On the last day of the academic event, which is being held at Havana’s Convention Center, Dr. Carlos Cesar Torres recognized that a distinction of the Cuban model is the alliance between the Government and higher education centers to solve the citizens’ needs.
The president of the Cuban Scientific Society for Local Development insisted on the existence of a favorable context for the advancement of these issues, since limitations in the field of institutionality were overcome, and today there is a legal foundation that establishes the functioning of the grassroots organs of People’s Power.
However, there are still challenges for the progress of municipal strategies that the economic plans and the budget of the territories are planned in an even more articulated way with these, Torres insisted.
The specialist considered essential the technical advice from experts for the design of local projects, still insufficient, and also to create the capacities among universities, governments and companies for the management of the financing, because “the meter cannot be the quantity of projects, but also the quality”.
Referring to the Government’s management based on science and innovation, Torres pointed out that this should lead to providing more services to citizens and transforming the productive matrix of the municipality, “otherwise we will have a local welfare development system.”
In this regard, it is essential to strengthen study centers and the training of specialists dedicated to these issues at universities, and to develop “more robust and solid” budgets, as well as decentralize business structures.
University artistic training, outreach, the digital divide and the training of professional skills are other topics on debate at University 2022 on its last day of sessions, after five days of discussions among academics, professors and students at virtual and face-to-face events.
The event will conclude this afternoon with the keynote address Challenges to the university in times of transition from the pandemic to the post-pandemic world, by Brazilian intellectual Frei Betto.
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