UPN – contributions to territorialization and Educational empowerment

Higher education in Colombia has made noteworthy progress in recent years thanks to a coverage-and-quality policy designed to meet the needs of an increasingly demanding population, by seeking alternative professionalization and specialization options at the initial, graduate, and undergraduate levels.

However, there are still administrative, financial and academic gaps to be filled: infrastructure, libraries, many new technological resources, student welfare, the impact of the pandemic, and the persistent problem of student dropout, despite the wide range of programs available, especially in private education. Curriculum reforms are also urgently needed to bring higher education in line with current developments in scholarship, teaching, research, and community engagement. Studies conducted by the UPN also highlight the need to evaluate the higher education system to ensure that it could be adapted to the specificities of regional contexts, recognizing that Colombia is a country with areas of deeper inequality.

We face disparities in quality and opportunity between public and private education, and between urban, rural, and remote areas. Higher education is centralized in large cities, leaving remote regions neglected. There have been discussions about actual educational discrimination based on the socio-economic status of families and geographical location. This situation is also present in the case of teachers, who prefer to work in large cities, resulting in a significant shortage of teachers who are committed to local cultures and who are appointed to rural institutions.

Educational stakeholders have organized pedagogical meetings of popular power to identify challenges and dilemmas, while also outlining the specific training needs of teachers and school administrators. Other discussions are taking place, such as the alliance between the Association of Faculties of Education–Ascofade– and National Association of Normal Schools –Asonen–. They emphasize the importance of contextualizing teacher training and recognizing the cultural specificities of each region.

The Government of Change, in line with its Development Plan, has proposed the regionalization of teacher training in order to create a public policy that addresses these inequalities, taking advantage of the existing opportunities in the Faculties of Education and the 137 accredited Higher Normal Schools to strengthen public education in the regions.

In this regard, the UPN is committed to supporting teacher training throughout the country in accordance with its mission as the only institution focused exclusively on teacher training, and to supporting the policies of the Ministry of Education in its role as an advisor.

In the current panorama of higher education, regionalization has been implemented as a strategy and an essential opportunity to democratize access to knowledge and to meet the educational needs of the most remote communities of the country. In this regard, the UPN has adopted a strategic approach as a fundamental task to develop an approach to regionalization that goes beyond mere territorial expansion. It prioritizes the provision of quality academic programs adapted to local conditions, dialogue, and the recognition of knowledge through three cornerstones: relevance, progressiveness, and responsibility. All of this is part of an ongoing dialogue with the various local actors, taking into account their cultural values and expectations regarding the impact of teacher education in and for their own communities.

In this context, such a model at the UPN is based on an inclusive, transformative and comprehensive vision, where the university does not just bring its academic offerings to different regions, but also collaborates with the communities. The “Networking University” model is crucial to this strategy as it creates a flexible link between the University and local actors, promoting a supportive and enriching dialogue between the curricular, methodological and research issues of the programs and the specific conditions of each region.

In line with our mission and vision, UPN has developed a long-term project aimed at creating synergies with the educational needs of different regions. It offers the Ministry of Education and regional education departments seven professional development programs, twenty-three undergraduate programs, three specializations, eleven master’s programs, and a Ph.D. in Education.

In this regard, the UPN has made noteworthy progress in strengthening its presence in several regions. The Academic Vice Rector’s Office, in accordance with the University’s governance initiatives and the policies established by the Ministry of Education (MEN), has prioritized the creation of groups in strategic areas, optimizing resources and establishing agreements with allied institutions. Such a strategy, in coordination with the “University in Your Territory” program, has allowed students from Cundinamarca, Magdalena and other areas of the country to have access to higher education programs instead of moving to large urban centers. In effect, we are making education a tool for transformation and development in the regions.

One of the most notable examples is the ongoing agreement with the Governor’s Office of Magdalena, which will fund scholarships for students from that department through the Scholarships for Change program. These will enable young people to access virtual and distance learning programs, making it easier for them to continue their education rather than leave their communities. We are also making progress by offering other programs in new regions, such as Catatumbo, Funza and Bojacá, with the goal of strengthening our presence in these areas by 2025.

In addition, another powerful strategy for establishing our presence in the regions is to build a bridge between the UPN and the Higher Normal Schools (ENS). There is already a legal framework in place to recognize 13th grade normal school graduates in university programs, and currently we have twenty-two agreements.

Our proposal is a collaborative effort, thanks to the connections we have built with the Colombian Federation of Education Workers (FECODE), other organizations and networks of the ENS, to overcome the current legal and academic ambiguities, as well as to promote UPN’s degree programs in the 137 Higher Normal Schools throughout the country.

The main objective is to recognize the maturity of ENS following their quality accreditation processes, which has led to a rethinking of their pedagogical, curricular, and organizational dimensions. This includes the strengthening of their theoretical and strategic frameworks for defining teacher education, moving beyond traditional relations to constructivist or socio-critical approaches, through the design and promotion of research, pedagogical practice, contextual analysis, and ethical and political leadership of teachers in the regions. This commitment embodies a dialogue of knowledge that respects the constructions and trajectories of pedagogical knowledge within the Higher Normal Schools.

These efforts represent a new shift in the University’s policy to engage with the regions and diversify our offerings through participation in the multi-campus program, professional development, and collaboration with the ENS. Both the University and the ENS share the same goal: to train the teachers our country needs.

“Without good teachers, there are no good schools; without good schools, there is no good education; and without good education, there is no good country,” said Agustín Nieto Caballero, founder of Gimnasio Moderno in 1917.