Jabonero: “The ultimate goal of the OEI is for Latin America to have a voice in the world”

Eduardo González The Secretary General of the Organization of Ibero-American States for Education, Science and Culture (OEI), Mariano Jabonero, said on Tuesday that the “ultimate goal” of the organization he heads is to ensure that “the region has a voice in the world” and defended the development of an “Ibero-American citizenship” defined by “a culture, a history and languages in common.” “Being Ibero-American is something that defines values based on a culture, a history and languages in common,” said Jabonero at an informative breakfast organized in Madrid by Nueva Economía Fórum. “There are already 62 million Ibero-Americans in the United States and we are working with them from the OEI, because, although that country is not part of the organization, it has Ibero-American citizens,” he continued. For this reason, the Secretary General of the OEI assured that one of the objectives of the organization is to promote “Ibero-American citizenship”, because “it makes us reaffirm what we are”, and that the ultimate goal of its cooperation activity is “that the region has a voice in the world”. According to Jabonero, the OEI has evolved and, to its initial defense of education, culture and science, it has combined the vindication of human rights, equality and democracy and its commitment to digital transformation and sustainability. “Ibero-America has changed and the future of education, science is already digital”, affirmed the Secretary General. Regarding higher education, Mariano Jabonero assured that the region has more than 4,000 university centers - in which virtual classes represent 80% of the total - and concentrates “the greatest growth in enrollment” in the world: 32.5 million, 70% of which correspond to people who access the University for the first time in their family. Despite this, he regretted, Latin America continues to be “the region with the lowest academic mobility, with 1.1% - at the level of sub-Saharan Africa - and with low-quality systems.” For this reason, the OEI is promoting a quality seal to guarantee more homogeneous higher education systems to strengthen mobility and plans to soon launch a system of “microcredentials” to promote professional technical education (the equivalent of Vocational Training in Spain) and STEM careers for women. Regarding the recent award of the Princess of Asturias Award for International Cooperation 2024, Mariano Jabonero said that it represents a “recognition of our historical trajectory and a boost to continue moving forward” and a recognition of the 23 member countries and all those who collaborate with the organization. “This work is not done alone, since we have alliances with multiple public and private organizations and institutions that believe and trust in us, that is, we achieve consensus and that is a fundamental pillar,” he said. “Our efforts have tangible results because they solve people’s real problems and that generates trust,” he said. “We are a regional public good, that is the vocation of the OEI, that is its heritage,” added Jabonero, who announced that, during the next 80th Board of Directors of the organization, the ministers and educational authorities of the region will approve its Program-Budget 2025-2026, the document that will guide the roadmap that the region will undertake for the next two years in its areas of work Ramón Jáuregui In the presentation of the event, Ramón Jáuregui, former socialist minister and president of the Euroamerica Foundation, stated that this was not “a good day for democracy and for Europe in light of what was known in the elections in the US” (in which the Republican Donald Trump won) and declared that “there is no other region in the world that has greater convergence with Europe.” “Unfortunately, in Europe, people still think that Latin America is very far away,” he lamented.

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