In general, Ibero-American universities lack a mystique; and this fact, evident, is one of the causes in our time of student concerns, of university dropouts and of the deficient professional preparation of most of those who graduate from them.
I remember reading José Ortega y Gasset when, when analyzing the European decadence of his time (the first decades of the 20th century), in the midst of this barren scenario of values, he looked at the University as an “institutionalization of the intellect”, to which it requires an interface with the environment. Ortega in his essay "Mission of the University" wants it to be immersed in historical reality and in intimate contact with public existence.
The University: Open House to Time
The situation of many Latin American universities (the Argentine case to cite the closest and most recently known) indicates that they lack a flag, a spiritual reason at the base and an ideal at the top that knows how to ennoble it. Specifically: of a mystic.
The University, in almost all the Ibero-American countries, does not have any answer that is satisfactory to the questions of the majority of the new generations. There is a general critical state, which includes disorientation in European and American universities, which in some Latin American countries tend to present themselves as prominent models.
Werner Weber - professor at the University of Göttingen (Germany) a few weeks ago said that the University in his country, once again consolidated its political and social order, a fact that was demonstrated by the abundant literature that has dealt with collecting the reform problems, of the crisis and of the destiny that said great house of study had been pointing out; similar case to French Universities.
The issue, the big issue, is that the crisis of the University in Latin America has become one of the central problems of contemporary society in the region. Such a crisis is more profound in our continent since they have always lagged behind those of Europe and the United States and, in the face of this globalized world, they have not yet managed to introduce professional, scientific, technical, cultural knowledge and modifications into their organization. indispensable that "our" time demands.
The need for reform, the process of profound renewal of university education and the reorganization of these Highest Houses of Study, has been felt for a long time in this continent. And to this is added another demonstration, not at all academic: the frequency of student disorders. The aforementioned José Ortega y Gasset considered: 80 years ago. "When such disgusting events occur and also frequently, no one in particular is to blame but the Institution itself, which is poorly planned." (Mission of the University)
The university in modern times
Half a century ago, in Uruguay, Dr. Antonio M. Grompone, in his book "Official University and Living University" proposed a reform of the teaching method that was used and, unfortunately, continues to be used. "The traditional procedure that comes from the medieval university, is the dictation of class: the professor was the axis of the educational activity, he read, dictated, exposed and the student attended, took notes, prepared to repeat". ……. ”Only acting in the chair is considered as a right of the teacher or as the opportunity to demonstrate (the teacher) their knowledge, their ability to present the results of their research. The other factor is eliminated, which is educational training and the subordination of the teacher's performance to obtaining a result in this regard ”.
If in today's world, knowledge is novelty and change, in universities lies the challenge of reflecting on the type of transformation that is taking place in universal society. It is imperative to practice a permanent, diagnostic and prospective study, an attitude that requires seeing with certainty and responsibility, since no State escapes the tensions and pressures of world dynamics.
Uruguay -as a state that does every day- today faces the test of a historical dilemma: either it makes the qualitative leap and expands what its capacity to influence allows or, otherwise, the situation of dependency will increase in proportion to the increasing unevenness that is it gives way between advanced societies and countries that have fallen asleep in time, once perhaps with laurels; nostalgic societies of an outdated past, which, far from serving as a basis for the future, hinders it.
Being Iberoamerican
In one way or another, the Ibero-American peoples - some more others less - were making history and with history a culture. Universities, therefore, in each country, are the national benchmark; the area where to rethink and -from a high academic level- analyze the historical changes that arise in the world context.
In the formative process that covers the nineteenth century,. Ibero-America began to discover itself and, in turn, give an answer to the old and anguishing question referring to the profile and heart of the Ibero-American being.
Simón Bolívar wrote to Juan Martín de Pueyrredón in 1818: “Only one country should be the homeland of all Americans since we have all had a perfect unity… When the triumph of arms completes the work of its independence, or when more favorable circumstances allow us closer communications, we will hasten with the most lively interest, to enter into the American cultural pact that presents America to the world with the appearance of majesty. and greatness without example in the ancient nations.
In MERCOSUR and in particular in Uruguay, if it ceased to wander with that particular predilection that our people have for small history, and on the contrary sensu intensify imagination and reflection, it could surely find the most favorable path, to sovereignly insert itself in the development process - which in the country seems to be absurdly suspended in time.
In any state, a university must respond to the aspirations of the people who support it. It is society that must point out to the University the milestones from which it should not depart, so that, after understanding them, without political ideologies that do not correspond to it, it can develop them and return them to the community translated into achievable solutions.
In summary: the Ibero-American regional integration process must create a cultural space with the objective of fertilizing and strengthening the continental ideology that helps it participate with a strong role in the global system. A great space for scientific and technological activity, where you can develop the great values that the Ibero-American man possesses.
The changes that are taking place in the world demand it. We must bear in mind the behaviors followed by some actors who try to establish a certain international order that finally confronts the peoples culturally. The decisive, coherent and final hour of so-called regional political and economic “feudalisms” has arrived. The times when everything was conquered and solved with "colored mirrors" are over.
