The UNESCO International Institute for Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean (IESALC) is the specialized institute of the United Nations system with the mission to contribute to the improvement of higher education in member States. The Institute organizes its activities around working programs that reflect the priorities set biannually by its Governing Board and approved by the UNESCO General Conference. From research, capacity building, technical cooperation, and concerted advocacy, four major work programs contribute to fulfill its mission.
Internationalization and Academic Mobility
In Havana, Cuba, a network was formally established as the operational arm for the implementation of the Regional Convention on the Recognition of Studies.
Two new publications on recognition issues were presented and the Committee’s leadership was renewed, with Ecuador as vice-chair and Uruguay as chair for the second time
Earlier in May, the UNESCO International Institute for Higher Education (IESALC) organized the second launch webinar for the Higher Education Policy Observatory with a focus on the Europe and North America region. This event also featured a high-level policy panel discussion on the role and uses of data in guiding higher education policy.
In a moment in which the autonomy of higher education institutions is on the news every other day, are you curious to know whether national governments recognize institutional autonomy by law? A new Policy Insight from UNESCO IESALC provides a global overview on the share of countries establishing institutional autonomy in higher education, with comparisons between regions and income groups.
Quotas are tools that set aside a number of seats in higher education systems for underrepresented student groups to increase inclusion and diversity. Are you curious to know which national governments around the world use them? A new Policy Insight from UNESCO IESALC showcases which of the 146 countries documented in the HE Policy Observatory have established national quotas.
To commemorate the International Day for People of African Descent, these reflections highlight the contributions of the struggles to recover and value the knowledge and epistemic knowledge of black and indigenous peoples in Latin America to higher education, including the institutionalisation of quota policies or affirmative action and the corresponding installation of anti-racism in the agenda of institutions, among others.
The World Bank Youth Summit 2024, in which UNESCO IESALC is an official partner, focuses on how young leaders leverage technology to address global issues.
In the first panel of the year’s “Voices that add up” series, four specialists debated the role of higher education in the face of the emerging demands of the labour market.
Rectors from the region confirmed in Brazil their commitment to a vision of sustainability, development and efficiency through the SDGs of the 2030 Agenda.
Representatives of Latin American and Caribbean countries defend higher education as a universal human right, a social public good that must be guaranteed by states.
Broad and meaningful partnerships are needed to ensure quality, inclusion and equity in higher education, is one of the conclusions of the UNESCO IESALC side event at the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Youth Forum.
A suite of reports presents the key findings from a series of regional and thematic consultations on the right to higher education as an integral component of the evolving right to education.
To close UNESCO IESALC’s anniversary week, representatives of higher education networks in Latin America and the Caribbean discussed the futures of higher education.
The article presents what today’s students think about the university of the future, their hopes and fears towards 2050
In Havana, Cuba, a network was formally established as the operational arm for the implementation of the Regional Convention on the Recognition of Studies.
Two new publications on recognition issues were presented and the Committee’s leadership was renewed, with Ecuador as vice-chair and Uruguay as chair for the second time
Higher education institutions worldwide are being encouraged to focus on achieving global sustainability targets with the help of a new United Nations-sponsored reporting and measurement resource.
We invite you to participate in a comprehensive survey designed to gather case studies and insights on innovative practices in Greening within Higher Education Institutions and beyond.
The latest issue of the Journal of New Approaches in Educational Research, published the article Closing Now to Reopen Better Tomorrow? Pedagogical Continuity in Latin American Universities During the Pandemic, by Francesc Pedró and Débora Ramos, director and academic specialist respectively at UNESCO IESALC.
The Universidad en Internet (UNIR) held last May, in Lima, the Congress “The Futures of Higher Education”, with the participation of 40 universities and institutions, including UNESCO IESALC represented by its director, Francesc Pedró. The event served to reflect on the great challenges facing higher education, as a result of digitization and changes arising from the pandemic. It was attended by the mayor of Lima, Miguel Romero; the president of UNIR, Rafael Puyol; the rector of UNIR, José María Vázquez; the Spanish ambassador to Peru, Alejandro Enrique Alvargonzález; the secretary general of the OEI, Mariano Jabonero, among other personalities. Pedró […]
Emma Harden-Wolfson, researcher at UNESCO IESALC, explains in recent article that, although generative AI tools have spread rapidly in education systems, there are multiple inequalities in access to these tools.
UNESCO IESALC presented the guide “Harnessing the Era of Artificial Intelligence in Higher Education. A Primer for Higher Education Stakeholders”
The handbook explores how technological developments are currently being used and how to integrate them in a practical and ethical way into knowledge generation
This blog post is based on the interventions of Dr Francesc Pedró, Director, UNESCO IESALC and Dr Axel Rivas, Director of the School of Education at the University of San Andrés and Academic Director of the Applied Education Research Centre San Andrés, Argentina, during the UNESCO IESALC webinar ChatGPT, inteligencia artificial y educación superior held on 17 April 2023. It also draws from UNESCO IESALC’s publication, ChatGPT and Artificial Intelligence in Higher Education—Quick Start Guide.
UNESCO IESALC held a webinar to discuss its possibilities and challenges in higher education, a Quick Start Guide and an interactive seminar, which will begin in April 2023.
The idea of this project is to support the role of youth by equipping them with project, policy and innovation skills.
Six young people propose pillars for achieving change in the region through innovative learning
Capacity building
The program will be facilitated by experts in higher education and transformative pedagogy who will continuously mentor participants to ensure a deep and meaningful learning process.
Registration is opened for the second edition of the Campus IESALC sustainable leadership and governance programme.
Technical cooperation
The institutions committed to develop and promote: strategic alliances, training programmes, scientific events and research, and technical assistance to expand the offer of distance education, among other cooperation activities.
They were developed with the technical support of UNESCO IESALC, as part of the Program to Strengthen Improvement Plan Projects, financed by the PMESUT of the Ministry of Education Lima, 29, 2022.- During 192 hours of training and technical assistance 43 project managers and university teachers received personalized advice with quality mentors, as part of the Program for Strengthening Improvement Plan Projects aimed at improving the academic and pedagogical management of public universities in Peru. The program was designed by UNESCO IESALC within the framework of call 6 called “Improvement of Academic and Pedagogical Management in Public Universities”, financed by […]
Concerted advocacy
In the framework of the United Nations Future Summit, UNESCO IESALC launches a series of youth-led papers on the SDGs, the third on SDG 13 linked to climate change.
Are you a higher education institution that is tacling the challenge of student employability in an innovative, effective and inclusive way? We want to hear from you!