Montreal and Santiago, January 12th, 2021
Dear IOHE Members:
In this new year, first and foremost, we express our wishes for the well-being and health of you, your loved ones and all the teammates that make up your institutions. We also express our solidarity with the higher education institutions (HEIs) for the difficult circumstances they have had to face due to the pandemic and, especially, with those who have suffered the loss of collaborators. The year 2020 was also a period of change, learning and new opportunities for HEIs. The IOHE has taken part in such changes and adaptations, seeking to strengthen its mechanisms and strategies to respond to the needs of its members.
In this regard, and in response to travel restrictions, we have implemented, at the inter-American level, the Virtual Mobility Space in Higher Education (eMOVIES) which aims to offer an alternative to traditional mobility models, allowing students the opportunity to take courses in the virtual or distance modes offered by other IOHE member institutions. This initiative has been recognized by UNESCO through funding that will allow us to reinforce the impact of the project.
In view of the current situation, we consider it very important to recognize the loyalty of our membership. Therefore, we announce that we will be implementing a scholarship program to increase access to our various activities. We will identify the regions that will be prioritized as beneficiaries of these scholarships and supply application details in a subsequent communication.
On another note, following the recent agreements of our October 2020 statutory meetings related to a process of organizational strengthening that was begun in 2019, and to which we have added considerations related to the need to adapt as an Organization to the changes and challenges that the new context demands, we announce a reconfiguration in the roles and functions of some members of the team that make up the Executive Secretariat.
These are as follows:
– Fernando Daniels assumes the position of Director of Planning and Development;
– Leticia Jiménez, the position of Academic Director; and
– Claudia Núñez del Arco, the position of Head of Institutional Relations.
Likewise, the Organizational Assessment Report presented to the General Assembly indicated the need to diversify opportunities for collaboration among the membership, not limiting them to the option of becoming program venues. It should be noted that our institutional thematic lines will continue to be Internationalization, Innovation, Management and Leadership and Equity and Inclusion, inspired by the Sustainable Development Goals, and anchored in our programs: IGLU, COLAM, CAMPUS, EMULIES and EIESTEC.
Working along these lines will allow us to create the conditions for greater participation and integration of the human talent found in the HEIs, with alternatives such as: i) Host institution (virtual or face-to-face) of an encounter, internship or training activity; ii) Collaboration on the development of course content or training activities, iii) Participation in student/teacher exchanges within the framework of eMOVIES, and/or iv)
Participation in the development of research projects at an inter-institutional level. We invite everyone to “raise their hand” and communicate with us to express their specific interests.
As examples, we would like to remind you of two open calls, in which you can submit your proposals for papers or presentations:
– – 2nd EMULIES EDI Symposium on University Policies on Gender, Interculturality and Inclusion, with the Universidad Veracruzana and the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), 9-11 June in virtual mode;
– – 7th Conference of the Americas on International Education (CAIE), with the national education networks of Chile (CRUCH, CUECH, CUP, AUR, Vertebral, IESTP and CFTECH), 19-22 October in virtual mode.
Training activities such as the IGLU course, the DIES or others are detailed in our Activities Calendar (access from the home page of our web site IOHE). We are aware that 2021 will present new and significant challenges but we are also confident that through collaboration, communication and permanent exchange with you, our dedicated members and allies, we will succeed in maintaining the Organization’s pertinence in changing times as well as its characteristic inter-American spirit.
Finally, we remind you that the IOHE’s initiatives and projects are brought to fruition thanks to your active participation and financial contribution. With regard to this, in the next few days regular members will be receiving the invoice for the corresponding 2021 membership fee.
Warm regards,
Dr. Oscar Garrido Dr. David Julien
IOHE President Executive Director
Rector, Universidad de los Lagos IOHE
Find here the membership letter in its original version