Carta de Acuerdo 2020 - Seguimiento Compromisos

Follow-up Commitments

Agreement Letter 2020: Follow-up on Commitments

WHY ARE IAR PRINCIPLES IMPORTANT FOR UNIVERSITIES?

The insertion of the CSA-IAR Principles in the university curriculum responds to the role that Universities can play in its dissemination, and consequent implementation, performing the functions that are proper to it.

Teaching and learning: equipping university students with areas related to technical knowledge and the competencies to understand the IAR Principles, as well as the motivation to approach and internalize them for their subsequent professional performance.
Research: promoting scientific studies and tests that provide knowledge, solutions and innovative ideas in the application of the IAR Principles.
University extension and social leadership: facilitating dialogue and intersectoral action, strengthening the university's public commitment and its involvement in the dissemination of the IAR Principles for their implementation

THE UNIVERSITY NETWORK PROMOTED BY THE GESPLAN GROUP AND THE WORKING WITH PEOPLE MODEL AS A NETWORK DYNAMIZER

For the application of the CSA-IAR Principles, Universities can play a leading role, requiring a comprehensive approach to the university. With this intention, the UPM Gesplan Group carried out a series of activities creating a Network of Latin American Universities with those that showed greater involvement and with which it maintains continued cooperation. The creation, consolidation and sustainability of the Network is being made possible thanks to the application of the Working With People (WWP) Model.

The WWP model is the result of 25 years of experience in the field of rural development project management in different international contexts. It is understood as a developed professional practice that seeks to connect knowledge and action through common projects, integrating and developing learning and values in the people who participate in the context of projects and joint work. According to the WWP Model, said professional practice makes use of different competences that are classified into three dimensions of a mixed nature: technical-business, political-contextual and ethical-social.

PROJECT FOR THE INSERTION OF IAR PRINCIPLES IN THE UNIVERSITY CURRICULUM

(www.ruraldevelopment.es) The Gesplan Group recognized the Project for the Insertion of IAR Principles in the university curriculum as a new project in common with the Network of Latin American Universities that was formally established in Lima on October 19, 2018 and for its implementation the following steps were followed:

Presentation, reflection and dialogue with the Universities to make contact with the IAR Principles.
Know and identify what is already being done and identify opportunities and areas of action
Incorporate and integrate the IAR Principles in the University curriculum
Communicate and follow up on the actions carried out

PROCESS FOR THE INSERTION OF THE IAR PRINCIPLES IN THE UNIVERSITY CURRICULUM: METHODOLOGICAL GUIDELINES

1.- First approach: Workshop Days on the IAR Principles

In order to make contact with the IAR Principles during the year 2016, workshop days were held with a few Universities and with companies in the agri-food sector. The workshops were organized with sectoral and geographical criteria and were organized in thematic blocks, grouping two or three related IAR principles and with different approaches:

Territorial research workshops in two selected disadvantaged communities in Latin America (Ecuador and Peru).
Days for dialogue , reflection and debate with businessmen, academics and civil society actors linked to the agri-food systems in Spain.
Documentation and archiving: the workshops were documented and the power point presentations, summary documents, minutes of the conference were archived. Likewise, a synthetic document on the experience and main reflections derived from the joint dialogue was produced at the initiative of FAO [3].

2.-Elaboration of Known Case Studies

IAR Principles and their potential, researchers and academics from those few universities were asked to prepare Case Studies gathering experiences related to their application. The Studies consisted of the narration of the experience taking into account:

The inclusion of a section specifying the alignment of the experience with specific measures of the IAR Principles.
The case study was oriented to learning and, to the extent of As much as possible, it was written in a way that showed what was working and why, so that it could be adapted to other contexts and replicated on a larger scale. It should also stimulate new ideas by suggesting logical adaptations.
The generation of teaching materials. The case study format helped, in this first phase, the academic teaching on a pilot basis in those first universities.
The research that has been originating and that has led to Final Degree or Master's Thesis, doctoral theses and scientific articles.

The result was that at the end of 2016 the following universities had incorporated the IAR principles: the Universidad Politécnica Salesiana, the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, the Universidad Católica Sedes Sapientae and the Universidad Católica de Murcia from the Case Studies explained above.

