1.7K people will attend CRES+5

The CRES+5—follow-up meeting of the III Regional Conference on Higher Education for Latin America and the Caribbean (CRES 2018)—received 1,700 registrations. The meeting will take place in Brasilia (DF), from March 13th to 15th, and will discuss 12 thematic axes, some already present in the III CRES and others included by regional consensus after the 2022 World Conference on Higher Education. One of the main objectives of the meeting is to assess how much the region’s higher education systems have advanced in each priority area during this period, as well as the persistent and emerging challenges.

Among the topics on the agenda we can find the following: Higher Education as part of the system in Latin America and the Caribbean; cultural diversity and interculturality; impacts of Covid-19; scientific and technological research and innovation as drivers of human, social and economic development. During the CRES+5, the analysis that the Working Groups of each thematic axis have been carrying out since August 2023 will be finalized – they will include public consultations and preparatory meetings in different countries in the region.

“The preparations have been important in order to reach the CRES+5 with the base document for each thematic axis as complete as possible,” said Rui Oppermann, director of International Relations of the Foundation.

CRES+5 is being organized by the Ministry of Education (MEC) – through the Secretariat of Higher Education (Sesu) and the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (Capes) – and the UNESCO International Institute for Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean (UNESCO IESALC). The audience is composed of rectors, directors, academics, workers, students and representatives of higher education networks, associations and professionals, research centers, unions, governmental and non-governmental organizations, as well as those interested in higher education in the continent.

CRES+5

The meeting is called CRES+5 as it debates and evaluates the advances in Higher Education five years after the III Regional Conference on Higher Education, which took place in 2018, in Córdoba, Argentina. In addition, the CRES+5 establishes priorities for the next event, which will be held in 2028. Among the preparatory activities for the follow-up meeting, open and participatory debates were held in the region and virtual public consultations to discuss and collect information on the 12 axis.

This month, MEC and Capes participated in the fourth and final CRES+5 preparatory meeting, in Havana, Cuba. The previous ones took place in Córdoba (Argentina), headquarters of the III CRES; Puebla (Mexico); and San Lorenzo (Paraguay). The largest foreign delegation present at the event was that of Brazil, represented by MEC and Capes.

Advice on Social Communication of the MEC, with information from the General Coordination of Social Communication (CGCOM/Capes)