San Jose, Costa Rica, 07/05/2017 – During CLARA network’s annual TICAL Conference, which took place this year in San José, Costa Rica, the Inter-American Organization for Higher Education (IOHE) co-organized the Presidents’ Panel untitled “Constructing the University of the 21^st Century”. The panel, which was held on July 4 2017 was moderated by IOHE’s Executive Secretary General, Dr. David Julien, and was attended by academic leaders from Argentina, Costa Rica, Mexico, and Panama.

During this event, university Presidents Mario Ricardo Sabbatini, Universidad Nacional del Sur (Argentina), Marcelo Prieto, Universidad Técnica Nacional (Costa Rica), María Esther Avelar Álvarez, Universidad de Guadalajara Virtual (Mexico), and José Barrios, Universidad Especializada del Contador Público Autorizado – UNESCPA (Panama), gathered to analyze current topics related to Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in the context of Higher Education in Latin America.

At each of its editions, the TICAL Conference gathers leaders in ICT from higher education institutions in the Americas as well as other continents.  Among the subjects explored this year were the increasing use of mobile technology at Universities, the impact of factors such as big data and analytics on the development of higher education in the region, the challenges facing institutions to implement these technological resources, and the impact of this shift on different university functions, such as teaching, research, inter-institutional relations, and management.

“This event was made possible thanks to the existing collaboration between RedClara and IOHE, along with the active participation of senior international authorities, which allowed for a a thorough analysis of the current realities of universities in the region. The prime example of the richness that emerges from this diversity is the President’s Panel which has representatives from four major universities of the American continent. Now we want to give continuity and to reflect about how to follow-up with the initiative mentioned above by, for instance, starting-up training programs for our universities’ ICT directors”, explained Dr. Julien.

Every year, IOHE organizes and participates in dozens of activities related to the development of science and technology such as the ITCAL Conference, and, in particular the Conference of the Americas on International Education (CAIE) the fifth edition of which will take place from the 11^th to the 13^th of October 2017 in Montreal, Canada on the theme, “Preparing the Leaders and Innovators of Tomorrow: Research and Higher Education, Bridges to Prosperity across the Americas”.