Objectives

The general objectives of the conference are:

• to develop regional proposals for presentation at the World Conference on Higher Education - 2009;

• to establish an integrating regional vision based on cooperation that will result in fostering the quality, pertinence, and relevance of higher education in the region, and its growing impact as a strategic instrument for the sustainable development and international competitiveness of Latin American and Caribbean countries;

• to analyze future scenarios of higher education in the region and the world, in order to propose to governments the development and implementation of pertinent and transforming public policies;

• to create an opportunity for the presentation of best academic practices in the administration of science, technology, and innovation through a “showing” of management instruments and of program models for the training of human resources in science and technology management;

• to reaffirm the principle of higher education as possessing fundamental values of human development, social justice, and the culture of peace as socially referenced State policy and as a human right;

• to guarantee the inclusion of higher education on the agendas of the countries of the region;

• to develop a follow-up plan to the commitments assumed in regard to the World Conference of Higher Education -2009.

Products

• Dissemination of instruments and best academic practices in the management of science, technology, and innovation.

• Declaration of the Ministers present at the conference.

• Publication of a volume of summary essays on the nine selected themes, in both Spanish and English, for distribution preceding (and during) the Regional Conference - Cartagena meeting.

• An on-line edition, in Spanish and English of the summary essays and preliminary studies on the nine themes and their sub-themes.

• A Declaration of Cartagena, containing the proposals of the Cartagena 2008 conference, for presentation at the World Conference on Higher Education – 2009, and delivery of the document to governments for its wide distribution.

• The Proceedings of CRES- Cartagena 2008.

Results expected

• Increased internationalization of the institutions of higher education in the region.

• Progress toward regional integration in the field of higher education, with impact on cooperation in order to generate a culture of innovation in the institutions of higher education of Latin America and the Caribbean.

• Establishment of the positions of Latin America and the Caribbean for presentation at the World Conference of Higher Education – 2009.