Higher education will have new integration programs in Latin America

At the opening ceremony, Brazil's Minister of Education- Camilo Santana - stressed that withCRES+5, Brazil is resuming thedialogue on the expansion and improvement of higher educationin Latin America and the Caribbean and the importance of universities andfederal institutes of educationin the defence of democracy andsocial development. He also stressed that the development of higher educationin Brazil has madeits greatest progressin the last20 years, starting precisely with the first government of PresidentLuiz Inácio Lula da Silva, a president withouta university degree.

Santana also announced the launch of twonew programmes to promote higher education and integration with the othercountries participatingin the conference, withmore than120 millionreais investments. In the first programme, the Brazilian government will invest102 million reais over eight yearsin theMontevideo group(AUGM), which brings together41 universities from Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Uruguay andParaguay. In the second programme, Mova La América, R$20 million will be invested to offer500 master's and doctoral scholarships to students who want todo internshipsin Brazilianfederal institutions. Finally, Camilo Santana stressed that investingin the expansion and improvement of higher educationin Brazil is not an option, but an obligation.

Stefania Giannini, UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Education, participatedin the opening witha recorded video messagein which she highlighted the4 prioritypoints of UNESCO'sagenda in higher education: the defence of theuniversal right to higher education, as inequalitiesin accessstill persist; assuring quality to promote and encourage academic excellence and scientific research; promoting internationalisation to favourregional cooperation and integration, as in thecase of UNESCO'sRegional andGlobal Conventions; and the transformation of higher education, adaptingit to current andfuture challenges.

The Director ofUnesco in Brazil, Marlova Jovchelovitch Noleto, stressed that education isa fundamental right to guarantee access to all other rights, being"the cornerstone and the engine ofmore just, inclusive, resilient and democratic societies". Marlova recalled that expanding access to higher education is extremely important to reduce inequalitiesin the LatinAmerican and Caribbeanregion.

CRES+5 - CRES+5 is thefollow-up meeting to the ThirdRegional Conference on Higher Education(CRES) 2018. The preparatorymeetings for the gatheringin Brasilia took placein 2023 and2024. In March, September and November2023 they took placein the cities ofCórdoba (Argentina), Puebla (Mexico) andAsunción (Paraguay), respectively. In 2024, they were heldin Februaryin Havana (Cuba).

The discussions revolved around12 thematic axes, which were debated by working groups that analysed the achievements of higher educationin the region, as wellas the challengesin the wake of theCovid-19 pandemic.

This afternoon, symposia will be held on the following themes: 1 - Higher educationas part of the educationsystem in Latin America and the Caribbean; 2 - Higher education, cultural diversity and interculturalityin Latin America; and3 - Higher Education, internationalization and integration, as wellas a round table with the participants of thedebates from the different thematic groups.

The meeting will have thematic symposia every day until the15th, in the afternoons. Forums, round tables, conferences and plenarymeetings will happenin the mornings toprepare thefinal declaration of the conference, analysing the scenarios and proposalsfor thesector in theregion.

Programação completa

Vídeo de Transmissão

Galeria de fotos

Assessoria de Comunicação Social do MEC