in a negative manner.

Q/: In terms of regional integration, what is the meaning of organizing and holding CRES 2008 in Colombia?

In the field of education, we have many things that bring us together; something that does not necessarily occur in the political field. Academia exists in order to listen to all opinions, so that these enrich discussions one theme or another, in order to be an area of criticism and reflection. In this sense, when rectors, researchers, or any members of the academic community meet, one does not find the differences that exist on the political plane. The differences that people have in this scenario are related to their own views of how to improve

higher education in terms of seeking improvements and striving toward development. I believe that here, in the field of education, regional integration is a reality.

Q/: You mentioned the key function of education in the search for development. What is the strategic importance of higher education in this search?

I don’t believe that any country in our region thinks that it can improve its levels of development without being linked to the world context in strategic alliances. Academia believes that there are multiple scenarios of internationalization and integration that make it possible to confront the demands of competition and development that are reality imposes on us. If, as a region, we are able to recognize our strengths and weaknesses, we will have more tools for strengthening the development of our countries. In this sense, we face an enormous challenge in order to overcome the gap that separates Latin America and the Caribbean from other regions. This begins by determining what are the skills that we must develop or strengthen with pertinence for the XXI century, and to respond to the particular needs of each country. This common dynamic that can be generated or reinforced with the development of this conference will be very important for the progress of the region; especially in terms of making educational offerings more flexible and adjustable.

Moreover, in this regard I should mention that there is a clear awareness in the countries of the region of the need for academia to determine internationally referenced standards. This is what companies that contribute enormously to development require in order to improve their productive processes. These specific

skills are very important for national development, without forgetting progress in general professional skills. They are two sides of the same coin, and both are necessary and important in order to assure true and pertinent development.

Q/: Many of the reflections occurring in the region within the preparatory agenda for CRES 2008 have mentioned that increasingly, universities must adapt themselves to all of the changes that this regional development demands. What is your opinion about this?

Global reflection should come from universities themselves. In this sense, I ask universities to look about them. CRES 2008 will contribute a great deal in this sense of making possible a regional reflection. The Europeans have been greatly aided by thinking as a community, and we can learn from this. One cannot give universities “formulas” or “recipes”. This conference will nourish academics with data and experiences that can be factors to guide their own changes. Each university should guide its efforts according to its objectives and clear needs that come from society. In this process of change, one should recognize the importance of a great protagonist of the efforts of higher education – the student. Students, in interaction with teachers, rectors, and researchers, can contribute much to the discussion. The diversity of students and their multiple forms of contact with reality will make it possible, in a democratic manner, to enrich the discussion. It will be important at CRES to hear their voices, together with other academic actors, business people, and politicians who will participate in order to jointly construct the best regional declaration regarding higher education and its strategic ten-year agenda.

The World Conference of 1998: the importance of the control of knowledge

By Marco Antonio Rodrigues Dias

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he World Conference on Higher Education (WCHE) of 1998 took place at an important moment for the development of intellectual thought that sought to identify the problems that universities would confront universally and regionally. The year 1998 presented the first opportunity to bring together representative from throughout the world in order to discuss what was happening to science and technology at that time, and to ponder what could be done with higher education.

The first point, discussed at that time, was to know if the universalization of higher education should only apply in wealthy countries – who could make this demand – or whether it was a concept that should be employed throughout the world, and especially in Latin America.

Shortly before WCHE 1998, the representatives of the developed countries met in Berlin, and concluded that it was extremely important for them to maintain world leadership; at a time when the knowledge society was consolidating, it was key to have the control of knowledge. And, in order to control knowledge it was necessary that higher education be the best possible, for it is there that research takes place, and it is there that researchers are trained.

The first response of the nearly 5,000 participants from 180 countries at the WCHE 1998 in Paris was that higher education must be accessible to all individuals, without regard for gender, race, religion, or financial condition.

Another of the subjects treated at the conference was that higher education, as with education in general, is a public good and needs to be offered as a public service. That is, it must

be accessible to all, it must be pertinent, and it must be able to adapt to new scenarios.

It is important to emphasize that there can be no quality without pertinence. A quality institution cannot say merely that it has a beautiful building, good administration, and good equipment. It must exercise a mission and respond to the needs of society; that is, it must be pertinent.

These were the essential points that were discussed at the World Conference of 1998.

We hope that the Regional Conference on Higher Education 2008, which is preparatory to the World Conference of 2009, will examine themes of relevance equal to those of the previous event, in order to reach objective conclusions, and that these will then be implemented in the region.

Marco Antonio Rodrigues Dias is an advisor to the United Nations University. He was Director of the Division of Higher Education of UNESCO, Coordinator of the UNESCO UNITWIN/UNESCO Chairs Program, and an organizer of the World Conference on Higher Education (1998).

He holds a law degree from the Universidad Federal de Minas Gerais and a degree in communications from the University of Paris, with post-graduate work in philosophy.

He is the recipient of various awards, including the “Légion d’honneur” of France, the “Ordem do Mérito Educativo” (Brazil) and the title of Doctor Honoris Causa from the Universidad del Noroeste de la Provincia de Buenos Aires. He is the author of various publications on communications, education, and politics.

Dr. Carlos Tünnermann Bernheim is the editor of the book Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean: Ten Years After the World Conference of 1998, launched during the Regional Conference on Higher Education in Cartagena, Colombia in 2008.

Latin America and the Caribbean committed to the World Conference

By Carlos Tünnermann Bernheim.

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NESCO has convoked its Member States for the Second World Conference on Higher Education. The event will take place in Paris at UNESCO headquarters from July 05-08 of this year. Its major focus will be: “The new dynamics of higher education and research for social change and development”.

The provisional agenda of the conference comprises the following themes: I. The role of higher education in response to the greatest global challenges: the eradication of poverty; sustainable development; and education for all. II. From 1998 to 2009 and beyond: the new dynamics of higher education and research. III. Actions to foster higher education and research.

IV. Promoting excellence in order to accelerate African development: toward an African Higher Education and Research Area.

There will also be six parallel thematic round-tables where the following subjects will be discussed: a) Internationalization, Regionalization, and Globalization; b) Learning, Research, and Innovation.

For its part, from June 01-02 in Lima, Peru IESALC-UNESCO held the II Meeting of University Networks and Councils of Chancellors of Latin America and the Caribbean (ENLACES). ENLACES is a network of networks, and resulted from proposals coming out of the Regional Conference on Higher Education (CRES) held last year in the city of Cartagena de Indias, Colombia. The creation of ENLACES is one of the major objectives of the Plan of Action of CRES 2008.

