Editorial

The major challenge of our Latin America and the Caribbean is to become integrated

In Cartagena we reached agreement regarding the themes around which consensus must be built in order to attain convergence in national higher education systems, the achievement of which will make possible the construction of the Latin America and Caribbean education area and from this, ENLACES.

In order to reach this point we need to continue to work to strengthen the integration agenda constructed in Cartagena during the regional conference, through the CRES 2008 Declaration and it's plan of action. We agree that the scenario is one of Latin American integration, and that higher education can play a leading role in the integration of all Latin American and Caribbean countries. The major challenge of our Latin America and the Caribbean is to become integrated. We cannot continue to be fragmented in the face of the different regional blocks that are dividing up the world while we face these blocks individually from our countries.

Latin America and the Caribbean have different levels in terms of the dynamics of internationalization of higher education systems. There are countries or institutions with marked levels of academic and international cooperation, while others delve very little into the theme. These different levels are due to differences in the levels of development of each country – some of which have emphasize academic and international cooperation, while other make little use of this opportunity that exists in the context

The challenges of globalization, the development of communication and information technologies, the unprecedented progress in the fields of science and technology, among other factors, together with the Latin American reality of growing social injustice, poverty, and inequality of opportunities that are reproduced as well in higher education, require of universities another way of conceiving and utilizing the production of knowledge.
Today, institutions of higher education in Latin America and the Caribbean see internationalization more as an opportunity than as a threat derived from globalization. Although some elements of this idea persist, when one studies in depth everything that internationalization means, many of these objections can be substantially reduced. This, in spite of the fact that in the region there is a strong tendency toward trans-national higher education which is present in any higher education system in the world, that sees education more in a commercial sense than as a public good.
This specific theme of internationalization and of international cooperation that IESALC has been developing for many years, has made possible the strengthening of cooperative ties between higher education systems. To this has recently been added other initiatives such as international projects that include cooperation of other regions of the world. We have encountered a wide range of non-profit experiences of both internationalization and of international cooperation directed at higher education.

Within this context of internationalization there considerable specific concern in regard to the co-validation of degrees. We know that in the different countries of the region this concern is in part due to the mobility of professionals and of students, and represents a challenge for institutions and for governments due to the fact that in our countries, the co-validation of a degree is almost automatically a permission to exercise a profession. This occurs independently of whether or not a license is issued by the respective professional organization, because generally the only requisite demanded for professional licensing is the presentation of a degree legally recognized in the country, and this is obtained through co-validation.

ENLACES is our Latin American and Caribbean Education Area. It is our area that fosters integration. And it is our opportunity to share, discuss and propose experiences and policies, and that helps us to think about how to reduce the distances that separate us within our continent.

Xiomara Zarur is a member of Ascun and a professor at the Universidad de los Andes, Colombia
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www.iesalc.unesco.org.ve