Second preparatory meeting for CRES+5 to be held in Puebla (Mexico) in September

The UNESCO International Institute for Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean (IESALC), the Mexican Ministry of Public Education (SEP) through the Undersecretary of Higher Education, the Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla (BUAP), and the Latin American and Caribbean Higher Education Area (ENLACES), call for the second preparatory meeting towards the Regional Conference on Higher Education (CRES+5), to be held in Puebla City, Mexico, on September 5 and 6, 2023.    

This meeting, to be held at the Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla (Mexico), will present the progress of the work of the various groups responsible for leading the discussions on the 8 topics to be discussed at the follow-up meeting of CRES+5, to be held in Brasilia from March 13 to 15, 2024, in order to assess progress in regional higher education five years after the CRES 2018 Action Plan.   

The preparatory event in Puebla constitutes a necessary instance of dialogue and interlocution among the actors of regional higher education, which seeks to socialize the changes and progress recorded in each of the thematic axes five years after having been worked and discussed at the CRES 2018. It will also serve as a space for collective reflection on the UNESCO’s Roadmap of the Third World Higher Education Conference (Barcelona, 2022), all with the idea of reconfiguring the CRES 2018-2028 Action Plan in new terms, particularly in light of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on higher education.  

Representatives of university networks, quality assurance agencies, student associations and unions, among other higher education stakeholders in Latin America and the Caribbean, are invited to this meeting to discuss the following topics in working sessions:   

1. Strategic role of higher education in the sustainable development of Latin America and the Caribbean;
2. Higher education as part of the education system in Latin America and the Caribbean; 
3. Higher education, cultural diversity and interculturality in Latin America;   
4. Higher education, internationalization and integration in Latin America and the Caribbean;  
5. Role of higher education in the face of social challenges in Latin America and the Caribbean; 
6. Scientific and technological research and innovation as engines of human, social and economic development for Latin America and the Caribbean;  
7. 100 years after the Cordoba Reform: towards a new manifesto for Latin American higher education;  
8. Teacher training and working and living conditions of the main actors.  

The effects of the pandemic and its implications and the future of higher education in the region were approved as cross-cutting themes. 

The themes and working methodology were approved during the first preparatory meeting held at the National University of Córdoba (Argentina) in March 2023. The broadly participatory nature of CRES+5 will include virtual working groups for each of the themes with broad regional participation, with the intention of producing a final report and contributing to the final declaration of the Brasilia Conference, to be held on March 13-15, 2024. It will highlight the progress made in higher education, as well as the shortcomings that still persist, the challenges posed, and the problems that emerge, particularly after the crisis caused by the pandemic.  

Agenda and methodology to be announced in brief.

Following the eruption of the Popocatépetl volcano on 20 May, the organisers will assess the situation and the event will be relocated if recommended by the Mexican authorities. From UNESCO IESALC we send our best wishes to the Mexican people, trusting that this event will not have any regrettable consequences.