Meetings of the Inter-American Organization for Higher Education’s (IOHE) Board of Directors and Executive Committee took place from April 24 to 28, 2017, in Osorno and Santiago, Chile, under the auspices of the Universidad de Los Lagos, headquarters of the regional vice-presidency of the Andean countries of the vice-presidency of the organization. The second meeting was preceded by an international seminar organized by the host institution, the Consejo de Rectores de las Universidades Chilenas (CRUCH) and the Universidad Tecnológica Metropolitana (UTEM).

The meeting of the Board of Directors, held in Osorno, analyzed the progress of its agenda for 2017, which is part of the development of the IOHE 2017-2022 Strategic Plan.  Dr David Julien, Executive Director, as well as the Organization’s Program Executive Directors: Dr Miguel Escala, Institute for University Management and Leadership (IGLU), Fernando Daniels, College of the Americas (COLAM), Dr Rosa Montes, CAMPUS, and Jimena Sánchez, Space for Women Leaders from Institutions of Higher Education in the Americas (EMULIES), took part in the meeting where the strengths and challenges of the upcoming activities were discussed.

The “Internationalization and University Cooperation in the Americas” workshop took place at UTEM in Santiago on April 27, 2017, along with a networking event with CRUCH representatives. These two events brought together 39 delegates from various Chilean universities and members of the IOHE Executive Committee.

“It was a very productive day and a privilege to be able to present the IOHE and the CAIE to the 27 Presidents of the CRUCH, which is one of the 36 members associated with the CAIE. We were able to discuss the mobilization strategy for the October event and the bilateral relations between the universities of our member countries and Chile,” said Dr David Julien.

The following day, the 77th Meeting of the Board of Directors was held, which was led by Dr Allan Cahoon, President of the Organization and Royal Roads University (Canada), Dr Óscar Garrido, vice president of IOHE and Andean region, President of the Universidad de Los Lagos and host of the meeting. Also present were the regional vice-president from Colombia, the deputy vice-president from Brazil, the regional executive secretaries of Central America, Brazil, the Caribbean, Colombia, the Southern Cone and Mexico, as well as CAMPUS, COLAM, EMULIES and IGLU executive directors.

The 2017 meeting was held during the first year of activities of the IOHE 2017-2022 Strategic Plan, which was adopted at the 36th Member General Assembly last November, in Guadalajara, Mexico, and discussed issues relating to Vice-Presidents and programs in order to contribute to the implementation of the activities planned for the current year and throughout the strategic quinquennium.

“This meeting has enriched and helped us to ensure that we have a space to answer the questions of the vice-presidents and to determine what the IOHE can do to achieve the objectives that the university presidents present at the Board of Directors Meeting have taken on.  “In addition, it serves to set forth our successes, strengths and challenges,” stated Dr Cahoon.

The organization’s vice-president and President of the Universidad de Los Lagos expressed his satisfaction with the results achieved by the activities carried out in both cities.

It was highlighted that this year IOHE will be electing a president and regional vice-presidents for Central America, Colombia, the Southern Cone, Mexico and the Andean countries.  In this regard, the respective election processes will begin next June with ratification planned for the 37th Member General Assembly, to be held on October 10, 2017, in Montreal, Canada.

For the second half of this year, the IOHE is preparing dozens of events and activities for the purpose of contributing to the development of higher education on the continent, including the Congress of the Americas on International Education (CAIE), October 11-13, in Montreal, Canada.

See the information on the CAIE, the EMULIES and EIESTEC Meetings, as well as the IGLU courses, the International SOCIAL-CAMPUS colloquium and the COLAM courses in the 2017 IOHE Plan of Activities.