Teaching to discern. Hernando Arturo Estévez Cuervo
experience ignited a series of reflections on the possibilities of offering students an international and multicultural experience, especially for those who could not go abroad but had the skills to intermingle with people from other latitudes. This sparked the idea of instituting permanent interdisciplinary courses taught in the English language and under teaching and learning interactions based on a problem-solving approach.
The idea of having visiting scholars at La Salle was conceived as an “in-house-mobility-laboratory” on the premise that mobility means the interchange of knowledge and that individuals serve as “vehicles” to disseminate such knowledge. This concept is different from the traditional understanding of mobility programs in which, sometimes, the sheer number of students or faculty members that have travelled is seen as an indicator of the level of internationalization achieved. Our motivation, rather, was bringing the world to the students.
In order for this initiative to work, a new internal organization had to be devised, with new academic and administrative units. As a result, an international and intercultural campus came to life, not only for students, but also for the staff.
Our “Summer Academy” grew in scope and organization and became a tradition at the university. Every year, the courses have a different interdisciplinary thread: Latin American ideas, leadership and global understanding, alternatives to socio-economic growth, peacebuilding, innovation, entrepreneurship, and sustainable development.
The reflections presented herein have to do with how to make interactions between individuals possible, but also with how to transfer knowledge in order to achieve solutions to real-life problems.
Background: The Need for an Integrated Region
Latin America is going through a strong economic recession, accompanied by great social and political challenges. This crisis is structural due to inefficient and uncompetitive social systems that have increased poverty and inequality, as well as public and private indebtedness. Latin American societies have the common challenge of creating a conscious, civic, efficient, but, above all, innovative and critical human capital that would allow raising international competitiveness while creating social conditions for a better distribution of wealth.
Latin American economies, in general, and the Colombian economy, in particular, all face the challenge of guaranteeing students’ access to and continuity in higher education. According to Izecson de Carvalho, Looi, Saad, and Sinatra (2013), only 40 out of every 100 students who start elementary education in Colombia will finish high school. Out of those, ten will go to college, and only five will graduate — a situation that is mainly due to economic distress. Such a worrying situation makes it imperative for higher education institutions to take a political stand and insist that education is decisive in achieving social development and not a luxury for the very few people who can afford it.
Therefore, Colombia faces a big challenge if educational institutions (both public and private) do not see themselves as a collective that must help society to achieve development and wealth. These institutions must be aware of their responsibility to change the historical path of the country instead of simply reacting to global trends in order to survive. It would be useful to approach a social constructionist perspective that considers that, among other things, educational institutions build the realities of the individuals as they interact with the outer world; that means that these institutions need to bring the world to the classrooms.
Development integrates human, cultural, environmental, social, productive, and welfare values; in order to achieve it, education must be connected to the specific needs of society. We believe that mobility facilitates the interchange of ideas that help our countries devise useful and autochthonous ways of reaching the desired development.
To ensure the flow of knowledge and ideas, mobility cannot be a privilege of the few; it should benefit all manner of students, especially those in need. With regard to international opportunities, Colombian HEIs should use their available resources to achieve the aim of knowledge exchange. The first step is to create institutional mechanisms to strengthen access to higher education. A weak higher education endangers democracy, the productive apparatus, as well as other social structures needed to overcome the systemic crisis.
However, access to higher education is not enough for social change: Universities must train professionals to imagine the best future for our country. They must promote critical thinking and minds that propose viable solutions for current challenges in order to create wellbeing for the majority of the population. In this sense, academia may build proposals to restructure societies — and educational systems — that currently evidence all types of failures and weaknesses; to that end, international ventures present different opportunities. Therefore, internationalizing activities in higher education should not be understood only as a way of achieving an international reputation or prestige.
In a democratic society, having a degree legitimatizes particular roles and social status; therefore, improved access to degrees fosters equality. In this sense, the social commitment of bringing higher education to underprivileged populations (poor, disabled and discriminated minorities) must materialize in a process based on principles of quality and equity.
Bringing the World to Universities and Social Development in Colombia
Universidad de La Salle is committed to social development, both urban and rural. The Utopia Campus in Yopal, which brings agronomical training to some of the most marginalized rural inhabitants of the country, is testimony to the latter. Internationalization can be used to further these aims. The idea is that educators, organizational staff and students become problem solvers of societal needs by means of relevant research and knowledge contribution, and that they also become directly involved in activities that further social development (as an example, exchange students in our university have volunteered their time to teach English at Utopia).
In order for Colombia to achieve both economic growth and a stable peace, societal growth, public policies, and educational approaches must be taken into consideration. If Colombian society (with universities as mediators) does not pay attention to current social challenges, the sustainability of our country is at risk. On the other hand, quality education is essential for building equity and generating opportunities. Also, the university is a special space to draw people’s attention to their role in protecting the environment. In short, universities must educate human beings to live in opposition to the logic of domination, excessive and predatory consumption, disrespect for life, ambition, and destructive egotism.
Learning to Collaborate by Means of Fruitful Relationships
Collaboration strengthens personal relationships, both being empowered by new communication technologies. Nowadays, social interactions are not only faster but more diverse: New media makes it possible to enter into relationships with people from very different cultures, with different experiences and ideas of reality.
However, what we may call “detached relationships through virtual immediacy” is gaining more and more popularity in our time: Currently, it is more difficult to converge with others because the interaction mainly occurs online; it seems the traditional face-to-face encounters are disappearing. Moreover, a rising culture of uncertainty, hate and fear (in which new media plays a large role) makes us protect ourselves and take a step back from those who are different.
From a social development approach, it is imperative to establish open and diverse relationships in order to solve societal problems. We have run out of ideas; we need other experiences and other ways to live in a community in order to chart our own path. Without denying the importance and the need for virtual interactions, the experience at our university proves that close interactions are capable of transforming and giving meaning to our existence. Nowadays, we have access to information, but everybody — especially the younger generations — faces the difficulty of knowing what to do with that information. In this sense, HEIs need to think about what it is important to learn and how that learning impacts social development. Educational environments are tasked with strengthening the sense of community and solidarity against individualism and standardization. Education plays a role in fighting poverty, in promoting thinking on justice, peace, fraternity and tolerance; and in promoting free and fair individuals. Universities should give more importance to relationships than to mere knowledge accumulation,