Summary

Round-Table discussions

Summary

On March 9-10, the organizations and university networks promoted by IESALC/UNESCO, UDUAL and the IOHE met at the State Secretariat for Higher Education, Science, and Technology for the Dominican Republic (SEESCyT) to ratify support for the Declaration of the Regional Conference of Higher Education (CRES) and the 2008 Declaration of Panama. The objective was to support the creation of the Latin American and Caribbean Area for Higher Education (ENLACES).

The Technical Committee comprised of IESALC/UNESCO, UDUAL and the IOHE prepared the agenda for the second meeting, which was organized around round-table discussions.  The objective was to examine the strategic aims that  would support the development of ENLACES. These are summarized below:

1. Academic Will

2. Political Will

3.Technical Operational elements: quality standards, curricular harmonization, credit transfer systems, and educational modalities.

4. Science and Innovation Development

5. Regional Information System for Higher Education (transversal aim)

At the conclusion of the meeting, the various parties  signed the “Declaration of Santo Domingo” , an agreement  in which following clauses were established:

That His Excellency, the President of the Dominican Republic, Dr. Leonel. Fernández, be sought as the spokesperson for the ENLACES initiative before the Summit of the Americas for Heads of State and Government. This historic event was held in April this year (2009).The key objectives of the meeting were to obtain support for the creation of ENLACES and to seek the political will of presidents, and heads of state and government in Latin America and the Caribbean.

-To request that Organization for American States (OAS) and international financial organizations  support  programs and activities related to Higher Education, Science and Technology in Latin America and the Caribbean.

- To provide Cooperation and Regional Academic Integration for the Growth of Higher Education, Science, Technology, and Innovation –in order  to  develop Latin American and Caribbean Society.

- Regional Academic Integration and Cooperation

Summary of Round Table Plenary Sessions

Morning SessionTable 1:

Science, Technology and Innovation

Coordinated by the IOHE

Thematic Objective: IV

Once the antecedents and proposals of this strategic objective were accepted, the following points could be taken into consideration:

• The main elements of the proposal for innovation, science and technology consist of doctoral level training requirements, the planning of a coordinated strategy for university-society linkages, and the strengthening of each institution and university system.

• This strategic aim is an opportunity to rethink initiatives that are being developed with limited external assistance and are conducive to the creation of a common area for higher education. This strategy, however, should begin with our own needs and objectives.

• This process requires the active participation of attendees. For example, attendees are expected not only to participate as trainees, but also as key team-players  in defining  strategies for quality-based collaborative doctoral programs, thus taking on the institutional responsibility of supporting the development of research incubators. In this way, staff will receive adequate  HR training.  Moreover, the linkages that were created at foreign universities should be maintained, i.e. where additional training was provided.

• To  implement this strategy, each country and university is required to specify how many people need to be trained at a doctoral level, and also state which fields of study they require training for, and for what purposes.

• The proposal is also under-girded by a solid business-university relationship, and is linked to State Policies that promote innovation, science and technology.

• The challenge, then, is to corroborate these joint efforts and potentially establish a vast convergence space –the aim of which is to coordinate KM.

Table 2:

Adjustment Processes and Curricular Harmonization

Coordinated by UDUAL

Thematic Objective: III

Key Issues (which the parties agreed on)

That harmonizing something  something is not the same as standardizing it.  It is therefore essential to define the key strategies that contribute to improving the quality and institutional collaboration of a project like ENLACES.

Self-assessment, peer assessment, and accreditation are three basic processes used to achieve curricular harmonization. For this reason, it is important to provide information about the national and regional efforts that are being done to achieve these aims.

Become better familiarized with the experiences of organizations such as UDUAL, RIACES and CAC, so as not to repeat one’s efforts.

The evaluation processes may therefore contribute to harmonization. It would be advisable to identify a Latin American model that supports these efforts.

Knowledge of the national legislative framework is a component of the curricular harmonization processes; it can define credit and the length of studies.

Curricular harmonization is a prerequisite to improving the quality and cooperation proposed by ENLACES.

A new curriculum harmonization model is mentioned, which includes:

Evaluation and accreditation mechanisms.

Curricular assessment that includes skills analysis as an implementation strategy; respect for diversity, and social relevance of the educational offer is a basic component of this action.

