Building youth-responsive higher education institutions

• In Event: Roundtable Group 3

Group Submission Type: Refereed Roundtable Session

Proposal

Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in LAC have traditionally been loci of power, conferring not only degrees but also serving as regulatory bodies, confirming judicial nominees, among other roles. At the same time, higher education (HE) scholarships have often been awarded not transparently or based on need, but through opaque “merit-based” processes. Marginalized groups who have been traditionally excluded from access to HE have therefore not only been shut out from educational opportunities, but also social, political, and economic opportunities. These exclusionary practices and policies have, at times, spurred highly visible student protests and disruptions across the region.

Expanding access to HE is critical, but unfortunately far from sufficient for improving inclusion and equity. In a context in which persisting against great odds to attend, succeed in and graduate from college can be seen as a form of protest - against, for example, systemic societal failures, and/or unprovoked and unwarranted foreign aggression - this panel will feature the perspectives and recommendations of organizations working in LAC and Ukraine to transform higher education institutions to become more responsive to marginalized youth, including conflict and crisis-affected young people.

Sub Unit

• General Pool

Chair

• jamie salazar, USAID

Individual Presentations

• Beyond scholarships: building inclusive and responsive higher education institutions in LAC from the inside out - Juan Luis Cordova, FHI 360

• Supporting underprivileged youth to become promoters of economic and social development in Guatemala - Jose Antonio Rubio, Universidad Rafael Landivar

• Higher education institutions as frontline responders: Ukrainian universities in wartime - Snizhana Leu-Severynenko, USAID Economic Resilience Activity