Organization of American States Summits of the Americas
 
Follow-up and Implementation: Mandates
  

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EDUCATION: Tertiary Education
 MANDATES

  1. Develop an evidence-based Action Plan that takes into account the sociocultural, economic, and structural challenges facing the Americas region and includes, among others, identifying measures for national and international coordination and cooperation, taking into account the global commitments assumed by the states with respect to health and resilience, with a view to:

    • b. Strengthening educational programs in the fields of medicine, public health, nutrition, and biomedical science research, as well as recruitment and skills development of all professionals engaged in the field of health, through continuing education and training, promoting an increase in the number of people working in these specialties, with a comprehensive bio-psycho-social approach to meet the health needs of our populations; as well as retaining health personnel in developing countries, especially in the least developed countries and small-island and low-lying coastal developing states of the Caribbean and Central America; (Action Plan on Health and Resilience in the Americas, IX Summit of the Americas, Los Angeles, 2022).

  1. To strengthen specific public policies and programs for young people with a view to striving to halve by 2025 the number of young people neither studying nor working, through ongoing technical and vocational education and training, promotion of scholarships and academic mobility, and by fostering human talent through new pedagogies influenced by the arts, innovation and entrepreneurship to help enable them to successfully transition from school to the work place. (Education, Initiatives VII Summit of the Americas, Panama City, 2015).

  1. To ensure equal access to primary and secondary education for all, to promote improvement in the quality of education at all levels, increased access to tertiary, technical, and vocational education, as soon as possible, with particular attention to vulnerable groups and those with special education needs, using, inter alia, the modality of distance learning, and to promote strengthening of literacy programs. (Poverty, Inequality, and Inequity, Cartagena, 2012).

  1. Recognising that education is a lifelong process that promotes social inclusion and democratic citizenship and allows people to contribute fully to the development of society, we will give high priority to improving and expanding literacy, numeracy and science proficiency, as well as access to tertiary, technical-vocational and adult education. We intend to increase the tertiary education participation rate to a minimum of 40 per cent by 2020 and urge countries which have already made considerable advances in this area to exchange best practices that will support the efforts of other countries to achieve this target. We commit to support the initial preparation and ongoing professional development of teachers. (Declaration of Port of Spain, 2009).

  1. Promote more effective dialogue between society and institutions of higher education, and facilitate access for all to these institutions by balancing growing demand with higher quality standards and public funding with greater commitment from the private sector; support hemispheric cooperation for research in science and technology aimed at the solution of specific problems in the region and the transfer of knowledge; (Plan of Action Québec, 2001).

  1. Education is the determining factor for the political, social, cultural, and economic development of our peoples. We undertake to facilitate access of all inhabitants of the Americas to preschool, primary, secondary, and higher education, and we will make learning a lifelong process. We will put science and technology at the service of education to assure growing levels of knowledge and so that educators may develop their skills to the highest level. The Plan of Action that accompanies this Declaration defines the objectives and goals we intend to achieve and the actions that will make them a reality. In order to meet our goals within the agreed timeframes, we reaffirm our commitment to invest greater resources in this important area, and to encourage civil society to participate in developing education (Declaration of Santiago, 1998).

  1. Therefore, the Governments, fully recognizing and respecting national sovereignty and the responsibilities of the institutions of our respective countries with regard to education, reiterate the commitment of the Miami Summit to ensure, by the year 2010, universal access to and completion of quality primary education for 100 percent of children and access for at least 75 percent of young people to quality secondary education, with increasing percentages of young people who complete secondary education, and assume responsibility for providing the general population with opportunities for life-long learning. If these objectives are met, we are confident that we will provide our people with the tools, skills and knowledge necessary for and suited to the development of capabilities that ensure better conditions of competitiveness and productivity required by modern economies, thus allowing our people to contribute as worthy citizens to their respective societies. (Plan of Action Santiago, 1998).

  1. Develop comprehensive programs to improve and increase the level of professionalism among teachers and school administrators that combine pre-service and in-service training, exploring incentive mechanisms tied to updating their skills and to meeting such standards as may have been agreed upon. Higher education must collaborate in this endeavor through research and pedagogy, both of which should be strengthened in order to meet this goal. (Plan of Action Santiago, 1998).

  1. Seek to use technology to link schools and communities as a way of establishing ties in the Hemisphere while encouraging the participation of higher education institutions that have advantages in this field. (Plan of Action Santiago, 1998).

  1. Further scholarship and exchange programs for students, teachers, researchers and educational administrators using different strategies, including institution-to-institution ties, communications technology and internships which permit exposure to pedagogical and management innovations in the other countries of the Hemisphere. This will contribute to strengthening the institutional capacity of Ministries or Departments of Education, decentralized administrative entities and centers of higher learning. (Plan of Action Santiago, 1998).

 

 
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