Education and Latin America: Tec hosted Times Higher Education summit

Thanks to Tec de Monterrey, Mexico has hosted the Times Higher Education Latin America Universities Summit for the first time, a forum for universities and education specialists to review their progress and impact in Latin America.

The summit was held on July 3 and 4 at the Tec’s Monterrey campus and was attended by 230 participants from 17 countries.

The meeting addressed current and future challenges in Latin America, as well as allowing universities to collaborate on promoting regional research and boosting development in the region.

Also as part of the event, the results of the Times Higher Education Latin America University Rankings 2023 were released, ranking Tec de Monterrey #4 in the region and #1 in Mexico.

Topics covered at the summit

The meeting highlighted topics such as the need to promote research and increase educational opportunities and student mobility in the region.

Also discussed were the present and future needs of the population, prioritization and diversification of university funding, and the social impact of the internationalization of universities.

“We’re aiming to create approaches for measurable impact, with a focus not only on regional but also international collaboration and outreach,” said David Watkins, Managing Director of Data Science at Times Higher Education.

“As a key piece of information, we feel that the success of a university can be related to the number of its international collaborations, which is one factor we measure,” he added.

Watkins addressed the role of universities in positively impacting their communities.

“We’re looking at how to create approaches for a stable impact throughout the region. Universities play a very important role and can lead effective responses to the opportunities that exist.

“We need to start talking about industry funding and create more partnerships with industry in order to address challenges such as the effects of the pandemic,” he said.

He also thanked the attendees for their effort and time invested to address topics that contribute to a better future for society.

The importance of research funding

In one of the panels at the Times Higher Education Latin America Universities Summit, three professors addressed the topic of research funding.

Magnet Carmen Márquez, Minister of Education of Peru; Julián Rodríguez, Rector of the Austral University of Argentina; and Iván Suazo, Vice Rector for Research at the Autonomous University of Chile, discussed developing research with limited resources.

Educational improvement, the importance of research as a driving force for universities, and the responsibility to address local challenges were some of the main topics of the panel discussion.

During the discussion, they highlighted that one of the most important challenges is the lack of research funding in Latin America.

Although increased resources are crucial, the experts stressed that the challenge extends to shortcomings in education and training.

For this reason, it is necessary to improve the quality of school and university education in order to promote research.

They highlighted the need to collaborate with educational institutions in other countries to overcome financial restrictions.

Latin America: a region with challenges and opportunities

David Garza, Rector and Executive President of the Tec, said that while there are challenges in Latin America, there are opportunities to make an impact on the population.

He talked about the challenges facing the region, such as inequality and access to education, which is still not viable for all.

“Some of our challenges include poverty, inequality, and access to education. Economic growth in the region is below the growth of other regions such as Africa and Southeast Asia.

“We have challenges in productivity; much of the region’s GDP is based on labor. The little research and innovation we have in the region is something relevant to our meeting,” he said.

However, universities have the opportunity to make a positive impact on society.

At the end of the event, Garza also said:

“Thank you to everyone who has invested their time to be here in Monterrey over these days.

Thank you to Times Higher Education for placing your trust in Tec de Monterrey to host this summit. We hope we will be able to host many others.

Although we have challenges in Latin America, there are also opportunities to be a better region and to be better universities.”

ALSO READ: