What led you to write the book Latin American University Thought ?

The study that resulted in the book responds to the need to learn more about those who were key actors in forging the history and thought of Latin American universities.

Understanding those who developed the first models of universities and/or who carried out the first transformations through the centuries allows us to better understand the extreme importance of leadership in history and in the institutionalization and legitimation of universities in the region.

We know that the book is made up by contributions from various writers . How was this contribution from representatives of various countries carried out?

The book is structured in two historical phases, considering the universities founded during the colonial period and those created after independence. That is, it covers the entire history of universities from their beginnings in all countries. Therefore, this effort could not have been made without the participation of authors from each and every country of the region. Therefore, 26 academic contributed, from different Latin American countries.

Some of the authors are specialists in the history of universities, and others were approaching the subject for the first time. But all of them are specialists and knowledgeable about the universities in each of their countries. The selection of thinkers and pioneers for each of the cases studied was made according to the personal criteria of each of the researchers, who in this text demonstrate the intellectual effort involved in classifying, establishing hierarchies, and ordering all of the personalities who have been active in the history of our universities. Of course, some cases are more complete than others, due basically to the lack of documentation in some countries. Moreover, this work is a very useful effort because it is the first analysis that works with the existing bibliography, while also identifying the absence of works on this theme in some countries.

Besides the twenty national case studies, the book benefited from the collaboration of a historian from the Universidad de Salamanca who is a recognized specialist in the history of Spanish universities, offering important documentation on the creation of universities in Spanish America and about their most committed actors.

This collective effort also has a general introduction – of my authorship – that provides a unified vision of the basic aspects of the set of contributions as well as presenting a contextualization of the universities and personalities during the periods studied.

The book also has a very useful appendix that contains an up-to-date listing of all Latin American universities categorized as public and private and by country. This list is also available on the academic blog of the project, and so can be continually up-dated through the information that we receive regarding the creation of new universities.

Do you believe that the book covers the entirety of Latin American university thought?

As I said before, this book is an initial contribution to a project of greater scope. Nevertheless, it does represent an important contribution to knowledge about those persons who were thinkers and pioneers in the creation and transformation of universities through time. Moreover, this project seeks to contribute to stimulating exchange about Latin American university thought and to reassessing reflection about universities within the regional context.

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Carmen García Guadilla , is coordinator of the UNESCO-IESALC project "Latin American University Thought". She is also a Full Professor and Director of the Centre of Development Studies (CENDES) of the Universidad Central de Venezuela. She is a psychologist and holds an MSc. Degree in International Comparative Education from Stanford University (USA); a MSc. In Developmental Planning, CENDES/UCV; and a doctorate in Social Studies of Education (Universidad René Descartes - Paris). She is the author of numerous publications in the area of comparative higher education in Latin America, some of which have received awards.