GEDC LATAM
The Latin American Chapter of the Global Engineering Deans Council (GEDC-LATAM) brings together the deans or other directors of faculties, schools, universities or technological institutes in Latin America and the Caribbean (hereinafter the Region) that make up the Global Engineering Deans Council (hereinafter, GEDC). The GEDC is part of the International Federation of Engineering Education Societies (IFEES).
GEDC-LATAM’s mission is to facilitate collaboration among engineering deans in the Region, represent them at GEDC, and promote the advancement of engineering education, research, and community service in the Region.
The Argentine Federal Council of Engineering Schools
The Colombian Association of Engineering Schools
The International Federation of Engineering Education Societies
The Latin American and Caribbean Consortium of Engineering Institutionsy
The Global Engineering Deans Council (GEDC Latam) presented the book “The new demands for Latin American engineering”, which compiles the second cycle of talks held out in the second half of 2020, in virtual form, co-organized with the International Federation of Engineering Education Societies (IFEES), the Argentine Federal Council of Engineering Deans (CONFEDI), the Colombian Association of Engineering Schools (ACOFI) and the Latin American and Caribbean Consortium of Engineering Institutions (LACCEI).
During the meetings, 22 speakers from the industrial and academic sectors participated, with moderators from the organizing entities and more than 650 participants from 11 countries (Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Brazil, Argentina, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Dominican Republic and the United States).
The second cycle of the talks covered various topics affecting and conditioning the future of engineering education, the systemic vision of its interrelation with the environment and the challenges faced by higher education in the post-pandemic.
The book, which is available at: www.confedi.org.ar/download/LibroReflexionesNvasDemandas.pdf and www.acofi.edu.co/publicaciones/reflexiones-sobre-las-nuevas-demandas-para-la-ingenieria-latinoamericana/ , deals with the new demands for Engineering in Latin America.
Among them are: “University-Industry Linkage”, “University Social Responsibility”, “Engineering and Sustainability”, “Challenges for the Latin American University” and “Engineering and the jobs of the future”.
This book is the second one edited by GEDC Latam with the help of other institutions. It all started with an initiative by Adriana Páez Pino, who in 2020 was the president of GEDC Latam, and called on other Latin American engineering organizations to work together to organize some talks. The objective was for academics to reflect about what we were experiencing in the universities. That was in the first half of 2020 and it resulted in a book called Reflections from Scholars during the Pandemic. As the initiative had a very good impact, very good participation and demand, we decided to continue with it in the second semester and this year, under the presidency of Eng. Guillermo Oliveto, the second book was published.""
The second book, published July 2021, collects the conclusions of the talks which analyzed how universities were preparing for the post-pandemic.
Although the books are the result of the talks, they are not a transcription but an interpretation of each activity made by the authors of each chapter.
Eng. Adriana Páez Pino, compiler-editor of the book and outgoing President of GEDC Latam, said that “the pandemic has advanced technological progress and opened the door to the fourth industrial revolution.”
“Technology is going to change very quickly -she continued-, so the changes have to be very fast too. Many certifications are going to be allowed, so universities are going to have to start working on certifications and people will come from and go to university with a permanent update on specific topics.”
Matilda is a joint initiative of the Colombian Association of Engineering Schools ACOFI, the Federal Council of Deans of Engineering CONFEDI and LACCEI. These Latin American organizations are proud to announce “Matilda and Women in Engineering in Latin America 3.”
In this book different experiences and life stories of women engineers and STEM professionals converge and intermingle, with the same purpose: to make known part of the past, making visible some realities and proposing action as the only possibility to aspire to a promising tomorrow that we all wish for.
Stories of good memories and – others not so much, that highlight strategies and suggestions for action, with strong and firm convictions and recommendations that invite more young women to fulfill their vocation and join STEM.
In this third edition, 42 articles are published, with 46 authors from 6 Latin American countries. Each article reveals aspects and experiences that coincide with the objectives of the Matilda Latin American Open Chair and Women in Engineering.
With this book we continue furrowing Latin America hand-in-hand with Matilda, showing that women can develop and grow in engineering. These stories prove it.
The Global Engineering Deans Council is committed to leveraging the collective strengths, for the advancement of engineering education and research globally. In partnership with the International Federation of Engineering Education Societies (IFEES), the GEDC has created multiple regional chapters to help identify and overcome challenges faced in particular parts of the world.
The GEDC Latam is the Latin American chapter of the GEDC, with the aim of discussing the challenges they face to train the professionals that the world demands for the future, and share experiences that enrich the academic trajectories of students. In its Latin American chapter it has an Executive Committee made up of deans who represent their associated peers from each country, currently chaired by Ing. Guillermo Oliveto, Dean of the Buenos Aires Regional Faculty of the National Technological University.