This meeting sponsored by UNESCO-IESALC had among its objectives to identify concrete experiences and proposals to give form to ENLACES. To this end, those attending participated in five cycles of presentations that treated themes such as: assessment, accreditation, and the recognition of titles and diplomas; university reforms and curricular convergence; academic cooperation; education observatories and forums for regional dialogue; and knowledge management and electronic solution banks for the management of higher education. In addition, the meeting provided a timely venue for discussing the positioning of the region in regard to the Second World Conference on Higher Education (WCHE 2009).

Various countries have been the hosts to congresses and seminars aimed at preparing for discussions that will take place at the world conference.

In Mexico, the Instituto Politécnico Nacional (IPN), was headquarters for the IX International Congress on “University Challenges and Expectations” which on this occasion had as a central theme: “Ten Years After the Paris Declaration”. The event was attended by hundreds of representatives of universities in Mexico and other countries.

The Director General of the Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Dr. José Enrique Villa Rivera, gave me the honour of inviting me to present the inaugural address at this event. The theme was “Ten Years After the Paris Declaration. A Necessary Reflection”. I analyzed the impact of the recommendations of the Declaration of Paris on higher education in Latin America, and a proposal for positioning our region at the world conference in which one of the most critical points was the discussion on the nature of higher education in the face of the progress of attempts to reduce it to the category of merchandise subject to the laws of the market, and thus susceptible to the regulated by the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Latin America and the Caribbean committed themselves at the preparatory conference in Cartagena to defend the principle that higher education, whether offered by State or by private institutions, “is a human right and social public good”.

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ENLACES The Latin America and Caribbean Higher Education Area:

A platform for the region

By José Renato de Carvalho

The Glossary of Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean unifies the vocabulary of the region WCHE 2009-. The Glossary of Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean was introduced during the Regional Conference on Higher Education (CRES 2008). This instrument defines that terms that are used in the organization and functioning of national systems of higher education, highlighting the differences of terminology in different countries of Latin America and the Caribbean.

Within this scenario, establishing a shared vocabulary facilitates the dissemination of regional cooperation processes such as the recognition of titles and studies, the creation of inter-institutional or international research groups, dissemination of cases of academic achievement, the mobility of teachers and students, the comparison of programs or institutions, and the recognition of areas and subject of common interest.

The glossary is still a work in progress, and is a sub-product of the Map of Higher Education of Latin America and the Caribbean (MESALC), providing definitions of all of the concepts dealt with in this project.

Blogs on Higher Education to be Disseminated by IESALC WCHE 2009-. Within the framework of ENLACES, the “Blogosphere of Higher Education” is the name of the new initiative of IESALC aimed at sharing ideas and points of view on the world of universities. Through this portal, users will have access to a catalogue of blogs, principally of specialists, in which those interested will be able to learn about new trends in higher education. This project also seeks to encourage and promote new blogs of other intellectuals and personalities who are involved with these themes. The idea is for the page to function as an index of portals of higher education for the entire region.

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he broad set of reflections, principles, and recommendations of the Regional Conference on Higher Education of Latin America and the Caribbean, CRES (Cartagena de Indias, June 2008) concluded by putting forth regional integration and academic cooperation as basic strategies for the construction of a model of higher education for the national systems of higher education of Latin America and the Caribbean. This model is characterized by its commitment to overcoming underdevelopment (social problems, inequality, poverty), to building stable and democratic societies, to the insertion of the countries of the region into the international context, to overcoming that gaps that separate us from the developed countries, and to the preservation of life on earth. This model is to be guided by the “ … training of persons, citizens, and professionals able to approach with ethical, social, and environmental responsibility the multiple challenges involved in endogenous development and in the integration of our countries, and who can actively, critically, and constructively participate in society”. (CRES Declaration).

The CRES Declaration cautions us that “our problems do not recognize national borders”.

We need to unite in order to share our potential and achievements, and to seek through the perspective of cooperation and regional academic integration to take advantage of human resources “to create synergies on a regional scale”, the overcoming of “gaps in the availability of knowledge and professional and technical capacities” and to develop skills and knowledge committed to the collective well-being linked with “the world of production, work, social life, with a humanist attitude and intellectual responsibility”.

In order to foster this process, CRES proposed the creation of the Latin America and Caribbean Higher Education Area (ENLACES), defining its objectives and establishing the working strategies to be implemented.

The Declaration of CRES 2008 outlined strategies for the implementation of this process of cooperation and integration: “Within the framework of an emerging Latin American and Caribbean Research and Higher Education Area, it is necessary to undertake: the renewal of the education systems of the region in order to achieve better and greater compatibility between programmes, institutions, modalities and systems, integrating and articulating our cultural and institutional diversity; the articulation of national information systems regarding Higher Education in the region in order to foster, through the Map of Higher Education in LAC (MESALC), mutual knowledge between systems as a basis for

academic mobility and as an input for appropriate public and institutional policies; the strengthening of the process of convergence of national and sub-regional assessment and accreditation systems, with a view to having available regional standards and procedures of quality assurance of both higher education and research in order to enhance its social and public function. The mutual recognition of studies, titles, and diplomas based on guarantees of quality, as well as the formulation of common academic credits accepted throughout the region; the fostering of the intra-regional mobility of students, researchers, professors, and administrative personnel, including through the implementation of specific funds; Regional accreditation processes should be legitimated through the participation of academic communities, with the contribution of all segments of society, and should defend the principle that quality is a concept inseparable from equity and pertinence; joint research projects, and the creation of multiuniversity and multi-disciplinary teaching and research networks; the establishment of communication instruments in order to foster the circulation of information and learning; the fostering of shared distance education programmes, as well as support for the creation of regional institutions that combine classroom with distance learning; strengthening of the learning of languages of the region in order to foster the kind of regional integration that incorporates cultural diversity and multilingualism, as a source of wealth”.

Creating this platform for regional academic cooperation and integration is a great challenge. We are a continent composed of countries with different characteristics in terms of size, population, resources, complexity, development, cultures, etc. Higher education systems and institutions also present significant differences in terms of organization, norms, composition, and dimension. To this diversity is added a situation of the lack of basic needs and of socio-economic structural inequalities. This appears to be the challenge faced by governments, public and private universities, networks and councils of chancellors, cooperation agencies, and by others involved in the fostering of higher education in our region: to recognize that the construction of quality higher education is a collective effort, and that dialogue and cooperation are key elements in the strategy to achieve this objective, as well as active participation in the creation of a regionally-integrated academic culture. This is, in the final analysis, ENLACES – the Latin America and Caribbean Higher Education Area fostered

by IESALC

Communication tools of ENLACES: • Web portal ENLACES • Portal of initiatives in higher education • puntoEDU, radio podcast • Weekly Discussion of Higher Education • Blogs on Higher Education • Glossary of Higher Education

ENLACES is the space for: • Dialogue and articulation • Production and management of knowledge • Convergence of projects and regional programs • Communication and Information • Promotion of the Cooperation and Academic Integration

Espacio de Encuentro Latinoamericano y Caribeño de Educación Superior

puntoEDU, the podcast of higher education WCHE 2009-. In March, IESALC launched puntoEDU, the podcast of Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean. PuntoEDU is a radio magazine that examines current trends of higher education of the region. It has been created as a communication tool for broadening discussion on current challenges to higher education, and is being re-transmitted by regional university radio broadcasters.

