GLOBAL NETWORKING AND COMMUNITY-UNIVERSITY ENGAGEMENT CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES

1. GLOBAL NETWORKING AND COMMUNITY-UNIVERSITY ENGAGEMENT CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES Session: TG11-P4 LATIN AMERICA CHALLENGES AND ACHIEVEMENTS IN THE UNIVERSITY – COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION June 26th, 2013 José Blanes Jiménez Centro Boliviano de Estudios Multidisciplinarios

2. Who we are Bolivian Center for Multidisciplinary Studies (Cebem) is a private and autonomous nonprofit association, dedicated to multidisciplinary research and training at graduate level in social sciences.

3. The focus of our day-to-day work 25 years • Research, review and discussion of significant issues in Bolivian and Latin American societies from a multidisciplinary perspective. • Disseminate intellectual production through publications, seminars, workshops, national and international knowledge networks. • Maintain professional development programs by means of online courses. • Providing support services to development projects.

4. Our policies Working with communities as our main concern Having a comparative view, mainly in Latin America Creating discussion spaces for South-South and North-South dialogue Inclusion in IT usage, aimed at professionals.

5. Proposing alternatives to... • Overcrowded education • Persistent exclusion and elitism • Low quality • Mercantilization of public education • Tendency to professional discouragement • Disregard of local and traditional knowledge • Disregard of development requirements • Resistance to change

6. Latin America and the CaribbeanGraduates in the first level of University education

7. Main observations from Latin America • Higher Education Institutions (HEI) disregard social responsibility, therefore increasing their segregation from society and the detachment between researchers and communities • Knowledge is becoming multidisciplinary, but disciplines are still highly isolated • Development of academic networks is weak, there is little collective learning • Countries, institutions, and their experiences are left in the shadows, invisible to global learning • There are obstacles to building common spaces for collaboration

8. The differences and gaps between countries and Higher Education Institutions (HEI) In the past ten years cooperation among HEIs improved quality, which increased exponentially however a great number of institutions have not taken advantage of these lessons.

9. Two issues Lack of visibility of successful experiences that can serve to reduce gaps between countries and institutions Insufficient consideration for the graduated professional who loses contact with continuous education and knowledge

10. Some valuable experiences in the university-community association Some initiatives have emerged from society itself others have emerged from the students themselves, and very rarely from the universities

11. Large and most prestigious HEI have to a large extent solved challenges of quality Accelerated growth of HEI, massification, poor quality, and absence of effective engagement with the needs of society

12. STRATEGIC POSITION As a small academic institution, we support local initiatives looking to maximize their impact both in our region and globally. Our focus is on: Information management Operation of knowledge and community networks Presenting HEI with alternatives for professionalization Research about means of knowledge dialog between HEI and development professionals

13. MUCH OF EFFORT TO IMPROVE HEI HAS COME FROM THE SMALLEST INSTITUTIONS Not metropolitan but instead regional or provincial With great engagement and proximity to the real world There is need to address knowledge that exists in small and provincial institutions as they represent important regional potential

14. First ChallengeThe two worlds of HEI Bringing together both worlds based on knowledge of the real world Seeking visibility for smaller institutions and their successful experiences

15. Second ChallengeThe world of professionals They are in the community, implementing policies, development projects, and interacting with the international cooperation Professionals, technicians, practitioners, trainers and the civil service need continuous communication with sources of knowledge They need a system of continuous education and updating in their discipline with an interdisciplinary perspective

16. Thematic areas • Networks on concrete topics and activities • Practice communities • Collaborative workgroups • Including • Research • Training programs • Collaborative topic development • Knowledge communities Third challengeCreating cooperation spaces forcollective knowledge

17. CEBEM is supporting a democratic knowledge mobilization, or a CBR movement, where civil society is a full partner in the creation of knowledge for social change. It is feasible and necessary

18. INTERNATIONAL OR GLOBAL NETWORKS TO STRENGTHEN AND/OR ADVANCE OUR WORK AND THE WORK OF THOSE WITH WHOM WE WORK A “steel triangle”? DEMAND COSTS QUALITY

19. Is that rigidity untouchable? Until recently, this equilateral triangle was immutable It was impossible to move one of the corners in one direction without negatively affecting the others Now, because of the arrival of open educational resources it is possible to increase access and quality without increasing costs He added With mediation from networks and interaction between institutions sure of their scope, the triangle is not necessarily that rigid. But research based on concrete experiences is needed. There are still initiatives from some of the biggest universities that can massify higher education in prejudice to quality.

20. STRATEGIES Visibilize successful experiences capable of reducing the gaps between countries and institutions. Acknowledging professionals as the main target for higher education. Creating cooperation spaces to ease gatherings and the setup of practice communities. Increase attention on forgotten universities and education centers: knowledge is produced in them. Start off problems and take action around the dialogue between experts and professionals.

