C.A. university reps meet to integrate research

For the next two days, academics from universities across Central America will meet in Belize City to discuss how they can work together more effectively. According to organisers, the idea behind the workshop is to support Central American regional integration through an understanding of economic, legislative, social and cultural similarities and differences. To that end, various universities will be assigned to conduct research on a range of topics. According to Efrain Medina, Secretary General of CSUCA, the Central American University Superior Council, it is hoped that the advantages of regional harmony can be promoted through a better flow of information.

Efrain Medina, Secretary General, CSUCA
“All the studies we would like to be in the context of the region, but the studies can only be done, for example Belize can work on cultural and social part of the integration; let’s say that. And maybe in Costa Rica or Guatemala can work on the economic integration. Another country can work on the system of legislation in the Central American system.”

Janelle Chanona
“Are you excited about this process?”

Efrain Medina
“Yes we think the Central American system of integration is very important, very pertinent, and we all the different sectors of society should support this process in Central America.”

Dr. Corinth Morter Lewis, President, U.B.
“The issue of integration with just people, with culture, with all of these things they are there but they need to be looked at and looked at, at some level scientifically. And getting people from the grassroots to input into what it is and doing our research with them to find out exactly what the situation is in Belize in our case and deciding how we go with it from a meaningful perspective and one that we can justify and share with our people and they can understand and make sense of and implement in a way that has meaningful results to it. Because much of what we do right now it tends to be by feel, you know you think this should be this way or that should be that way and there is no concrete evidence to support it.”

According to Morter-Lewis, over the next two days participants will determine the time-frame for the completion of the research projects. The workshop is being held under the auspices of U.B., CSUCA, the Central American Regional Integration Supporting Program, and UNESCO’s Institute of Higher Education for Latin America and the Caribbean.