Web portal of initiatives in higher education: a proposal for integration

PuntoEDU is open to free subscription, and if users have a portable reproducer, it can be downloaded and listened to at the user’s convenience.

WCHE 2009-. Since last May, institutions of higher education of Latin America and the Caribbean have been sharing their initiatives and projects at the web portal of initiatives in higher education of UNESCO-IESALC. The portal is a platform for the exchange of teaching experiences and projects between various institutions of higher education within region. According to IESALC Director i.e. José Renato Carvalho, the intention is to create an area to foster discussion and collaboration between institutions of higher education”.

The web site is intended to be a point of reference for academics, authorities, students, and those interested carried out on the continent within higher education. Furthermore, it has been charged with fostering the celebration of events held within the framework of the World Conference of Paris, 2009.

Fostering the intra-regional mobility of students, researchers, and teachers; promoting the development of research projects; strengthening thematic networks; encouraging shared distance education programs; supporting the creation of regional institutions that combine in-class and distance education; and fostering intercultural awareness and cultural diversity are among its other objectives.

In order to view the portal or upload an initiative, visit the web site: www.iesalc.unesco.org.ve

The term “podcast” comes from the contraction of the words “iPod” and “broadcast”. A podcast is similar to subscribing to a spoken blog in the sense that programs are received through the Internet. An advantage of podcasts is that it is possible to listen to them in places without coverage..

ENLACES: a model of cooperation and integration When we look at the history of links between higher education and Latin American integration, we find some proposals for the creation of institutions in order to create stud programs for developing a supra-national awareness and to train leaders who are committed to the ideals of regional integration.

Latin America and the Caribbean are different from the European context. In the former, the processes of regional integration are still weak and limited, without a supra-national organization able to mobilize and assure the adhesion of countries to programs of a regional scope. There is a lack of resources, a enormous deficiencies remain among the systems of higher education in the region, which are characterized by great organizational differences.

CRES chose to invite all of the institutions linked to higher education in order to participate in the creation of ENLACES; it put forward a strategy linked directly to the institutions that are at the basis of national systems of higher education, and not only States and their ministries. ENLACES is organized through the participation of all actors of higher education that seek integration through sector and sub-regional based projects, within a strategy for carrying out changes, that lead progressively to the creation of a culture of academic integration and cooperation. Its purpose is not to replace existing modalities of bilateral collaboration between institutions or academic groups; nor to replace multi-lateral cooperation fostered through networks and associations. Rather, it is to empower them and to promote new

initiatives. ENLACES seeks the creation of an “area” for dialogue in order to make articulate concrete cooperative activities for the reform of higher education systems and institutions; in order to create conditions that allow us to move forward based on the principles and recommendations of an agreed upon agenda in order to achieve a set of concrete actions for overcoming our deficiencies and gaps.

CRES defined a model of academic cooperation and integration that was to result in the creation of ENLACES. These processes are generated starting from a perspective based on solidarity, respecting the characteristics and interests of each participant, efficiently taking advantage of complimentary processes in a participatory and transparent process, with an “equitable functioning mode” (WCHE 98), and avoiding the kind of asymmetric cooperation in which “one of the parts has a problem and the other has a solution”, while avoiding as well thematic migration – the direct transfer of strategies, focuses, and issues of one academic environment to another. Both of these have negative impacts on the incorporation and the generation of appropriate strategies and capacities for the production of knowledge.

This model is an alternative to that characterized by the “individualized competition of institutions, academics, and students”.

This appears to be the challenge presented to governments, public and private universities, networks and councils of university chancellors, cooperation agencies, and to others involved in promoting higher education in our region: to recognize that constructing quality higher education is a collective effort, and that along with dialogue and cooperation, it is essential in the strategy for achieving this objective, as well as active participation in the creation of a regionally integrated academic culture. This is, in the finally analysis, ENLACES.

Since its launching, puntoEDU has presented nine programs. They have treated subjects such as the brain-drain, access and equity, women in science, the financing of public and private universities, cultural diversity, and other subjects. Interviews have ranged from those with important academics and specialists in higher education to students of Latin American universities.

PuntoEDU is produced every 15 days, and is transmitted on the 1st and 16th of each month. It is available on the web site of UNESCO-IESALC at www.iesalc.unesco. org.ve.

Specialists to interact with the public at the “Weekly Discussion of Higher Education” WCHE 2009-. A weekly discussion is the innovative proposal of IESALC aimed at disseminating issues related to higher education. The project includes a web portal where those interested in current issues of higher education can interact with specialists in the subject. In order to do so, users will send questions to academics. The questions will be promptly answered and published on the web site of the institute. Themes to be treated include teacher training, inclusion, leadership and entrepreneurship, student assistance programs and scholarships, university responsibility and social commitment, international cooperation, academic mobility, achieving the Millennium Goals, and more. The service will be available at www. iesalc.unesco.org.ve

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Publication: Thinkers and Pioneers of Latin American Universities

a recognized specialist in the history of Spanish universities, and who offers important documentation on the creation of universities in Spanish America and about its most committed personalities.

This collective effort also contains a general introduction that I wrote that provides a unified vision of the basic features of the individual contributions, as well as contextualizing the universities and personalities in the periods studied.

The book also contains a very valuable index that provides an up-to-date listing of all Latin American universities, both public and private and classified by country. This list is also accessible on the academic blog of the project, and can thus be continually updated through the information that we receive regarding the creation of new universities.

Do you believe that the book covers the entirety of Latin American university thought?

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MES 2009 – The Regional Conference on Higher Education - CRES 2008, held in Cartagena, Colombia included presentation of the book Thinkers and Pioneers of Latin American Universities, edited by IESALC/Unesco, Cendes/UCV, and Bid&Co. This volume is the first product of the project “Latin American University Thought” that Dr. Carmen García Guadilla – a researcher of CENDES/UCV and of IESALC - coordinates at the regional level. It represents the efforts of specialists from 20 countries in the Latin American region.

