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Introduction

In order to gain new ways of understanding the world, we need to rethink academic environments. In this sense, a commitment to provide new generations with practical, communicational and critical thinking skills necessary to face present challenges is imperative. This effort provides students with opportunities as members of the global village. Obviously, globalization implies, to some degree, the loss of individual and cultural identity, and academia has an important role in creating common scenarios for the convergence of experiences and knowledge.

Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) are becoming important problem-solving environments in which researchers think about complex issues concerning contemporary societies. In this sense, several questions demand answers: how to move to new societies; how to achieve sustainable cities; how our contexts can be re-purposed, redesigned for healthier and more resilient settings with improved economic efficiency and less impact on the environment; and how HEIs can address these issues from a knowledge-based perspective.

In addition, the role that HEIs can play to help societies to grapple with their very complicated social limitations is a matter of examination, especially the way students can be agents of social transformation by applying knowledge to real life, and how faculty members can become mediators to tackle social challenges. It also seems that an open dialogue within the different branches of an educational institution must be encouraged in order to reach agreements on how to deal with those challenges.

As members of the organizational staff, we have learnt that relationships strengthen by solving problems together and that knowledge is created through these efforts and in dealing with issues arising in real time. Wise institutions cultivate alliances and common efforts at problem solving. Consequently, institutions must seek international scenarios for cooperation. The ultimate goal is to bring together different innovative experiences and abilities in order to further societal goals.

It was back in 2011 when two faculty members from the University of Mississippi visited Universidad de La Salle to teach some courses on intercultural issues for students at the School of Education. This experience ignited a series of reflections on the possibilities of offering students an international and multicultural experience, especially for those who could not go abroad but had the skills to intermingle with people from other latitudes. This sparked the idea of instituting permanent interdisciplinary courses taught in the English language and under teaching and learning interactions based on a problem-solving approach.

The idea of having visiting scholars at La Salle was conceived as an “in-house-mobility-laboratory” on the premise that mobility means the interchange of knowledge and that individuals serve as “vehicles” to disseminate such knowledge. This concept is different from the traditional understanding of mobility programs in which, sometimes, the sheer number of students or faculty members that have travelled is seen as an indicator of the level of internationalization achieved. Our motivation, rather, was bringing the world to the students.

In order for this initiative to work, a new internal organization had to be devised, with new academic and administrative units. As a result, an international and intercultural campus came to life, not only for students, but also for the staff.

Our “Summer Academy” grew in scope and organization and became a tradition at the university. Every year, the courses have a different interdisciplinary thread: Latin American ideas, leadership and global understanding, alternatives to socio-economic growth, peacebuilding, innovation, entrepreneurship, and sustainable development.

The reflections presented herein have to do with how to make interactions between individuals possible, but also with how to transfer knowledge in order to achieve solutions to real-life problems.

Background: The Need for an Integrated Region

Latin America is going through a strong economic recession, accompanied by great social and political challenges. This crisis is structural due to inefficient and uncompetitive social systems that have increased poverty and inequality, as well as public and private indebtedness. Latin American societies have the common challenge of creating a conscious, civic, efficient, but, above all, innovative and critical human capital that would allow raising international competitiveness while creating social conditions for a better distribution of wealth.

Latin American economies, in general, and the Colombian economy, in particular, all face the challenge of guaranteeing students’ access to and continuity in higher education. According to Izecson de Carvalho, Looi, Saad, and Sinatra (2013), only 40 out of every 100 students who start elementary education in Colombia will finish high school. Out of those, ten will go to college, and only five will graduate — a situation that is mainly due to economic distress. Such a worrying situation makes it imperative for higher education institutions to take a political stand and insist that education is decisive in achieving social development and not a luxury for the very few people who can afford it.

Therefore, Colombia faces a big challenge if educational institutions (both public and private) do not see themselves as a collective that must help society to achieve development and wealth. These institutions must be aware of their responsibility to change the historical path of the country instead of simply reacting to global trends in order to survive. It would be useful to approach a social constructionist perspective that considers that, among other things, educational institutions build the realities of the individuals as they interact with the outer world; that means that these institutions need to bring the world to the classrooms.

Development integrates human, cultural, environmental, social, productive, and welfare values; in order to achieve it, education must be connected to the specific needs of society. We believe that mobility facilitates the interchange of ideas that help our countries devise useful and autochthonous ways of reaching the desired development.

