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San Jose, Costa Rica, 07\/05\/2017 – During CLARA network\u2019s annual TICAL Conference, which took place this year in San Jos\u00e9, Costa Rica, the Inter-American Organization for Higher Education (IOHE)<\/strong> co-organized the Presidents\u2019 Panel untitled \u201cConstructing the University of the 21st<\/sup> Century\u201d. The panel, which was held on July 4\u00a02017 was moderated by IOHE\u2019s Executive Secretary General, Dr. David Julien, and was attended by academic leaders from Argentina, Costa Rica, Mexico, and Panama.<\/p>\n During this event, university Presidents Mario Ricardo Sabbatini, Universidad Nacional del Sur <\/em>(Argentina), Marcelo Prieto, Universidad T\u00e9cnica Nacional <\/em>(Costa Rica), Mar\u00eda Esther Avelar \u00c1lvarez, Universidad de Guadalajara Virtual <\/em>(Mexico), and Jos\u00e9 Barrios, Universidad Especializada del Contador P\u00fablico Autorizado \u2013 <\/em>UNESCPA (Panama), gathered to analyze current topics related to Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in the context of Higher Education in Latin America.<\/p>\n At each of its editions, the TICAL Conference gathers leaders in ICT from higher education institutions in the Americas as well as other continents.\u00a0\u00a0Among 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.<\/p>\n \u201cThis 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\u2019s 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\u201d, explained Dr. Julien.<\/p>\n