In order to learn more about this book, we interviewed Dr. Carmen García Guadilla, who kindly responded to our questions.

What motivated you to write the book “Latin American University Thought”?

The study that resulted in the book responds to the need that existed to know in greater depth about who were the decisive actors in the history of Latin American universities.

Understanding those who created the university models and/or carried out major transformations over the centuries allows us to have a greater appreciation for the unquestioned importance of leadership in history and in institutionalizing and legitimizing universities in the region As I note in the book’s preface: one way to contribute to a better understanding of the present is to know about the contributions that thinkers and pioneers have made through the history of Latin America. We can appreciate how certain notions, that are fundamental for understanding current processes have been present since the beginnings of the history of these universities – for example, the social responsibility of universities vis-à-vis

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society that has been a continual concern since their beginnings We know that the book contains the writings of various authors. Can you tell us more about this contribution of representatives of different countries?

The book covers two historical phases, considering the universities founded during the colonial period, and those created after independence. That is, it covers the entire history of universities from their beginnings in all countries. Thus, this effort would not have been possible without the participation of authors in each and every country of the region. The book contains contributions of 26 academics from different Latin American countries.

Some of the authors are specialists in the history of universities, while others were approaching the subject for the first time, but all are specialists who are knowledgeable about the universities in each of their countries. The selection of thinkers and pioneers for each of the cases studied was made according to the personal criteria of each one of the researchers, who in this text show us the intellectual effort required in classifying, establishing hierarchies, and ordering all of the personalities that have been active in the history of our universities. Of course, some cases are more complete than others, due basically to the lack of documentation existing in some countries. However, this work is a very useful effort, providing us with an initial analysis working with the existing bibliography, while also identifying the absence of works on this theme in some countries.

Besides the 20 national case studies, the book benefited from the participation of a historian from the Universidad de Salamanca,

As I said before, this book is an initial contribution to a project of greater scope. Nevertheless, it does represent an important contribution to knowledge about those persons who were thinkers and pioneers in the creation and transformation of universities through time. Moreover, this project seeks to contribute to stimulating exchange about Latin American university thought and to reassessing reflection about universities within the regional context.

Carmen García Guadilla, is coordinator of the UNESCO-IESALC project “Latin American University Thought”. She is also a Full time Professor and Director of the Centre of Development Studies (CENDES) of the Universidad Central de Venezuela. She is a psychologist and holds an MSc. Degree in International Comparative Education from Stanford University (USA); a MSc. In Developmental Planning, CENDES/UCV; and a doctorate in Social Studies of Education (Universidad René Descartes - Paris). She is the author of numerous publications in the area of comparative higher education in Latin America, some of which have received awards.

Universities and development in Latin America: successful experiences of research centres

By Ana Lúcia Gazzola

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nowledge has come to assume a strategic role in the modern world.

Societies increasingly depend on its production and dissemination in diverse areas in order to develop. In the countries of Latin America, where universities continue to be leaders in fostering knowledge, the existence of solid institutions of higher education and research is a key condition for their ability to compete. The new challenges presented by the so-called knowledge society demand that we be able to unleash a process of sustainable growth, and that this process has as one of its characteristics the productive interaction between universities and society.

Betting on the integration of Latin America and the Caribbean

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ooking toward the future, UNESCOIESALC analyzes the large trends and changes taking place in the region in order to define long-term scenarios that serve as a reference for the development of higher education policies.

Within the framework of the Regional Conference on Higher Education – CRES 2008, held in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, the book was presented entitled “Trends of Higher Education for Latin America and the Caribbean”, edited by the Institute of Higher Education of Latin America and the Caribbean – IESALC. The volume brings together the outcomes from the project of the same name coordinated by Dr. Ana Lúcia Gazzola and Dr. Axel Didriksson, with the collaboration of a highly respected group of Latin American researchers.

The project Trends of Higher Education for Latin America and the Caribbean arose from the need to view the large projects of change that are occurring in Latin America and the Caribbean in order to have a referent from the point of view of trends and variables within higher education – and which necessarily have long-term components.

The variables studied are the so-called “heavy” variables. They have this name because they have strong impacts on the change behaviour of inertial trends. The working group sought to analyze the extent to which these heavy variables can have an impact on higher education.

Axel Didriksson is a sociologist. He holds a doctorate in economics. He is Director of the Centre of Studies on Universities/UNAM, former General Coordinator of the Network of Public Macro-Universities of Latin America and the Caribbean, a Level II member of the National System of Researchers, and a holder of the UNESCO Chair “Universities and Regional Integration” since 1995. He has published “Macro-Universities in Latin America and the Caribbean” (UNESCO, UCV, Caracas 2002), among other works.

Currently, Dr. Didriksson is the Education Secretary for the Federal District of Mexico.

Dr. Axel Didriksson, an IESALC researcher and former General Coordinator of the Network of Public Macro-Universities of Latin America and the Caribbean told us that one of these current trends of change is the modification of the profiles of graduates as a result of labour markets. Currently, labour markets are re-defining themselves, seeking new perspectives of learning and skills that are much more generic. As a result, current professionals, besides having specializations, should train themselves in general abilities and skills such as communication, problem-solving, human resources, and the use of new technologies, among others.

According to Dr. Didriksson, the working group that coordinated the research wanted to analyze to what extent the perspective of modification of the profiles of graduates in the face of the labour market is occurring in an significant manner and, moreover, if the possibility exists for changes in the next 15 or 20 years, because in terms of the curriculum it isn’t easy to carry out changes in the short term.

Besides this trend, there is the projection that the age groups of those in school in Latin America and the Caribbean will grow at different rates in the coming years; that is, there will be lower levels of growth in the pre-school, primary, and secondary education groups, while group will be significantly higher in the segment 15-16 years to 24-25 years group that includes those attending institutions of higher education. Therefore, if there is growth in the number of individuals seeking entrance to the tertiary level, in many countries this will mean doubling or tripling the set of coverage rates in institutions of higher education.

In summary, the working group developed the orientation not only to analyze these trends, but also in order to present a set of proposals to governments, institutions, and interested sectors that can be translated into public policies, and to seek alternatives for approaching this issue in the future.

The project Trends of Higher Education for Latin America and the Caribbean bet on integration through education, culture, and science under the criteria of quality, pertinence, and equity. Concrete experiences exist, such as the Association of Universities of the Montevideo Group, the Network of Public MacroUniversities of Latin America and the Caribbean, the Union of Universities of Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Andrés Bello Agreement, among other initiatives that are making it possible to construct a perspective on the scenario of integration.

