Introduction

The Regional Higher Education Conference (CRES-2008) in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, is coordinated by the Institute for Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean (IESALC) and the Ministry of National Education of Colombia, with the support of the Colombian Association of Universities (ASCUN) and the Andrés Bello Agreement (CAB).

CRES 2008 is characterized by the conception of higher education as a public good. It will reinforce strategic instruments for sustainable development and of inter-institutional and international cooperation as practices for fostering regional integration while seeking a development of a Common Area of Knowledge and Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean.