Higher education 2050: concerns, hopes, proposals.

World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), as part of preparatory activities for the last one World Conference on Higher Education, celebrated in In 2022, Spain conducted extensive consultations almost 1200 people from 97 countries. There, respondents shared their hopes, concerns and formulated courses of action on how higher education can contribute to the development of a better future for all.

The sample was discriminated according to continent and gender. His results are the subject of these short lines. The title of the document itself could not be more eloquent: “Roads to 2050 and beyond. Results of the consultation on the future of higher education.” (See: https://www.iesalc.unesco.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Pathways-to-2050-and-beyond_ESP-1.pdf) Public consultations are organized around the following questions: 1. When you think about 2050, what gives you the most hope 2. When you think about 2050, what worries you the most 3. How would you like higher education to be in 2050 I, 4. How higher education can contribute to a better future for all of 2050?

Overall, the Report presents four connected themes that concentrate the hopes and most serious concerns formulated by respondents. These are: Quality of life; social change; he environmental care; and, finally, the development of technology.

In relation to the quality of life, the most expressed hopes revolve around the level of human well-being and peace; while concerns are mainly focused on health problems and fear of various threats that conspire against the quality of life.

As for the big issue of social change, the biggest concern corresponds to the state of social justice in the world and, by extension, the scenario of serious situations of social inequality that prevails in our world. It must be emphasized that this hope and concern for social justice is by far the most important one expressed by the people consulted Latin America.

Regarding the issue of concern for the environment, the greatest hope lies in progress in including sustainability issues in the global agenda, as well as in creating better relations with our own planet. Looking at it from the perspective of concern, the most urgent in this matter is the undeniable worsening of environmental problems and crises.

Disaggregating responses by gender, the most prominent concern it referred to the equal access of men and women to higher education and that higher education has a high critical component. On the other hand, analyzing by age groups, those under 30 were hopeful about their educational future; that is, into what higher education could do for them.

The higher education model that emerges from this report highlights some very specific characteristics: .1 Higher education must be available and accessible to all. 2. It must be student-centered and guided by their informed choices. 3. It must deal with the so-called “organization of new knowledge”, recognizing that this level of learning implies the need to employ multiple modalities to ensure that learning is not just everywhere, but can happen at any time. I, 4. Higher education must appear connected on multiple levels in order to serve society in a truly inclusive way.

Consistent with those hopes and concerns, UNESCO presents six major initiatives which equally represent challenges that any higher education strategy must face. These actions are: 1) Defense of the right to higher education; 2) solving obstacles that hinder and limit the participation of the entire adult population in the system. 3) take measures that really open access to knowledge. 4) Empowering new generations to access higher education. 5) Strive to make higher education more relevant, that is, more important and relevant for the development of people and countries; and, last but not least: 6) Improve the structuring of higher education so that it creates thinkers of the future.

It was recently created in our country Council of Rectors of Official Universities of Panama, It could establish a strategic route that provides appropriate responses to these challenges. For this, the first thing is that the Panamanian state recognizes and finances the programs that make up the exercise The right to university. It is not only necessary to expand the geographical and social coverage, but also to “ensure the academic success” of those who enter this level. It will be necessary to carry out annual programs of pre-university courses in order to remove the serious disadvantages of the broadest groups of the population, which falsely unlimited access turns into frustration, repetition and leaving the University, or have graduates without the right skills for their professional success. In this order of ideas, the new Council and MEDUCA they must break down what is the biggest obstacle to access to the University: the low level of high school graduates. We are facing a national tragedy and we need in-depth solutions, not patches to the issue of education quality.

Finally, emphasize that if higher education does not recognize borders, our main ally will be ICT technology, digital media, but also andragogic renewal and in neurodidactics of university teachers (digital center at universities). Hybrid offers must be created, short careers and post-graduate specializations that enable the five-year renewal of titles and professional retraining in accordance with the needs of the country’s Agenda in socio-productive and scientific issues: science for research, sustainability and new democratic citizenship.