The Diplomat
The education ministers and high-level authorities of the 21 Ibero-American countries meeting this week in Santo Domingo approved a declaration and a special communiqué in which they declare that higher education is “a human and universal right”.
The ministers took part on 31 March and 1 April in the Second Ibero-American Meeting of Ministers and High Authorities of Higher Education, which was opened by the President of the Dominican Republic, Luis Abinader. The meeting was chaired by the Dominican Minister of Higher Education, Science and Technology, Franklin García Fermín, together with Ambassador Marcos Pinta Gama, Ibero-American Deputy Secretary General.
In his speech, Abinader stressed the need to review experiences and good practices in the construction of the Ibero-American Common Space, starting with the strengthening of policies, access to knowledge and the continuous training of professionals. We are convinced,” he said, “of strengthening policies in the field of Higher Education, Science and Technology in line with competitiveness, with the aim of considerably increasing the number of young people and adults who have the skills to get a decent job.
Marcos Pinta Gama indicated that the slogan chosen for the next Summit Together for a fair and sustainable Ibero-America, is not a casual choice because – he pointed out – “in this complex scenario, our region is the one that has most successfully expanded university education in recent years, and it has been demonstrated that each year that is added to the average education of the population reduces the levels of violence, mitigates inequality and consolidates the rule of law, while at the same time increasing economic growth”.
For his part, Franklin García Fermín stressed the urgent need to articulate a new educational paradigm for the welfare state of the 21st century, which will allow progress towards achieving the common agenda set out in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). “The digital transformation of the country’s education is in line with the strategy of the digital transformation cabinet and the Digital Agenda 2030, which the government has been promoting and which is a roadmap that will guide us towards where we want to be as a nation,” he said.
According to the Ibero-American General Secretariat, the main objective of the meeting was to respond to the major challenges facing higher education in the region, such as digital transformation, academic mobility and educational quality.
It was attended by the highest authorities of Higher Education in the countries of the region, who worked on three main themes: the transformation of higher education, the construction of a common Ibero-American space for higher education and the preparation of the Third World Conference on Higher Education of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).
The members of the delegations discussed and adopted a declaration reaffirming their commitment to the Common Higher Education Area and the Ibero-American Knowledge Area, especially on issues such as mobility, digital transformation, equal access to education and academic quality. In addition, the adoption of a special communiqué declaring Higher Education as a human and universal right was approved.
The meeting was part of the official calendar of activities of the Ibero-American Conference, whose Pro Tempore Secretariat (SPT) is held by the Dominican Republic, and was the first face-to-face meeting, following the global pandemic that forced the adoption of virtuality. Representatives from 19 countries participated in person, and those from Brasil and Uruguay participated telematically.
