Universities with a social purpose can learn from each other

Although it is the state capital, Xalapa is a relatively small city in Mexico. The headquarters of the well-known University of Veracruz is located there. But there is another public university with its central campus there – the Intercultural University of Veracruz. This university has a specific social purpose that is to contribute to the education and welfare of indigenous groups in the region.

Although only around 10% of Mexico’s population officially describe themselves as ‘indigenous’, the majority of people have indigenous roots. Veracruz has a relatively high presence of indigenous people and the state also has mountainous areas like Zongolica, the population of which continues to consider itself indigenous. They also face issues of poverty, deprivation and underdevelopment, similar to the situation in many parts of India.

Although a few indigenous people study in conventional universities, many do not have any experience of higher education. Moreover, universities may not have a specific objective of addressing the challenges faced by such communities.

It is for this reason that the UVI – Universidad Veracruzana Intercultural – was established with two objectives: to provide higher education to students from these communities; and to create a set of trained professionals who can address the challenges they face.

These may include the development of educational materials in indigenous languages, documentation and reflection on their knowledge and other cultural practices, and plans to address the challenges they face in terms of healthcare, education, livelihood and so on.

A different type of university

I read about UVI in the articles of Professor Gunther Dietz of the University of Veracruz. Through him and other contacts in Mexico, I visited UVI and spent a few days there recently. I wanted to find out more about UVI and also to share the experience of my own university, Azim Premji University in India, as both have somewhat similar objectives. The UVI authorities were very supportive and arranged transport and a translator for me.

There are four campuses of UVI in relatively remote locations with a predominance of different indigenous groups. Locating the university near these target populations makes it accessible to students.

I visited one such campus in the Zongolica mountainous area and a community or settlement served by it. Most students on these campuses come from relatively poor and economically vulnerable groups. They would not have received higher education if it were not for the intercultural university.

There are two types of academics or teachers. There is one set trained in urban or metropolitan universities, but who take the trouble to come and stay in remote areas. Since UVI has been in existence for the last 15 years, some of its own students have also become teachers here. Hence, there are many teachers who understand and connect with the local context.

I had a long discussion with the head of the university and those who lead the programmes on different campuses about the challenges faced by the university. My key concern was to understand the way academics who are trained in conventional universities see this new higher education enterprise.

I found that faculty who are trained in archaeology, anthropology, geography or in arts and culture, in general see teaching in UVI as an extension of their field experience.

They talk about how they have attempted to connect their disciplinary knowledge with the reality of their students. They see the need to reconstruct academic knowledge based on the experiences of these communities and so do not view interaction with students and communities as about the unidirectional transmission of knowledge.

My impression is that teachers at UVI have a greater willingness and readiness to transform themselves in order to meet the needs of this special university.

Some with urban roots and an urban education have decided to live in remote areas as part of this higher education programme. There is therefore a greater empathy about the challenges faced by students from indigenous groups and they understand what the provision of higher education means to such students.

They do not complain about the intellectual or assimilation capacity of students and come out, instead, with innovative strategies to see that teaching and learning happen in languages and forms that are comfortable for students. Multiple efforts are made to ensure that the experience of the students and communities is reflected in classroom processes.

Challenges

UVI faces a number of challenges too. The positions of teachers are not comparable to those in conventional universities. Some therefore do not receive comparable remuneration and this can have a demotivating effect. Better remuneration and facilities in conventional universities – in areas such as healthcare – encourage some of the teachers at UVI to move back to them.

Although they have developed innovative practices around the special purpose of the university, much more effort needs to be made to document these practices so that they can be reflected upon and be made available to others. There has to be a greater effort to make UVI much more visible so that there is a stronger political and social acceptance of such universities.

I interacted with a set of people in the community and observed their interaction with students and teachers at UVI. The university has a greater focus on the language and cultural practices of these communities. There are major efforts to provide education in indigenous languages like Nahuatl. However, I noticed a certain reluctance with regard to making changes in their practices or empowering these groups politically.

Although there are certain efforts to use disciplines like agronomy to improve the livelihoods of indigenous groups, it seems to me that there is a general reluctance on the part of the university to get into issues of political or social change. This could be driven by the anthropological approach of UVI.

As a social scientist, I would argue for more reflection on the valuable assimilation of language and cultural practices of these communities on the one hand, and the assimilation of desirable practices (such as those related to population reduction, infant mortality and gender discrimination) on the other hand. There may be a need for more attention to be given to the human and sustainable development of communities so that their cultural identity can persist and flourish.

UVI has to depend on limited public resources and that puts a cap on programmes and the number of students it can admit. Most students come from very poor backgrounds and so they cannot access this higher education even if it is free, due to the cost of living near campuses, and the university is yet to provide residential facilities.

UVI cannot compete with conventional universities in the allocation of public resources unless there is a strong political reason to improve the education of indigenous groups. There could be a stronger structural connection made between the indigenous groups and the university to build a stronger case.

The Azim Premji University and UVI can learn much from each other.

Our university has a higher emphasis on bringing about positive change in the educational or development situation of less privileged communities. The curriculum has a stress on social structure, economic interactions and political processes. There are efforts to connect classroom teaching with grassroots realities to bring about social change through initiatives such as the university-practice connect.

However, the openness on the part of the academics at UVI to the need for universities that have a direct social purpose, and the need to reconstruct disciplinary knowledge and transform themselves, are something that academics at Azim Premji University, and further afield, can learn from.

V Santhakumar is a professor at Azim Premji University in India. He teaches economics for development practitioners in the university, and carries out research on education and development issues. This is an edited version of an article first published here.