To ensure the flow of knowledge and ideas, mobility cannot be a privilege of the few; it should benefit all manner of students, especially those in need. With regard to international opportunities, Colombian HEIs should use their available resources to achieve the aim of knowledge exchange. The first step is to create institutional mechanisms to strengthen access to higher education. A weak higher education endangers democracy, the productive apparatus, as well as other social structures needed to overcome the systemic crisis.

However, access to higher education is not enough for social change: Universities must train professionals to imagine the best future for our country. They must promote critical thinking and minds that propose viable solutions for current challenges in order to create wellbeing for the majority of the population. In this sense, academia may build proposals to restructure societies — and educational systems — that currently evidence all types of failures and weaknesses; to that end, international ventures present different opportunities. Therefore, internationalizing activities in higher education should not be understood only as a way of achieving an international reputation or prestige.

In a democratic society, having a degree legitimatizes particular roles and social status; therefore, improved access to degrees fosters equality. In this sense, the social commitment of bringing higher education to underprivileged populations (poor, disabled and discriminated minorities) must materialize in a process based on principles of quality and equity.

Bringing the World to Universities and Social Development in Colombia

Universidad de La Salle is committed to social development, both urban and rural. The Utopia Campus in Yopal, which brings agronomical training to some of the most marginalized rural inhabitants of the country, is testimony to the latter. Internationalization can be used to further these aims. The idea is that educators, organizational staff and students become problem solvers of societal needs by means of relevant research and knowledge contribution, and that they also become directly involved in activities that further social development (as an example, exchange students in our university have volunteered their time to teach English at Utopia).

In order for Colombia to achieve both economic growth and a stable peace, societal growth, public policies, and educational approaches must be taken into consideration. If Colombian society (with universities as mediators) does not pay attention to current social challenges, the sustainability of our country is at risk. On the other hand, quality education is essential for building equity and generating opportunities. Also, the university is a special space to draw people’s attention to their role in protecting the environment. In short, universities must educate human beings to live in opposition to the logic of domination, excessive and predatory consumption, disrespect for life, ambition, and destructive egotism.

Learning to Collaborate by Means of Fruitful Relationships

Collaboration strengthens personal relationships, both being empowered by new communication technologies. Nowadays, social interactions are not only faster but more diverse: New media makes it possible to enter into relationships with people from very different cultures, with different experiences and ideas of reality.

However, what we may call “detached relationships through virtual immediacy” is gaining more and more popularity in our time: Currently, it is more difficult to converge with others because the interaction mainly occurs online; it seems the traditional face-to-face encounters are disappearing. Moreover, a rising culture of uncertainty, hate and fear (in which new media plays a large role) makes us protect ourselves and take a step back from those who are different.

From a social development approach, it is imperative to establish open and diverse relationships in order to solve societal problems. We have run out of ideas; we need other experiences and other ways to live in a community in order to chart our own path. Without denying the importance and the need for virtual interactions, the experience at our university proves that close interactions are capable of transforming and giving meaning to our existence. Nowadays, we have access to information, but everybody — especially the younger generations — faces the difficulty of knowing what to do with that information. In this sense, HEIs need to think about what it is important to learn and how that learning impacts social development. Educational environments are tasked with strengthening the sense of community and solidarity against individualism and standardization. Education plays a role in fighting poverty, in promoting thinking on justice, peace, fraternity and tolerance; and in promoting free and fair individuals. Universities should give more importance to relationships than to mere knowledge accumulation, as UNESCO recognized a couple of decades ago: “This truly exceptional time in history calls for exceptional solutions. The world as we know it, all the relationships we took as given, are undergoing profound rethinking and reconstruction. Imagination, innovation, vision and creativity are required.” (UNESCO, 1996, p. 11).

Boutros Boutros-Ghali presented three threats of globalization in relation to education. First, the danger that nation-states will dissolve into transnational powers, with states being unable to guarantee the equality of opportunities on education. Second, that communities will fight to avoid diversity. And third, that ties of solidarity will be destroyed. In this regard, he said:

I see individuals, countries, entire regions of the planet sinking more and more into misery. I see a widening gap between info-rich and info-poor, between those who are connected and those who are not, between those who have information and knowledge and those who do not have them. (UNESCO, 2006)

In this sense, it is necessary to set up the proper structure to support social development through educational policies. This means that not only internationalization but also all the actions of strategic management of an institution need to pay special attention to the relations between stakeholders (within political, bureaucratic and symbolic interactions). These forms of interactions refer to the legal framework that affects universities, the interplay between what society demands of universities, and institutional autonomy. This promotes a permanent rethinking of what a university is and about the possibility of new environments that foster competitiveness, scientific research and technological advancement, critical thinking, innovation, and creativity to transform societies.