Analysis of accreditation and credit transfer systems- thus taking into consideration previous experiences from the European and Latin American models, the Montevideo Group, and Cooperative experiences (TUNING).

The curricular harmonization process requires a collaborative effort by Governments, Networks, Institutions and Academics -to give them viability.

A maximum deadline of one year has been proposed for the following tasks: to have analytical activities of this scope and range identified by experts, and to make the results known.

Table 3:A Regional Information System for Higher Education

The Role Quality Plays in International Cooperation

Coordinated by UDUAL

Thematic Objective: III

During the round-table discussions, the following aspects of the assessment and accreditation model and international network of education testers were highlighted by UDUAL

• Collaboration Bodies
• Proactive Bodies
• The Ten Year Development Plan
• Coordination of planning and evaluation processes

The work group concluded that quality assessment and accreditation are key requirements for internationalization modalities. These are summarized below:

Academic Mobility, Joint Projects, Convocation Ceremonies, and Letters of Understanding

Table 2:

Academic and Student Mobility. Academic Visas, Financing.

Coordinated by the MACRO-UNIVERSITY Network

Thematic Objective III Considers the following points:

• The global financial situation
• ENLACES promotes a space for student mobility
• That different academic and student mobility models exist
• That the objective of mobility is to improve quality and strengthen the Latin American and Caribbean dimension of Higher Education.

The following steps are recommended:

• Determine best practice for all processes
• Design a model for mobility that includes academic credits, quality, research, university legislation, academic visas, and the usage of ICTs
• Execute a Pilot Project to make the model viable
• Identify original sources of financing that aid the sustainability of the new model.

Table 3:

Credit Transfer System

Coordinated by the IOHE

Strategic Aim 3:

Conclusions:

• The creation of a system of credits requires the active presence of the following actors: universities, legislative and government bodies, finance organisms, and accreditation and quality agencies.
• A credit transfer system requires a high level of confidence among HEI.
• The academic will of HEI is a concept that can be applied by focusing on the commitment to work plans that are carried out internally, that is, in areas related to teacher and student roles, the role of HEI, and academic and procedural adjustments.
• It is essential that each Ministry of Higher Education or their equivalent parties collaborate on a joint university legislation proposal.

• It is important that the process be managed by IESALC and be given the direct support of the IOHE and UDUAL. At the same time, this process should be coordinated with other university networks in order to avoid dispersion (a breaking away from unity)
• The harmonization of academic management systems does not necessarily imply the homogenization or unification of plans, programs and academic systems. Instead, it concerns respect for the differences in each university and country
• One way of dealing with the task at hand is to collate information about all the successful experiences in the region and also of those that are just starting out in the field of research. Similarly, one could also document those that have experiences of a significant problem in their practical application
• Some of the basic requirements for a system of credits are: a change in the educational model, student-based work, joint evaluation systems and the harmonization of plans.

• Strengthen the IESALC Academic Information System: Higher Education Map

• Table 4:

Table 4:
Educational Modalities. Life-long Open Education and Distance Education

Coordinated by Virtual Educa

Strategic Aim: III

•   “Strategic Line of Action no. IV entitled “The Role of the University in Knowledge Society”

• OAS, UDUAL, and VIRTUAL EDUCA are three organizations that will be working on the development of the agreements made during the meeting:

AGREEMENT 1:

To promote the creation of a virtual space for reflection within the framework of ENLACES and the organization of an onsite seminar about the convergence of higher education (presential and non-presential) in Knowledge Society

AGREEMENT 2:

Provide a consultancy service for those institutions of higher education that wish to incorporate the different forms of non-traditional training into their study programs, which is based on the principle of solidarity and cooperation.

AGREEMENT 3:

Identify successful experiences (case studies) in the following areas:

• Virtual Postgraduate Programs from recognized and prestigious universities, and
• Virtual postgraduate programs with joint degree certificates from various universities (academic programs that have “a strong Latin American component”) in human resource training for regional strategic aims (Education, Health, Government, etc).  The objective is to:

• Seek the necessary resources in order to facilitate access to these programs, so that:
• They are a model for incorporating specific quality indicators, i.e. as shown in the quality assessment systems of higher education..

In addition, it includes:

The need to maximize the potential of the tools and information systems that facilitate improved understanding and exchange of best practices in higher education programs that are not strictly presential (cfr. Virtual Educa Observatory; the IESALC Map).