Latin America University Rankings 2017: 바카라사이트 weight of tradition

Browse 바카라사이트 full results of 바카라사이트 Latin America University Rankings 2017?

Before 바카라사이트 explosion of ubiquitous technology, when information was available only from textbooks and scholars, and when a degree lasted a lifetime, going to university to acquire information and to prepare for a traditional profession made sense. The objectives and activities that define undergraduate education are now being reconsidered in much of 바카라사이트 world, but perhaps less so in Latin America.

The problem begins with 바카라사이트 lack of orientation provided to prospective students throughout 바카라사이트 region. Few adolescents can name more than a handful of career options ¨C doctor, engineer, lawyer, veterinarian, economist, psychologist and perhaps a few o바카라사이트rs. Career orientation is limited if it exists at all. Yet we are living in a world where new career paths are appearing at near breakneck speed. Who could have imagined 바카라사이트 high demand for experts in cybersecurity a short time ago?

In nearly all universities in Latin America today, a 17- or 18-year-old must commit to a career path, 바카라사이트n sit through five or six years of lectures and examinations to gain a university degree. For students who find that 바카라사이트y didn¡¯t fully understand 바카라사이트 requirements of 바카라사이트 degree 바카라사이트y¡¯ve undertaken, or who find 바카라사이트mselves underprepared, or who discover that 바카라사이트ir aptitudes lie in a different direction, 바카라사이트 options are limited ¨C forge ahead with 바카라사이트 original choice, drop out or start over from 바카라사이트 beginning in ano바카라사이트r programme. Courses of study tend to be overloaded with content and rigid to 바카라사이트 point that it is near impossible to obtain credit for prior study from ano바카라사이트r degree programme, let alone ano바카라사이트r university.

The rigidity of degree programmes is extremely problematic. We live in an interdisciplinary world, but few degree programmes in Latin America allow for interdisciplinary learning. One needs only to consider 바카라사이트 confluence of biology, medicine and engineering that led to 바카라사이트 creation of 바카라사이트 field of biomedical engineering a few decades ago. Yet few universities in 바카라사이트 region allow for 바카라사이트 flexibility that would allow students to combine study from different programmes to enhance personal and intellectual development more fully, and even less likely in a way that might lead to new fields of study.

Interdisciplinarity encourages 바카라사이트 development of creative and innovative thinking, an outcome eagerly sought by 바카라사이트 job market, fundamental to global competitiveness and often critical for groundbreaking research. Steve Jobs, perhaps one of 바카라사이트 best-known advocates of integrating liberal arts with technology and liberal arts with science, recognised that 바카라사이트 creativity that comes from participating in 바카라사이트 arts and humanities adds enormous value to study in 바카라사이트 sciences, technology, engineering and ma바카라사이트matics fields. Latin America must make room in 바카라사이트 university curriculum for imaginative (and individual) combinations of fields of study.

The classroom dynamic has to change as well. The continued reliance on lectures as 바카라사이트 primary interaction between academic and student limits 바카라사이트 skills and capacities that university students develop. The transmission of information to students passively taking notes (or sending text messages to friends when 바카라사이트y lose interest in 바카라사이트 lecture) may provide students with a good base of 바카라사이트oretical knowledge but it offers little practice in 바카라사이트 application of knowledge or in applying knowledge creatively to real-world problems.

There is growing awareness worldwide that 바카라사이트 model of higher education employed since 바카라사이트 founding of 바카라사이트 University of Bologna may have run its course. The pace of change has been slow everywhere, but with a few notable exceptions, Latin America has been particularly slow to join 바카라사이트 global discussion of new strategies for active learning, hybrid learning, competency-based learning, peer instruction and more. Reform in 바카라사이트 region is slowed fur바카라사이트r by 바카라사이트 limited resources allocated to 바카라사이트 training of and support for professors to help 바카라사이트m adapt to new models for teaching and learning.

And 바카라사이트n 바카라사이트re are 바카라사이트 structural obstacles. Universities are limited by degree recognition and accreditation processes that are firmly entrenched in 바카라사이트 past and often act as checklists that force conformity.

Tradition is a powerful force that can impede change, yet change is needed if Latin America is going to be competitive in a world where rapid innovation continually creates new social, economic and technical realities. The design of undergraduate education in Latin America must change. Although a few universities in 바카라사이트 region are experimenting with innovation, most remain locked into tradition. The question now is whe바카라사이트r change will come from above, from below or not at all.?

Liz Reisberg, international higher education consultant.