A vision of intra-regional cooperation and exchange

If we try to envision what the future of higher education will be in 50 years’ time, we need to look not only within higher education but also at how it might respond to some of the world’s key challenges.

In the Americas, we urgently require a response similar to what the European Union and even some countries in Asia, such as China, have done if we want to move forward.

We should view higher education as a strategic investment and a vehicle for economic and social development and seek a more productive and competitive economic block within North America and-or across the Americas.

In Latin America there are particular structural challenges that persist and that have an impact on basic activities. These include greater harmonisation across institutions and programme offerings – for example, accreditation and mutual recognition – and mechanisms that facilitate mobility from a regulatory perspective – for instance, special visas for mobile students, portability of financial aid and of academic credits.

We can ill afford to be too general in what we offer. So it would appear that we need to be more effective at linking universities with business-industry and government:

• • We need to look at some areas where there is already intensive economic activity or clusters and where the involvement of higher education institutions can be pivotal.
  
• • We need to look at what will make business more competitive, generate greater value-added and-or create more jobs. Accordingly, entrepreneurship in the broadest sense should be high on the list.
  
• • We need to look at applied research and development and the generation of new solutions in select areas.
  
• • We need to acknowledge convergences and divergences across borders and recognise that there are cultural and people skills – or soft skills – that can help us bridge the gap and come closer together. What we may initially view as borders are in some cases inextricably linked regions, such as the California – Baja California region (or Cali-Baja region, as locals refer to it).

At an institutional level and especially in countries such as Mexico, as manifested at the recent Annual Assembly of the Mexican Federation of Private Universities, or FIMPES, held in Tijuana, there is a challenge and an opportunity for presidents to play a more pivotal role, integrating values, ethics and internationalisation in a way that leads to greater employability and incorporating these as part of their institution’s vision and action plan.

Also important are setting the tone for innovation and change, enabling others, involving faculty in a relevant and engaged manner, developing capacity including a greater degree of professionalisation of university leaders and, above all, providing continuity.

Challenges in Latin America

Numerous lists exist detailing the top issues or priorities that countries or regions are facing. The American Council on Education, or ACE, includes the following: access; affordability; quality, accreditation and rankings; student learning and employability; globalisation; technology; and the business model.

In terms of the broader region of Latin America and Ibero-America, perhaps the best point of reference for a higher education agenda is the 3rd Universia International Meeting of Presidents held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in July 2014, or Rio 2014, where close to 1,200 higher education leaders from said regions and a select group from around the world met to discuss the challenges and opportunities in higher education.

The action plan resulting from Rio 2014 includes:

• • Consolidation of Ibero-American higher education and knowledge;
  
• • The need for universities to take greater responsibility for social and environmental issues;
  
• • Improving the quality of information on universities;
  
• • Developing an evidence-based culture;
  
• • Addressing student expectations – for example, development of the whole individual and providing the necessary skills they will need when they graduate;
  
• • The continuing development and improvement of the professoriate;
  
• • Quality teaching and learning which is responsive to social needs – learning outcomes, accreditation and quality assurance all come under this;
  
• • Improving research, technology and knowledge transfer and innovation;
  
• • Broadening internationalisation and mobility initiatives;
  
• • Better usage of digital technologies;
  
• • Online, e-learning and MOOCs; and
  
• • New models/formats for governance, organisation and financing.

This plan already has financial backing from Universia and Santander Universidades to the tune of €750 million (US$817 million) for 2014-18.

Out from the margins

With regard to internationalisation, universities can harness the opportunities afforded by globalisation by taking it to the highest level.

Universities need to change the mindset and move internationalisation from the periphery to mainstream, make internationalisation a presidential priority and an integral part of an institution’s strategic planning, as well as identify and assign appropriate resources and search for and deploy internationalisation ‘evangelisers’.

In keeping with current trends, universities will very likely work on more focused activities, shift from a focus on individual mobility to groups of students, oversee a rise in faculty participation, stress value-added (double degrees, certificate programmes and badges), explore short-term sessions and applied experiences (internships and service learning, for instance), integrate internationalisation into the curriculum and-or work on internationalisation at home strategies, the use of hybrid-online courses (e-mobility) and even the development of joint projects with business and industry.

Strategic partnerships and alliances will play a pivotal role in the deployment of internationalisation within and across institutions. As one looks at this challenge across borders and regions, this will require, among other factors:

• • An understanding of organisations’ cultures and an ability to connect the right people;
  
• • Going beyond traditional institutional reciprocity based on mobility around a particular programme to one where the focus is instead on finding the right convergences or relevant areas of complementarity;
  
• • Getting past a bartering approach where internationalisation is viewed as being all about foreign fee-paying students; and
  
• • Working on and achieving financial and operational sustainability.

Cooperation and exchange

Hans de Wit, director of the Centre for Higher Education Internationalisation at Università Cattolica Sacro Cuore in Italy and professor of internationalisation of higher education at Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, has pointed out that for Latin American higher education to move forward more intra-regional cooperation and exchange will be needed.

Tertiary education expert Jamil Salmi has also suggested that countries will have to move away from a division between, and differential treatment of, public and private universities to a position where all that matters is whether quality education is being delivered.

Indeed, as Francisco Marmolejo, the World Bank's lead tertiary education specialist, has indicated, the region can benefit from giving increased autonomy to tertiary education institutions under a system of accountability.

If Latin American countries can embark on and make progress on the Rio 2014 agenda, coupled with taking the kind of strategic actions suggested by De Wit, Salmi and Marmolejo, the end result over the next 50 years might very well be that:

• • Several countries will have well-articulated accreditation processes resembling what already exists in the US;
  
• • An increasing number of universities in the region will have achieved US regional accreditation;
  
• • Access to quality higher education within Latin American countries and across the region – either stand alone or through partnerships with institutions from developed countries – will be greater;
  
• • The percentage of the college-age population attending higher education institutions will be closer to the OECD average;
  
• • More Latin American universities will begin to appear in global rankings;
  
• • Overall mobility of students will see a dramatic rise both from Latin America to the rest of the world, as well as within the Latin American and Ibero-American ‘higher education zone’; and
  
• • Universities in Latin America will be developing more globally competitive graduates and a better prepared and more active citizenry.

Too good to be true? With the right policies, strategies and leadership, I believe it is possible and at the very least it gives us serious food for thought.

Fernando León García is president of CETYS University, Mexico. This is an edited version of his presentation at the International Association of University Presidents, or IAUP, 50th Anniversary meeting in Oxford, UK, held on 22-24 May.