By Caroline King, Research Assistant, LASPAU
University leaders from Punta Arenas to Tijuana grapple with finding effective and efficient ways for their institutions to provide a high-quality education while meeting current challenges. Economic, demographic, and technological shifts have significantly increased the demand for postsecondary education across Latin America and the Caribbean, where the percentage of the population enrolling in college has now grown to nearly 20%.1 The spotlight on higher education is certainly a boon, yet one that presents tough challenges to the region’s universities: unprecedented demand, scarce financial resources, and increased competition from new providers.
In order to lend support to the administrators charged with meeting these challenges, LASPAU, the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and the Tecnológico de Monterrey (the Tec) designed the Financial Leadership Program in Higher Education (FLPHE). During four months of online instruction and a two-day capstone seminar at Harvard, FLPHE provides executive training in strategic planning, fundraising, financial administration, and administrative systems. As part of the program, participants design individual projects to introduce financial or administrative in-novations in their universities. The projects give participants an opportunity to apply the strategies they are learning during the course while receiving constructive feedback from instructors and colleagues. Upon completing the course, participants implement their projects.
From August to December 2002, 34 university leaders representing eight countries—Brazil, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, and the United States—participated in the second FLPHE. Instructors included faculty and practitioners from Harvard and the Tec, including Harvard Graduate School of Education professors James Honan and Bridget Terry Long; Paul Keenan, director of international and interfaculty initiatives in the Harvard Development Office; Michael Baricelli, Harvard University controller; and Tec professors Melchor Torres, María Teresa Martínez, Ileana Ruíz, and Romeo Farrera.
Participants discussed their common concerns and jointly assessed alternatives and solutions. For participant Mariana Rodríguez Risco, administrative vice rector of the Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas in Lima, Peru, “The value-added of the program came from the rich professional exchange with my colleagues from other countries. It allowed me to feel less alone in my work, knowing that so many other colleagues share my challenge to improve the efficiency, success, and competitiveness of my university.”
Participants also valued the program’s comprehensive content. Belkis Guerrero, vice rector of administration and finance of the Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, commented, “While I could have possibly found professional development seminars in the Dominican Republic that would have covered similar topics, I never would have found them all in one program. By combining modules on administrative leadership, fundraising, strategic planning, and financial management, FLPHE integrated all of the skills that are critical to my job. My time is very limited and this seminar allowed me to explore the professional areas I needed to in the most efficient manner.” Guerrero indicated that her university felt a prompt impact from the program: “The fact that I could put the new skills I was learning into practice right away allowed my university to feel an immediate return on their investment in my participation.”
The Financial Leadership Program in Higher Education embodies the collaborative endeavors of LASPAU, Harvard University, and the Tecnológico de Monterrey to strengthen the leadership of universities across the Americas. The seminar participants represent key agents of change in their local environments. With their professional expertise, sustainable support network, and commitment to promoting scholarship, this cadre of financial and administrative leaders will make valuable contributions to the quality of higher education throughout the region.
1 UNESCO. America Latina y el Caribe Informe Regional 2001. Paris, France.
http://portal.unesco.org/uis/TEMPLATE/pdf/ed2001/Amerique_latine_ESP.pdf
| 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. |
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