University 2022 Congress Winds up with a Glance at Sustainable Development

Havana, Feb 11 (ACN) The 14th University 2022 International Congress wound up Friday in Havana after designing the priorities of higher education and the need to increase efforts towards sustainable development.

During the five-day virtual and in presence congress, hosted by Havana’s Conventions Hall, most debates focused on the crucial need for inclusive education and the urgency for education to operate on innovative and high-quality methods.

The opening key-note lecture was given by the First Secretary of Cuba’s Communist Party and President of the Republic Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez about the government management system, whose main pillars are innovation and science.

Other topics addressed included the social responsibility of contemporary university, the university management in terms of science and innovation, the work of education centers in different territories and their role in local development, as well as the genre issue.

The road to knowledge is our road and universities are crucial in this road, said the head of state, who also attended the closing ceremony of the congress.

The Food Sovereignty and Nutritional Education Plan, the internationalization of education, the improvement of postgraduate curricula and the extra-university programs were also high on the agenda discussed during the international event.

A special guest was educator Frei Betto, who called on education professionals in Cuba and abroad to promote inclusion and sustainability from their work centers. Referring to the island, Betto said that Cuban university tradition has been marked since the year 1959 by commitment, since the universities here have formed personalities like Jose Marti and the historic leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro.

Unlike capitalist countries, in Cuba education does not aim at only training highly qualified labor because its institutions are identified with human subjectivity: values, moral, ethical principles, Betto noted.

For Theologian Frei Betto the challenges facing education in the contest of the transition to a post-COVID-19 world are the digital networks and the sickness as well, and this suggests to reconsider educational processes.

According to the Congress’ organizing committee, some 1.800 delegates participated in 63 discussion panels, 47 workshops and presented 1 635 lectures.

While giving the preliminary conclusions of the event, Cuban Higher Education Minister Jose Ramon Saborido said that the Congress helped empower dialog among institutions from all continents, while dozens of bilateral accords were signed with participating nations, including Rumania, Panama, Mexico, Russia and the Arab Emirates.

During the five working days, many Cuban universities described their main projects and achievements at exhibit stands displayed at the Conventions Hall.

The event also allowed foreign participants to have a first-hand look at the performance of local universities and research centers with the Higher Education Ministry.

The next University Congress was called for 2024 in Havana.