“Latin America is not going to move first on economic integration, as is happening in Europe. Our attempt at integration will first be one that is eminently cultural, scientific, technological, and symbolic, and then will come economic integration, or in parallel”, concludes Didriksson.

We face great challenges – both as nations and as the regional block of which we are a part. To be properly faced, all of these challenges depend on massive doses of intellectual capital. There is an entire agenda before us: the generation of social technologies that can adequately respond to the needs of our countries; the development of energy infrastructure able to sustain long-range development; the establishment of non-predatory policies in order to occupy essential ecological areas; the identification and fostering of strategic academic areas for sustainable development; investment in programs and projects that join together knowledge and productive processes; the increase of international cooperation as a development instrument, and others.

Other challenges are the elaboration and implementation of public policies that promote the transfer of knowledge and the protection of intellectual property, as well as the for universities to be positively instilled by a culture of innovation.

The book edited by Simon Schwartzman is extremely timely. It is composed of a set of essays written by a select group of intellectuals who share a special concern for the role of scientific research in the sustainable development of Latin America. In part I, cross-cutting themes are discussed. Part II presents national case studies. The research task was financed by the Ford Foundation, with the cooperation of the InterAmerican Network of Academies of Science (IANAS). Its edition in Spanish, sponsored

by IESALC-UNESCO, is the first presentation of this work.

IESALC hopes that the presentation and dissemination of successful experiences will contribute to instil the desire to know them in greater breadth and depth, while serving as an open invitation for Latin American universities to assume this new strategic dimension of their mission in the XXI century.

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Dr. Sueli Pires is Knowledge Management Director of the Inhotim Institute. Dr. Pires was Associate Director of UNESCO-IESALC from 20062008, and coordinator of the research that resulted in the book “Towards a regional policy for assuring the quality of higher education in Latin America and the Caribbean”. She is a former Dean of Graduate Studies of the Universidad Federal de Minas Gerais in Brazil.

Publication: Towards a regional policy for assuring the quality of higher education in Latin America and the Caribbean

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mong the recommendations of the Action Plan of CRES 2008 directed to governments of Latin America and the Caribbean is Expanding Higher Education undergraduate and graduate levels with quality, relevance, and social inclusion. The goal is to reach the goal of 40% of expected quality coverage by the year 2015, taking into consideration appropriate standards. Currently, gross coverage rate in the region is 32%, and the average percentage for developed countries is 55%.

UNESCO-IESALC interviewed Dr. Sueli Pires, co-coordinator of the book Towards a regional policy for assuring the quality of higher education in Latin America and the Caribbean recent published by UNESCO-IESALC. Do you see any immediate implications of the recommendations made in the book “towards a regional policy for assuring the quality of higher education in Latin America and the Caribbean?

The recommendations made in chapter 2 of the book Toward a regional policy for assuring the quality of higher education in Latin America and the Caribbean have all, in nearly their totality and substance, been practically incorporated into the final text of the Declaration of CRES 2008, as well as in the respective Plan of Action. Besides the fact that accreditation and assessment agencies of LAC are already taking actions in regard to many of the subjects treated, in the cited chapter we note the good will of actors governments, agencies, networks, and universities” to put into place some of the measures that are necessary for a true integration of graduate programs. On the other hand, one must remember that some of the challenges noted in that chapter will not be solved in the short term. Although we are optimistic, there are measures that depend of a series of factors “within and outside of countries” above all in terms of the reformulation of laws and the search for funds for achieving this purpose. However, for their part, the new needs that appear often require innovative attitudes and solutions on the part of all actors involved in higher education educational activities.

In your article you emphasize the differences between systems in terms of the methodology of accreditation processes

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“The major barrier that prevents the development of a regional graduate program accreditation system is the influence that still persists in the models of developed countries over our systems in Latin America and the Caribbean” and the institutions that carry them out.

What do you believe is the principal barrier that prevents the development of a regional graduate program accreditation system?

Frankly, the major barrier is the influence that still persists in the models of developed countries over our systems in Latin America and the Caribbean. Building quality standards with their own Latin American and Caribbean identity is not an easy task, in a context of the internationalization of knowledge, above all when one thinks about graduate programs and research.

But little by little, with the leadership of some countries, we are progressing in concepts and application that are more appropriate to our multiple political, socio-economic, and cultural realities.

Is accreditation a characteristic of education in developing countries?

Accreditation is a world trend, and it applies to our region as well. It’s major motivation is due to two factors: globalization and the massive expansion of higher education. Moreover, it is a necessity that is faced by countries and regions in order to make possible public recognition and dialogue between different education systems. On the other hand, what must be avoided is the preponderance of criteria and procedures that principally serve the interests of developed countries, without taking into consideration the different needs of developing countries.

How is it possible to link the outcome of accreditation processes to their acceptance by institutions of higher education?

First of all, it is necessary to distinguish between national accreditation processes that are voluntary or compulsory on the part of institutions from those that are applied by international agencies. However, in both cases the institutions that take part in such processes have an enormous interest in achieving the best rating possible in order to earn credibility and visibility internally in their countries or in the international academic world. What happens in some cases is that, if a particular institution of higher education does not achieve good results in a specific accreditation process in

it’s own country, it tends to participate in other external accreditation processes as a strategy for validating it’s policies and activities. In my opinion, these alternative means do not contribute to the strengthening of institutions, while they generate fragmentations in the education policies of member states, and consequently of regional quality assurance policies.

What is the importance of the choice of the use of a qualitative rather than a quantitative methodology, or the contrary, in accreditation processes?

The ideal thing would be always to design and apply methodology that is balanced between qualitative and quantitative assessment and accreditation criteria. However, one notes that quantitative criteria are more prevalent than qualitative ones as an instrument of more immediate and broader applicability in institutions and courses. Unquestionably, quantitative criteria favour a higher degree of comparability between institutions and courses, generating greater reliability and rapidity of processes.

Qualitative criteria, for their part, make possible a more profound and specific knowledge of the educational proposals carried out in each institution or course, providing means of qualitative improvement and growth without being restricted to quantitative expansion.

Publication: Intercultural Institutions of Higher Education in Latin America.

Processes of institution building, achievements, innovations, and challenges

Publication: “Cultural diversity and interculturality in higher education.

Experiences in Latin America” is a publication launched during CRES 2008

Editor Daniel Mato

Editor Daniel Mato

The institutions analyzed in this volume offer original responses to some important challenges faced by contemporary institutions of higher education – and those in Latin America in particular – and are therefore valuable areas for innovation. For this reason, these experiences will interest officials, researchers, teachers, and students of “conventional” institutions of higher education as well as those responsible for developing governmental and international cooperation policies in this area.