3.- Inclusion of the IAR Principles in the academic field

With what is described above and with the work of permeating this knowledge throughout 2017 with the Conferences that were organized in Lima and in Bogotá, they were incorporated into the aforementioned universities : the National University of La Plata (Argentina), the Autonomous University of Nariño of Colombia, the College of Postgraduates of Mexico, the Universidad Nacional Mayor de S Marcos dean of America, the University of Piura and the Universidad Católica Santa María de Arequipa these last three from Peru [4].

With this accumulated experience, a Conference was held in Peru on April 26 and 27, 2018 at the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos to respond to the following objectives:

Bring together 25 Universities from 6 countries (Ecuador, Colombia, Peru, Mexico, Argentina and Spain) with authorities and academic managers (Rectors, Vice-rectors, Deans or Directors of Schools and Directors of Undergraduate and Postgraduate Programs), promoting dialogue on relevant aspects in relation to IAR principles.
Presenting and sharing the cases of study generated by the universities described
Presenting curricular products to officially insert the IAR Principles in the Undergraduate and Postgraduate Programs or Master's Programs, as well as the Research object of doctoral theses that were beginning and where the IAR principles were applied with the corresponding scientific publications Formalize Official Commitment Acts signed by Authorities and academic leaders on the integration of the IAR Principles, with great flexibility in their application given the variety of regulatory systems in the countries.
The Minutes were formalized over the following months. Fifteen universities from seven countries - Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, Argentina, Mexico, the Dominican Republic and Spain - signed a joint Agreement to insert the IAR Principles in their own activities: undergraduate teaching, postgraduate teaching, research and extension.

These academic developments were reflected in the Joint Commitment Act signed by the competent academic managers in Lima on October 19, 2018.

4.- Follow-up: Methodological tool

Reporting Each University undertakes to report on compliance with the Commitments, presenting an annual report on the way in which academic activities have been carried out for the inclusion of the IAR Principles reflected in its Act of Commitment. The report will include specific indicators for each type of activity. In order to integrate the information from all the universities, homogeneous indicators are used. Coding of Indicators To facilitate the processing and analysis, each indicator is coded with a two-digit code, following the following criteria: The first digit is a capital letter that refers to the type of activity: G (Grade), P (Graduate), I (Research), E (Extension) and T (transversal activities). The second digit corresponds to: An ordinal number for the quantitative indicators: A lowercase letter (in alphabetical order) for the qualitative indicators List of indicators Proposed indicators for each type of activity. Universities can make use of those indicators, quantitative or qualitative, that are most suitable to reflect the scope of the activities carried out in their compliance report. The indicators are given broken down for each individual activity.

Indicators for Monitoring the Inclusion of IAR Principles in the University Curriculum

GRADE ACTIVITIES

Quantitative Indicators

G.1. Number of Degree Programs that include the IAR Principles in their curriculum G.2. Number of subjects / subjects that include the IAR Principles G.3. Number of undergraduate students who have received training on IAR G.4. Number of hours taught on IAR in G.5 degree programs. Equivalence of indicator G.4. in academic credits

Qualitative indicators

Ga Name of the Program of the degree subjects in which the IAR Principles have been included

Gb Description of the teaching methodology in the degree courses (workshops, presentations, assessment exercises, ...)

POSTGRADUATE ACTIVITIES

Indicators Quantitative

P.1. Number of Graduate Programs that include the IAR Principles in their curriculum

P.2. Number of modules / subjects that include the IAR Principles

P.3. Number of graduate students who have received training

P.4. Number of hours taught on IAR Principles in postgraduate programs

P.5. Equivalence of indicator P.4. in academic credits

Qualitative indicators

Pa Program of the modules / subjects of the postgraduate / master programs in which the IAR

Pb Principles have been included Description of the teaching methodology in the postgraduate courses (workshops, presentations, assessment exercises, ...)

Pc Profile of the students: country of Origin and formation of Degree

Pd Description of the coherence of the inclusion of the IAR in the Postgraduate program

RESEARCH ACTIVITIES

Quantitative indicators

I.1. Number of research projects carried out or underway that consider the IAR principles

I.2. Number of researchers involved in research on IAR principles

I.3. Number of IAR Principles addressed in each investigation

Qualitative Indicators

Ia Summary of the investigation from the point of view of the IAR principles

Ib Geographic area of application of the research

Ic Dimension (s) of the IAR Principles addressed in the investigation: economic, social, environmental, governance

Id Application for teaching: case studies generated Ie Publications generated