21. LEARNING FROM EXPERIENCE CEBEM has learned from many experiences, being outstanding among them: REDESMA (Latin America & Africa) RIPPET Cooperación, Conocimiento y Desarrollo GACER Cátedra UNESCO

22. 1 REDESMA (Latin America & Africa) REDESMA Latin America is a knowledge management tool responsible of creating a huge community of people concerned with South-South and North-South cooperation. It has over 150.000 members. REDESMA Africa has been working as a mean for transferring experiences between Bolivia and Mozambique, having gathered over 10.000 members in less than a year, both in Latin America and Africa.

23. 2 Post-Degree Network in Politics and Territorial Studies: RIPPET Created 20 years ago as a derivative from Iberic American Network of Researchers in Globalization and Territory (RII), RIPPET is a cooperation and exchange space for post-degree programs in Latin America Has organized 11 international encounters with participation of over 80 programs and institutions from Latin America It works towards an objective “promoting exchange, coordination and cooperation between different post-graduation programs mantained by HEI in South America, Mexico and Europe”

24. Its operational objectives are Professors collaborating between post-graduation programs Peer-reviewed research Strengthen diffusion of academic publications from researchers inside the network Development of contents integration processes between post-graduation programs   Increase the usage of technologic tools Design continuous broadcasting mechanisms Enhance institutional frameworks for encounters between university communities and professional communities

25. COOPERATION SPACES CEBEM acts as Executive Secretary in RIPPET, promoting activities and tools for Cooperation among local universities through joint, travelling and collaborative courses Creating information and communication spaces Collaborative development of online courses

26. VISIBILIZATION OF PROGRAMS Add value Note the quality of courses in the region Reward collaboration Gather capacities in the region Value relationships between cultures Cooperation with other networks Renew the concept of quality beyond the classroom

27. 3 Cooperation, Knowledge, Development Dialogue North-South Promotes access to knowledge and collective learning North-South and South-South. Started in 2007, gathers a growing number of associated institutions in Latin America and Canada It focuses on knowledge associations and professional update Among its tools are: a collaborative model including directories and databases, an online educational platform for short professional update courses, and widespread electronic newsletters

28. 4 PROFESSIONAL UPDATE • Short courses program • Knowledge production • doesn’t occur only in university classrooms • must pay attention to professionals • builds joint spaces where experience is the foundation of knowledge and learning while dialoguing with experts • higher education should not be aimed only at the students

29. RESOURCES USED NEWSLETTERS SCIENTIFIC ONLINE MAGAZINE TOPICAL DOSSIERS SHORT COURSES Institutions present Programs Communication mechanisms Networks-Communities

30. THEMATIC AREAS INTERCULTURAL RELATIONS INTERCULTURALITY AND WORK MARKET - LOCAL, REGIONAL AND TERRITORIAL DEVELOPMENT GENDER AND DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS PLANNING AND EVALUATION HUMAN AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT MIGRATION AND REMITTANCES CULTURE AND DEVELOPMENT LOCAL DEVELOPMENT AND ENVIRONMENT CLIMATE CHANGE ECONOMICS AND ENVIRONMENT HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENT ENERGY AND DEVELOPMENT

31. PROFESSIONAL UPDATE PROGRAMS WE ARE LEARNING FROM Over 3200 professionals trained in Latin America, the Caribbean, Canada, Europe Over 50 professors from Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean Courses prepared in 64 different courses prepared 142 classes formed in six-week periods A database with over 27600 interested professionals

32. GACER Cátedra UNESCO(UNESCO Chair) CEBEM is a South contributor to North experiences, mainly through GACER. Contributes incorporating trend topics from both Spanish-speaking and Portuguese-speaking South into the space developed by North networks

33. LEARNING PROCESS We learn permanently and we require adding new partners to develop new ideas and tools We need to develop knowledge dialog mechanisms It is necessary to generate operative knowledge starting from problem solving principles

34. TOOLS CROSS CUTTING ON LEARNING Appropriate tools for learning in a global context Pedagogy and instruments for a new knowledge dialog using the most recent technologies Frameworks for collaboration among professionals and HEIs

35. Conclusion Use of new technologies to advance cooperation between diverse HEI from diverse regions. Greater investment for appropriation of these methodologies and their adaptation to knowledge management so that they can be more inclusive and committed to the real world. Small institutions can perform important role due to their capacity to adapt themselves to conditions of rapid change and operate with low costs. Visibility of collaboration among large HEIs and smaller institutions can open paths in the coming together of University and the Community.

36. Identification of diverse models of collaboration and cooperation between institutions constructing common spaces, where the specific and concrete feeds the meaning of global processes. Programs of short courses for professional updating: put professionals among privileged stakeholders, they could advance the university-community relationship, as graduated professionals are key component and ideal connection for the flows of knowledge. Higher education must consider not only the student in university classrooms but also dedicate attention to professionals, constructing spaces with them in which experience is a part of higher education.

37. Thank you