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
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
This publication is intended to be a reference guide and a tool to support public officials and institutions of higher education, mainly in neighboring countries, which receive a large number of Venezuelan migrants.
Francesc Pedró | This contribution has opted for an approach to the transformation of higher education that attempts to describe and analyze trends of which we are just beginning to have signs.
The instrument is multilingual, allowing each respondent to pick their preferred language from English, French, Spanish, Arabic, Russian, Chinese (traditional and simplified) and Portuguese. ¡Join us!
The purpose of this consultation (in Spanish) is to gather information to learn more in detail about the experiences of ethnic-racial discrimination that especially affect students, teachers, researchers and other workers of African descent and indigenous peoples in Latin American universities, generate documentation on the subject, analyze it and promote concrete proposals to advance in the eradication of racism in higher education. These results and proposals will be communicated through an institutional report of our UNESCO Chair in Higher Education and Indigenous and Afrodescendant Peoples in Latin America, containing a systematization of the main data and recommendations collected, which will […]
On World Refugee Day, UNESCO IESALC launches regional project to support the right to higher education of Venezuelan refugees in Latin America and the Caribbean
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.
The idea of this project is to support the role of youth by equipping them with project, policy and innovation skills.
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.
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.
UNESCO IESALC holds First Youth Dialogue on the Right to Higher Education in Latin America
An in-depth consultation with more than 100 young people from 43 countries defined the challenges, improvements, and opportunities for higher education in 2050 in a new report by UNESCO
On International Youth Day, UNESCO IESALC joins the United Nations celebration for intergenerational solidarity and a world for all ages.
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
This publication is intended to be a reference guide and a tool to support public officials and institutions of higher education, mainly in neighboring countries, which receive a large number of Venezuelan migrants.
Panel discussion and launch of SET4HEI self-evaluation tool and certification
This July 15, the HESI 2024 World Forum – a special event of the High Level Political Forum – will address the future of higher education for sustainable development.
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 […]
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
Registration for the second edition of the Campus IESALC sustainable leadership and governance programme is open until 31 August 2024.
Campus IESALC offers a course which will provide new resources and teaching skills to meet the needs of an increasingly digital student body that demands specific training according to their interests.
Technical cooperation
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 […]
On February 4, the Program’s first stage to strengthen university improvement plans ended with more than 14 virtual visits to 10 exemplary higher education institutions in Ibero-America The ability to respond to the abrupt interruption of face-to-face activities now depends on a digital environment. Many have had to become acquainted in a short period to guarantee pedagogical continuity. In this context, it is necessary to strengthen models of improvement plans that allow higher education institutions (HEIs) to establish a roadmap to develop the mechanisms required to ensure the quality and relevance of a face-to-face, non-face-to-face, and hybrid system. In this […]
Concerted advocacy
The Tirana 2024 Conference will focus on issues related to the challenges of implementing the commitments of the Bologna Process, the European perspective on internationalization and mobility, the role of higher education in meeting digital and ecological imperatives, the preservation of core academic values and the social dimension of higher education.
Francesc Pedró, director of UNESCO IESALC, said in an interview with the Bolivian newspaper El Deber, that beyond the merits, UNESCO is committed to the universal right to higher education.