International Curriculum Development to Put Forth Relevant Social Teaching

One of the needs for internationalizing the university through a mobility program is to create an appropriate international curriculum. This curriculum should impact the particular curriculums in different areas of knowledge inside the university and the development of knowledge and skills of international and multicultural students. Such a curriculum advancement has social implications: It promotes a real appropriation of knowledge to solve real problems by means of academic reflections, enriched by international perspectives.

Innovations for Building Better Societies by Means of a University’s Mission Statements

Universities must develop actions that promote, facilitate and encourage the creation and implementation of socially relevant research projects. Therefore, it is necessary to produce alliances and agreements that promote knowledge transfer, infrastructure integration, cooperation and common projects with national and international researchers and institutions. This collaboration was highlighted as urgent at the Conference of UNESCO in Paris in July 2009.

This cooperation is specified within two concepts: academic collaborations and international development cooperation. Both concepts are seen as mechanisms to deal with the growing academic competitive scenario of higher education, which is determined by the liberalization of education guided from a market-based perspective.

Extension, understood as the aspect of academia that allows the interaction of the university with other sectors of society, must be intrinsically integrated with teaching and research. Also known as “public service,” it contributes to the solution of social problems and to the development of knowledge inside a community. Its purpose is to establish processes of interaction and association among various social and community stakeholders.

HEIs at the service of a global society

We are living in an era of opulence and increased wellbeing. Revenues have been rising around the world; infant and maternal mortality rates have declined significantly in the so-called developing world; life expectancy has visibly and significantly increased. Lifestyles have become more active, and the use of a variety of innovative technologies has reduced the daily chores, especially for women. The levels of education have increased dramatically, to the point that primary education coverage is almost complete. However, the advantages of this advanced world are not for everyone. Poor people in underdeveloped countries continue to suffer deprivation and experience a lack of opportunities. Education is a tool to remedy inequality through the formulation of solutions, the improvement of social inclusion and citizenship, and the professional development of people.

Social development is based on the premise that human welfare depends on the preservation of ecosystems; in that sense, development implies an awareness that the challenges of future generations depend on our current socio-economical decisions. We cannot think of social transformation without thinking about the limits of the world’s resources; social change involves considering the sustainability of our oceans, atmosphere and climate, among other resources.

Technologies Should be at the Service of Marginalized People

In our contemporary world, technologies strength social ties and connect cultures. Access to an informational network has increased as nearly half of the world population is living in urban areas and more than 60% are using mobile telephones.

Although face-to-face interactions are important in this hyper-technologized world, the internationalization of Colombian HEIs also depends on the use of available technologies. In the end, learning how to use technologies in this globalized world helps to provide solutions to social constraints: It connects the countryside with the urban, researchers with the business sector, universities with governments.

Today, the world offers wealth, technologies, knowledge, abilities and institutions that were not available for previous generations; these days, travelling around the world, and even around outer space, is possible. Yet, in visible and distinct ways, the world today is also facing huge deficits and discontents. Nearly 1.2 billion people, about a fifth of all humanity, are living below a poverty line of $1.25 per capita per day. Nearly 40% of all children under five are malnourished, and half of all children live below the poverty line. All of this includes low access to education in a large part of the global population.

While inequality in access to education is frightening, educational institutions must provide strategies for promoting access to education, and they have an important social role as mediators between society and government in order to implement those strategies through public policies. Therefore, they have an important role in enabling a real change in the conditions of those who are less favored.

Internationalization Includes Educators

In this essay, our main purpose has been to offer a perspective for social development through the internationalization of educational institutions. There is a last issue to consider: namely, the lack of experience in global connectivity of a number of educators. Although educational institutions must provide training in technologies and learning of a second language to their staff members and educators, the government, and specifically, the Ministry of Education, should invest in strategies for internationalizing educators. To strengthen international cooperation is one way to do that; such cooperation could provide researchers with the possibility of access to scholarships and funding for travelling and studying abroad.

