Fernando Navarro, Vice President of the Association of Educational Institutions of Higher Education in the Caribbean – ASIESCA and David Julien, Executive director of the Inter-American Organization for Higher Education (IOHE), participated in the event with a welcome message, who also made a brief presentation of the organization .

At the meeting, Dr. Andrés Vásquez, Executive Director of ASIESCA, highlighted that Colombia is facing one of its greatest challenges in terms of higher education, since one out of every two Colombians enters higher education, with which it can be said that close to two million young people are left out of the university system. “The effects of the pandemic and the great difficulties that the academic system has faced are undoubtedly a challenge that invites us to generate concrete actions that must be born from the universities and that aim to tune in to what is happening and to improve academic management and university”.

This virtual panel was the optimal space to share both new perspectives and best practices on issues of innovation, teacher training, and research, and included the participation of: Dr. José Manuel Aguirre, Director of the Technology Parks Network of the Tecnológico de Monterrey, Mexico, who developed the theme of “Innovation and Entrepreneurship”. Dr. Federico Malpica, Founder and Director of the Escalae Institute for the Quality of Teaching-Learning of Barcelona, ​​Spain, who addressed the topic of “Pedagogical Innovation Management and teacher training” and Dr. Ricardo Villegas-Tovar, Head of the Coordination of Academic Production and International Visibility in the Office of the Vice-Rector for Research and Postgraduate Studies of the Meritorious Autonomous University of Puebla, Mexico, which presented the “Appreciation of Research”.

For his part, Fernando Daniels, Director of Planning and Development of IOHE, highlighted the importance of building an ecosystem for innovation that allows the development of coordinated actions that articulate talent, resources and knowledge to generate a functional dynamic.