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ntercultural Institutions of Higher Education in Latin America. Processes of institution building, achievements, innovations, and challenges brings together a set of texts that analyze the institution building of eight intercultural institutions of higher education in seven Latin American countries (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, and Nicaragua). The eight essays on the paths of institutions of higher education are preceded by an introductory study of regional scope which, besides placing the cases of these institutions within the broader framework of Latin American experiences in this subject, analyzes their major achievements, difficulties, innovations, and challenges.

The institutions of higher education studied in this book are characterized not only by their intercultural character, but also by their principal orientation of responding to the needs, demands, and proposals of communities of indigenous peoples and those of African descent in Latin America, while also being open to students from other social groups. It is not the case here of programs, centres, or projects that are part of institutions of higher education guided by broader sets of objectives not necessarily marked by attention to the specific demands and proposals of the above-mentioned population groups; nor does the book deal with coexecuted agreements between institutions of higher education and organizations of indigenous peoples or those of African descent. What are studied here are institutions the very creation of which (with variations according to context) was the result of such kinds of demands, needs, and/or projects. For this reason we can call them intercultural institutions of higher education.

This book is the second in a series of three volumes that are the results of the project entitled Cultural Diversity and Interculturality in Higher Education in Latin America. The first of them, entitled Cultural Diversity and Interculturality in Higher Education. Experiences in Latin America, was published in 2008. The third, and next to be published is entitled Higher Education, Intercultural Collaboration and Sustainable Development/Living Well.

Experiences in Latin America. These three books present results of ongoing research projects aimed at producing and disseminating knowledge on the subject in order to facilitate the possibility of learning from these innovative experiences, as well as contributing to their improvement and to establish better bases for the formulation of policy in the subject. In order to prepare the three books, the UNESCO International Institute of Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean (UNESCO-IESALC) drew the valuable contributions of 56 researchers from 11 Latin American countries. These three volumes, besides being available in printed versions, may be consulted in their entirety on the IESALC web site: www.unesco.org.ve

“The project has been able to identify the existence of more than 50 experiences of this type in eleven countries of the region. Thirtytwo programs and institutions of higher education of this type are examined in the book.

Practically all of them, except one that has not been able to begin its activities, can be considered successful, since they have been able to progress in fulfilling their objectives, overcoming all kinds of obstacles”, he stated.

Dr. Mato noted that in order to produce information on and analysis of these institutions of higher education, the project contracted distinguished members of teams in order to carry out studies guided by a common set of methodological guidelines, thus making possible comparative analyses.

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he publication is based on the experiences of institutions of higher education that offer innovative responses to the tertiary training demands of indigenous communities and those of African descent.

CMES 2009 - The UNESCO International Institute for Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean - IESALC presented its new book, “Cultural diversity and interculturality in higher education. Experiences in Latin America” as part of the launching of new publications during the Regional Conference on Higher Education - CRES 2008.

This text treats the study of Latin American universities that fulfil the higher education needs of indigenous communities and those of African descent. It was coordinated by IESALC researcher Dr. Daniel Mato, and is the product of the project “Cultural Diversity and Interculturality in Higher Education in Latin America” (DICIESAL) that was created in cooperation with authors of the region.

Daniel Mato commented that the text focuses on experiences of institutions of higher education and related agencies which, through agreements, not only contribute to better possibilities for indigenous peoples and those of African descent to enter higher education, but that also “offer innovated responses to some important challenges faced by contemporary higher education in the world and in the region, such as integration between diverse modes of the production of knowledge; the links between research, learning, and needs of the population; relations between education, employment, and the generation of producing initiatives, and others.”

This publication, which will be widely known during CRES 2008, will effectively contribute to the understanding of a variety of contexts, policies, and experiences analyzed therein, so they may be appropriately assessed. Another of the objectives of the volume is to offer recommendations to various national or regional levels. Besides the cases presented by the researchers of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru, and Venezuela, this volume includes experiences on the regional level, and a panorama written by Dr. Mato that describes the situation in the region.

In conclusion, Dr. Mato noted that the cases presented in this volume will provoke the interest of authorities, teachers, and students of higher education, as well as of those responsible for establishing public policies for international cooperation in the area, and finally of all of those interested in building more equitable societies.

Daniel Mato is the Coordinator of the UNESCO-IESALC project “Interculturality and Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean”. He holds a doctorate in social sciences, and is a full professor and coordinator of the Culture, Communication, and Social Transformation Program of the Centre of PostGraduate Studies of the School of Economic and Social Sciences of the Universidad Central de Venezuela.

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Publication: “The brain drain, networks, and knowledge transfer” Disconnections and new modes of articulation in Latin America and the Caribbean

By Sylvie Didou Aupetit

posed manifestations of loss or of compensation. They are interested in the causes and consequences of the international circulation of students, academics, and researchers.

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he brain drain was an important issue in socio-political discussions on development in Latin America during the 1970s and 1980s. The theme then went into eclipse as one to be explored, and reappeared on research and policy agendas during the middle of the previous decade. Known currently as the “circulation of talent”, or “exile of the learned”, the nomadic nature of elites gave way to reflections on the mobility of highly-trained resources, on programs for the repatriation or organization of diasporas, and on the generation of endogenous capacities that make it possible to overcome prosperity gaps between the countries of the South and those of the North. These focuses, as novel as they have been, have not made it possible to respond to all of the questions raised by the brain drain and brain gain; nor to document their quantitative features, their current characteristics, nor their repercussions on the structuring of research communities.

The book entitled “Fuga de cerebros, movilidad académica y redes científicas” (in English, The Brain Drain, Academic Mobility, and Science Networks) edited by Sylvie Didou Aupetit and Etienne Gérard, with articles by researchers from Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica, Mexico, Venezuela, France, Canada, and the United States, seeks to reflect on previously ill-defined points linked to the unequal exchange of grey matter, without underestimating its positive effects in terms of individual freedom of movement, the structuring of networks, and the transfer of knowledge. With the intention of bringing together thought on this issue, the authors have taken a new look at the notion of “the circulation of skills” and its multiple op-

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Such mobility, in order to obtain academic degrees or for professionalization, is not only of interest because it is in a phase of asymmetric growth. It also has repercussions on the establishment of academic and scientific teams within sending and receiving countries: it determines their insertion and modes of inclusion in physically present and virtual disciplinary or strategic networks, with varying degrees of formality and duration, as well as their intellectual and tactical connections with similar teams from outside. It is, therefore, part of the growing globalization of the scientific field and, in the countries of the South, of its silent internationalization through training and collaboration of academic leaders abroad. It also has an influence that deserves consideration, in the circulation of knowledge between countries of the same region or between different regions.

