University 2024: The Path of Knowledge is Our Path

Social transformation, quality, relevance and sustainability are concepts that the 14th International Congress “University 2024” has proposed to bring to the center of its debates, inaugurated this Monday morning with the presence of the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and President of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez.

This Monday the 14th International Congress “University 2024” began its work sessions. During the day, the Cuban Head of State also opened the exhibition associated with the event.

More than 2200 research works will be presented from various modalities in the seven symposiums that will hold sessions at the Havana Convention Palace until next February 9. In the event, which is prestigious with the participation of ministers and authorities of Higher Education from several countries, there are delegates from about 40 nations.

“The path of knowledge is our path and the University is key in it,” said the Minister of Higher Education, Walter Baluja García, when giving the opening speech that officially started the event.

The meeting, which is taking place in the midst of a complex economic situation for the country, is focused, Baluja García assured, to gain new energies and innovative ideas to build Higher Education with universal rights for all.

In his conference he also referred to the contribution of Higher Education to the socioeconomic development of nations and its importance in promoting the most genuine social interests.

The University, he said, does not exist by itself, everything it does has to be for the benefit of our people.

In his words he also shared several ideas that define the Cuban experience in the field of Higher Education. The adoption of a government management system that has science and innovation among its pillars, he recalled, has put the Cuban University in the center of attention.

This has led, he considered, to a greater link between Higher Education institutions and productive and service units, which has generated better solutions to multiple problems.

We hope, he stressed, that the days ahead become spaces for collective enrichment based on different and constructive perspectives.

The opening day was attended by several other personalities, the member of the Political Bureau and Prime Minister, Manuel Marrero Cruz; Deputy Prime Minister Jorge Luis Perdomo Di-Lella; as well as members of the Secretariat of the Central Committee, deans of the country's universities and multiple representatives of international institutions, among them the prominent Brazilian intellectual Frei Betto.

As a culmination of the morning session, President Díaz-Canel inaugurated the exhibition associated with “University 2024”, in which the main Cuban institutions of Higher Education are represented. There are 37 stands, from 34 Cuban universities and three science, technology, and research entities. Institutions from France, the United States and Venezuela also participate.

Translated by Amilkal Labañino / CubaSí Translation Staff