Nowadays, faculty members should acquire the appropriate training and experience to their academic fields within an international context. It is not enough to attend international conferences. Faculty members should spend at least six months in another country to understand and acquire the skills to become effective as international educators. Faculty members with international experience provide leadership and inspire motivation throughout the institution.

Our historical moment challenges the traditional relationships between science, academia and society. The democratization and relevance of scientific knowledge are traversed by social and ecological justice, as well as by the recognition of a plurality of knowledge.

Therefore, there should be an ethical commitment of both educational institutions and governments that links global development and higher education; namely, a commitment to respect and recognize the relevance of higher education in connecting people with the world. This also implies the institutions being prone to dialogue with local knowledge, in order to exalt what they could provide in order to answer global questions; this includes listening to local solutions for global societal needs: Sometimes, the knowledge for taking action against problems experienced in communities around the globe is locally available; other times, for scientists and academics to be aware of both local and global knowledge they need to be mentally and emotionally open; all of this in order to be sensitive to unfamiliar wisdom and to exchange knowledge with outsiders.

Conclusion

Universities should focus less on teaching specific contents and more on experiential learning and problem-solving objectives. Although teaching contents is important, sometimes these tend to be decontextualized. Nowadays, global training depends on human development + capacity building + problem-solving skills. In this regard, some ideas are developed in what follows:

Students

Universities should focus on setting contextualized learning objectives rather than vague and abstract learning outcomes. This means determining what the university wants students to achieve while they are studying and, most importantly, how these achievements are connected to the problems of their surroundings. Students do not only need to acquire knowledge but also skills, attitudes and values for working in a local environment from a global understanding.

Staff

Staff needs training and international immersion experiences for acquiring those skills that are important to replicate with students. As the world changes at a rapid pace, staff must be part of a learning community that is permanently reflecting upon the new challenges of society.

Faculty

All faculty members (not only educators) should be in touch with the global agenda. This encourages a view of themselves as facilitators of the students’ development. The institution should help faculty members to achieve their own developmental objectives. A way to do that is to create a program to recognize potential faculty leaders for international training. The institution must determine what abilities the leaders need to strength for improving their intercultural/international competencies; also, it must encourage them to motivate other colleagues to achieve personal objectives to acquire the same skills.

Mobility

Learning a second language is a priority for accessing the knowledge developed elsewhere in the word; however, it is not necessary to get an advanced level of that second language in order to initiate a mobility program. One strategy should be to promote academic exchanges with peer universities that have some expertise on internationalization.

Those exchanges are possible through the establishment of personal relationships: Internationalization programs into the university are the result of the networking of local faculty members and students with researchers from different international universities who share an academic interest. Even short-term visiting scholar programs helps faculty members and students in widening perspectives and enable further intercultural interchanges.

On the other hand, we are positive that contact with small colleges or universities around the world is sometimes more fruitful than expecting exchanges with the large ones, as the former are more flexible and eager for that international contact. The size of the institution does not matter; what matters is the convergence to tackle social problems.

Those contacts do not necessarily end in local faculty members or students visiting a foreign institution; there are many models of effective programs that can be created locally, regionally, or nationally that simulate an international immersion experience and enable students to develop intercultural/international competencies without great investment.

It is possible to create programs “at home,” and they can have significant impacts in changing the students’ and faculty’s perspectives and enable them to develop competencies, such as intercultural communication, acquiring knowledge of different cultures and of different ways of dealing with societal problems. In our case, and as this anthology shows, the Summer Academy at Universidad de la Salle is a good example of a very successful way to bring the world to the institution.

Finally, reflections on world sustainability and development cannot be limited to the classrooms. Students need to implement what they have learnt and to experience the specific needs of the outer world, creating solutions to societal constraints. The internationalization activities give them the theoretical background for doing that; the institutional philosophy of service and research for social change pushes them to apply that knowledge.

References

Izecson de Carvalho, A., Looi, Y., Saad, F., & Sinatra, J. (2013). Education in Colombia: Is there a role for the private sector? Retrieved from http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/education-in-colombia-is-there-a-role-for-the-private-sector/

UNESCO. (1996). Our creative diversity, report of the world. Commission on Culture and Development. Retrieved from https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000105586.

UNESCO. (2009). Higher education, research and innovation: Changing dynamics. International Centre for Higher Education Research. Retrieved from https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000183071.