Finally, the various authors have sought to gauge the respective contributions of public policies at national and regional levels, and of the social and disciplinary logics of work and training, in the emergence of state-of-the-art technology, in part free of territorial considerations, in both academia and science.

Sylvie Didou is a full-time researcher at the Centro de Investigación y Estudios Avanzados of the Instituto Politécnico Nacional (CINVESTAV-IPN) – didou@ cinvestav.mx. Etienne Gérard is a researcher at the Instituto de Investigación para el Desarrollo (IRD) in Research Unit 105 “Knowledge and Development” in France – gerardeti@ yahoo.fr

Transforming Latin American Universities

By Ernesto González Enders

T

here is growing awareness that the major problems of Latin America, such as poverty, exclusion, hunger and malnutrition, and social vulnerability, cannot be solved by a single social actor. There is a need for States, the press, institutions of higher education, and other social actors to form permanent alliances in order to overcome these problems. At the same time, when one thinks of the creation of a culture of democracy and peace, of preservation of the environment, and of sustainable development for the region, the need arises for citizens who are committed and socially responsible to act within their own communities.

There then appears the concept of social responsibility, which precisely seeks to contribute to the building of a new kind of society in which the guiding ethic is one of responsibility, generosity, altruism, cooperation, complexity, and regulation for self-organization.

Social responsibility is understood as the commitment of all citizens and public and private institutions to contribute to increasing the well-being of local and global society. For this reason, Latin American universities should overcome the focus on “social projection and university extension” as well-intentioned “appendices” of their missions of student training and the production of knowledge in order to accept the true demands of university social responsibility.

We begin with reflection on academic institutions within their social surroundings. More specifically, an analysis of their commitment to the chronic problems of society, as universities move beyond viewing themselves as bubbles of peace and rationality within the techno-scientific storm while forgoing a keen and globally-aware sense of humanism. The crisis stemming from the abundance of hyper-specialized techno-scientific knowledge and its chronic blindness in regard to the global effects and world social and ecological crisis that such knowledge engenders should be the point of departure for a university transformation of social responsibility that is not merely cosmetic, but rather a profound reflection on the social meaning of the production of knowledge (innovation as a social tool)

and the personal, citizen, and professional training of leaders in this dehumanized and badly-named “technoscientific” era.

After recognizing that this is not only a case of seeking to reform bad policies, but rather to reform as well bad knowledge and epistemologies which do little to develop the skills that universities seek to produce and to transmit, each university will be able to develop its own diagnosis and transformation.

The social responsibility of universities requires, beginning with an open, holistic, cross-cutting, and interdisciplinary vision, bringing together the various parts of the institution in a project for social promotion with ethical principles and inclusive and sustainable social development for the training of leaders and the production and transmission of socially-responsible knowledge.

The profound and radical nature of such a transformation may be intimidating, but we should not forget that the process can be gradual and growing. Moreover, many of the transformational elements of the social responsibility of universities are already present in most of our universities (for example, interdisciplinary research, the linkage of certain kinds of learning with social projection, the development of problem and project-based learning, curricular transversality and flexibility, etc.), but in a disarticulated manner and without an integrated institutional perspective.

The possibilities of integration between teaching, research, and social projection and extension, coordinated and integrated by rejuvenated academic-administrative management, are practically infinite. We only need to provide adequate institutional support to creative people in each area of the university, and to seek the ongoing return of the fruits of social actions taken to improve the academic and professional training of the university community. This is the only measure that will guarantee the longterm vitality of Latin American university social responsibility.

Latin American and Caribbean students present at the World Conference on Higher Education 2009

by Renan Thiago Alencar Moreira

Photo link http://www.ucr.ac.cr/boletin/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=249&Itemid=99

D

uring the World Social Forum of 2009, the student movement of the region launched the campaign entitled “Education Is Not Merchandise” in favour of removing education from the trade agreements of the WTO. The campaign presents a platform that calls upon all education movements that support free, public education willing to contribute with the major themes that will be discussed during the World Conference on Higher Education.

From the moment that preparations began for the Regional Conference on Higher Education – CRES 2008 – organized by UNESCO-IESALC, students have carried out important activities in terms of discussion and dissemination preparatory to the WCHE 2009. The student platforms at the national level demanded time in their preparation, exhaustively discussing the major trends in higher education in Latin America and the Caribbean, from the university reform of Córdoba up to the present time. The discussions were carried out by UNE at its 12th CONEB and its 51st CONEG. In April, a student mobilization took place organized by OCLAE in the countries of the Southern Cone: Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, and Paraguay. This activity was very important for the unity of the Latin American student movement, with the approach of the WCHE.

In Uruguay, the campaign was presented to the Council of Student Centres of the FEUU (the Uruguayan University Student Federation).

Within this framework, last March the FEUU held a regional meeting of students from the Southern Cone, seeking through discussion to establish a position for the world conference. In a meeting with the Minister of Education of Uruguay, María Simón, the students presented the campaign and emphasized that the Uruguayan education system is the model to be followed, since in that country access to higher education is open and without payment, and only 10% of enrolments are in private institutions. At a meeting with the Chancellor of the Universidad de la República, Prof. Rodrigo Arocena received the initiative with pleasure and promised to present the platform to the Central Executive Council (CDC) of the university. In a meeting with the general secretary of the Association of Universities of the Montevideo Group, Dr. Rafael Guarga, it was expressed for the first time that within the United Nations System, education should be the exclusive province of UNESCO. In Argentina, the launching of the campaign took place at the Universidad de la Plata, with the presence of student movement leaders of region. “We are discussing within the Congress

for University Reform America Latina Educa a platform that updates the struggle for university reform. Of special importance within this proposal is the condemnation of the inclusion of education within the WTO”, says Gabriel Marina, Secretary of International Relations of FUA (the University Federation of Argentina). The Argentines will reproduce the material of the campaign, with the support of the Universidad de La Plata. According to Chancellor Aspiazu, it is essential that the themes related to the world conference be widely disseminated within the academic community. In a meeting with Representative Puiggros, chairperson of the Education Committee of the National Assembly, and the author of the University Reform Bill, it was mentioned that there are still many problems to be solved in Argentina. In spite of being a country in which access to universities is open and free of charge, and 75% of enrolments are in public institutions of higher education, problems still persist, such as that of student attendance and the great concentration of universities within large urban centres, such as in Buenos Aires, which concentrates 50% of enrolments in higher education.

