LASPAU: Informativo, Fall 2000/Winter 2001

Pursuing a graduate degree in another country is an excellent way for organizational and governmental leaders, educators, and others to gain knowledge and experience in their chosen fields and develop long-lasting relationships with international colleagues. For those who do not have the time or resources to engage in long-term study abroad, LASPAU has developed innovative, short-term workshops in collaboration with universities and other sponsoring agencies. For those who are able to study abroad, workshops can complement exchange programs by providing exposure to useful information not addressed elsewhere.

During the summer of 2000, the workshop Access to Higher Education and People with Disabilities was provided as an enrichment activity for individuals enrolled in the intensive English language program at the University at Buffalo’s English Language Institute (ELI). Seventeen LASPAU- administered Fulbright and FUNDACYT grantees from Latin America participated in the workshop. Most of them are faculty members at higher education institutions in their home countries.

The workshop focused on topics such as the cultural perceptions of people with disabilities, types of disabilities, and how people with disabilities gain access to higher education in the United States. The program included visits to university and community sites, including the Western New York Independent Living Center and the University at Buffalo’s Office of Disability Services, Center for Assistive Technology, and Department of Architecture.

Access to Higher Education and People with Disabilities exposed participants to an aspect of U.S. culture and society that is directly relevant to their professional work yet is not addressed anywhere else during their academic exchange programs. The workshop also allowed them to learn about issues, models, and strategies that might be adapted to their own home institutions.

LASPAU developed the workshop in collaboration with ELI and the Center for International Rehabilitation Research Information and Exchange, also at the University at Buffalo. Partial support for the workshop was provided by the United States Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs through a grant from the Cooperative Grants Program of NAFSA: Association of International Educators.

Visit www.laspau.harvard.edu/coop for further information on Access to Higher Education and People with Disabilities.

In 2000, LASPAU delivered two seminars on the strategic use of information and communications technologies to 66 leaders of Latin American universities. The seminars, which included three weeks of online training followed by four days of classroom sessions in Cambridge, Massachusetts, were developed by LASPAU to help Latin American rectors, vice rectors, and other higher education decision-makers assess key strategic technology questions such as:

How will my university remain relevant in a competitive and globalized technology-driven higher education system?
Can I improve course quality at my university through technology-based course redesign?
Can I reach new student populations through distance learning?
Are faculty members at my institution prepared to incorporate technology into their teaching?
How can I convince funders and policymakers that technology investments are important to my university’s future?
What are the challenges I face in reengineering administrative systems so they are more efficient and responsive?

Recent research at Harvard University and elsewhere has shown that the answers to these questions are not simply technical in nature. Deployment of technology with meaningful benefits for students, faculty, and university budgets requires substantive organizational change that, in turn, requires strong and informed leadership.

Both seminars focused on the key strategic leadership requirements necessary to implement technological innovation and were centered on action plans developed by each participant on behalf of his or her institution. Faculty for the seminars included Jerry Mechling, director of the Program on Strategic Computing and Telecommunications in the Public Sector at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government; Winthrop Carty, senior development officer for new programs and technology initiatives at LASPAU; Martha Stone Wiske, co-director of the Center for Technology and Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education; and Carlos Cruz, rector of the Universidad Virtual at the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey in Mexico.

Additional strategic technology seminars for Latin American higher education institutions are planned for 2001.

For further information on current or future seminars, visit www.laspau.harvard. edu/it or contact Winthrop Carty at winthrop_ carty@harvard.edu or at 617-495-0386.

Faculty at the Crossroads

Higher education in Latin America and the Caribbean has experienced considerable change in the past 20 years. To help faculty members address such change when they return home from exchange programs, the United States Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs provided funding for a LASPAU-organized seminar, Higher Education Reform in Latin America and the Caribbean: Faculty at the Crossroads. The goal of the seminar was to provide future university leaders with an understanding of the current reform agenda for higher education in the region and to explore with them their roles in the processes of change.

The seminar took place online over a two-month period, culminating with a three-day, onsite session held at the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies at Harvard University in June of 2000. The 20 participants were current Fulbright grantees, all faculty members and researchers at universities in Latin America and the Caribbean. Andrés Bernasconi, the academic chair of Latin American programs at Programs in Professional Education, Harvard Graduate School of Education, led the seminar. Other seminar faculty included Philip Altbach, the J. Donald Monan Chair in Education at Boston College, and Juan Carlos Navarro, senior specialist in education and social development at the Inter-American Development Bank. Seminar activities included readings, case studies, and group discussion, both online and in person.

Participants left the seminar enthusiastic about the impact it would have on their universities. Faculty at the Crossroads laid the foundation for a continued dialogue about educational reform and the role faculty will play in the changing futures of their home institutions.

If you are interested in further information about this or any of LASPAU's other seminars, workshops, or related services, please contact Angelica Natera, LASPAU's development and program specialist at angelica_natera@harvard.edu or 617- 495 -0488.