Dr. Leonel Fernández Seeks More Action to Improve Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean

President of Global Foundation for Democracy and Development (GFDD) and President of the EU-LAC Foundation, Dr. Leonel Fernández, said that more action is necessary in order to improve the quality of universities in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Dr. Fernández made these remarks in a speech at the opening ceremony of the Second Preparatory Seminar of the III Academic Summit of Latin American and Caribbean States and European Union (EU-CELAC), underway in
Stockholm.

In his speech, the former Dominican head of state showed a great deal of concern about higher education in Latin America and the Caribbean, noting that universities in the region hold inadequate positions in world educational rankings.

He said this situation is also evident on the global index
for competitiveness and innovation and in annual patent registration rates, including the area of intellectual property protection.

“As a result, what we’re trying to do is to see how to achieve a productive transformation of the region, connecting it with a transition toward an economy of knowledge,” said Dr. Fernández, who is also president of GFDD sister institution, the Fundación Global Democracia y Desarrollo (Funglode).

He added that the key role research centers and universities are being asked to play in the region – which cannot do alone – is to be part of an international network.

Within the framework of bi-regional relations between the European Union and CELAC, said Dr. Fernández, the concept of a common Euro-Latin American exchange of knowledge has emerged as a fundamental pillar.

It is worth pointing out that former President Fernández also headed the
First Preparatory Seminar III EU-CELAC Academic Summit (EU-CELAC) of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) and the European Union (EU), held on June 21-22 of this year at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Dominican Republic.

Other speakers
Other speakers at the opening ceremony included Astrid Söderbergh Widding, President of the University of Stockholm; Mario Torres Jarrín, Director of the European Institute of
International Studies; Annika Söder, Secretary of the State of Sweden; Fernando Galván, President of the University of Alcalá, and Antonio Núñez y García-Saúco, President of the European Institute of International Studies (IEEI).

In addition to Dr. Fernández, other speakers from the Dominican Republic were Marina Isabel Cáceres de Estévez, Ambassador to Sweden and Rafael Sánchez Cárdenas, Deputy Minister of Higher Education, Science and Technology.

The
Preparatory Seminar was organized by the European Institute of International Studies in coordination with the Executive Secretariat of the Permanent Academic Forum EU-CELAC and the EU-LAC Foundation, with collaboration from the Department of Romance and Classics Studies at the Humanities Department of Stockholm University and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sweden.

University officials, academics, professors and higher education institutions as well as researchers and
members of research centers in Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean are participating in the international conference.

Related Link:
http://leonelfernandez.com/noticias/