In Paraguay, the campaign was taken to the Universidad Nacional de Asunción, during the assembly of the School of Architecture, with the participation of students from other departments of the Universidad Católica and of secondary schools. According to Eduardo Guerrero, president of the student centre of the School of Architecture of UNA, “This campaign has everything to do with our reality in the struggle for university reform”. In Paraguay, the opening of new private universities depends on prior approval of the national parliament – leading to the fact that many members of that body take advantage of the fact to open their own private universities. “Our struggle is against the members of parliament themselves, who legislate in their own benefit, and often hinder the consolidation of the public universities” said Eduardo.

At the Universidad Nacional del Este – UNE, in Ciudad del Este, a discussion took place together with student representatives of the University Executive Council. The students were very interested in the regional integration platform discussed during the last period. Ciudad del Este is located in a strategic region, at the borders of Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina.

UNE is part of the student mobility system organized by AUGM. They noted that during the 6th Congress of Public Universities of Paraguay, held at the end of last year at the UNE, a clear position was adopted in against the opening of private universities in the country.

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Publications 2006-2009 The title of each publication is written in the original language of which the book was published.

2009 Declaration and Action Plan of the Regional Conference on Higher Education in Latin American and the Caribbean – CRES 2008 Declaración y Plan de Acción de la Conferencia Regional de Educación Superior en América Latina y el Caribe - CRES 2008 Higher Education in Latin American and the Caribbean 2008 Editors: Francisco López-Segrera, Colin Brock and José Dias Sobrinho Fuga de cerebros, movilidad académica y redes científicas.

Perspectivas latinoamericanas Editors: Sylvie Didou Aupetit and Etienne Gérard Instituciones interculturales de educación superior en América Latina.

Procesos de construcción, logros, innovaciones y desafíos Editor: Daniel Mato

2008 Hacia una política regional de aseguramiento de la calidad en la educación superior para América Latina y el Caribe.

Editors: Ana Lúcia Gazzola y Sueli Pires Diversidad Cultural e Interculturalidad en la Educación Superior.

Experiencias en América Latina Editor: Daniel Mato Evaluación de la Educación Superior en Brasil Editor: Hélgio Trindade Pensadores y Forjadores de la Universidad latinoamericana Editor: Carmen García Guadilla Trends in Higher Education in Latin American and the Caribbean Editors: Ana Lúcia Gazzola and Axel Didriksson Tendencias de la Educación Superior en América Latina y el Caribe Editors: Ana Lúcia Gazzola and Axel Didriksson La educación superior en América Latina y el Caribe: diez años después de la Conferencia Mundial de 1998 Editor: Carlos Tünnermann Bernheim Universidad y desarrollo en Latinoamérica: experiencias exitosas de Centros de Investigación Editor: Simon Schwartzman

Higher Education and Society Journal (Revista de Educación Superior y Sociedad)

Higher Education in the Anglophone Caribbean General Editor: Hebe Vessuri Guest Editor: Hazel Simmons-McDonald and Edwin Brandon Year/Number: Year 14 Number 2 Year of Publication: 2009 Experiencias de convergencia académica en los países del MERCOSUR General Editor: Hebe Vessuri Guest Editor: Jorge Landinelli Year/Number: Year 14 Number 1 Year of Publication: 2009 El movimiento de responsabilidad social de la universidad: una comprensión novedosa de la misión universitaria.

General Editor: Hebe Vessuri Guest Editor: Xiomara Xarur Year/Number: 13 Number 2 Year of Publication: 2008 Transformaciones Sociales y desafíos universitarios en América Latina General Editor: Hebe Vessuri Guest Editors: Alberto Dibbern, Ana Lúcia Gazzola and María Rosa de Petris Year/Number: Year 13 Number 1 Year of Publication: 2008 Universidades Latinoamericanas como centros de investigación y creación de conocimiento Editor: Hebe Vessuri Year/Number: Year 12 Number 1 Year of Publication: 2007

2006 Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean 2000-2005 Editor: Claudio Rama Informe sobre la Educación Superior en América Latina y el Caribe 2000-2005 Editor: Claudio Rama

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Publication: Higher Education and Society in their new era with the approach of the World Conference

By Hebe Vessuri

U

nder current circumstances, with discussions of the future of higher education in Latin America and the Caribbean progressing within the framework of globalization, the subject of human and social development and their link with higher education and the potential of knowledge is a timely one. Since 2007, IESALC has twice a year published a new issue of the journal “Higher Education and Society” under the theme New Era. These last five issues bring together a set of reflections, experiences, and proposals from a distinguished group of academics and officials with responsibilities in different areas, from government officials in higher education to research centres and academics of high distinction.

The 2007 issue was entitled “Latin American Universities as Centres of Research and the Creation of Knowledge”, followed in 2008 by “Social Transformations and University Challenges in Latin America” edited by Dr. Alberto Dibbern, Ana Lúcia Gazzola and María Rosa de Petris and “The Social Responsibility Movement in Universities: a New Understanding of the University Mission”, edited by Xiomara Zarur. During 2009, the journal enjoyed the contribution of Jorge Landinelli as editor of “Academic Convergence Experiences in the MERCORSUR Countries and Edwin Brandon and Hazel Simmons-McDonald as co-editors of “Higher Education in the Anglophone Caribbean”.

The journal “Higher Education and Society” is published semi-annually by the UNESCO International Institute of Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean (IESALC), which has its headquarters in Caracas, Venezuela.

The journal “Higher Education and Society” is dedicated to publishing the results of research; identifying gaps in knowledge and new research priorities; raising for discussion current issues and problems; fostering research in and about higher education; disseminating information on policies and best practices; contributing to the establishment of points of contact between the results of research and policy formulation; facilitating and stimulating international and interepistemic venues for the exchange of ideas, experiences, and critical discussion; stimulating the organization of networks and cooperation between actors; strengthening conditions for innovation in higher education; developing a communication platform for researchers, and serving as a repository of research related to higher education in different countries of the Latin American region.

All of the articles are the responsibility of their authors, and not of the journal of IESALC nor of the institutions with which the authors may be affiliated.

Director UNESCO-IESALC José Renato Carvalho a.i Communications Department Grace Guerrero Carolina Romero Contributors Ana Lúcia Gazzola Asdrubal Santana Carlos Tünnerman Bernheim Carmen García Guadilla Claudia Rincón Daniel Mato Ernesto González Hebe Vessuri José Renato Carvalho Lolybel Negrín Marco Antonio Rodrigues Dias Paulo Speller Renan Alencar Sueli Pires Sylvie Didou Graphic Design Maria de Lourdes Cisneros Photos: Fernando RUIZ (Fotos CRES 2008) Foto Portada: Revista Ensino Superior Brazil Unesco-Iesalc Translation William Gallagher ISNN: 1856-6979