The rapid changes introduced by Latin American universities during the coronavirus pandemic have exposed the folly of ¡°hyper-regulation¡± which has led to many institutions becoming ¡°stagnant and stale¡±, a university president has argued.

Carlos Mont¨²far, rector of the University of San Francisco, Quito, a private liberal arts institution in Ecuador¡¯s capital city, said he believed the Covid-19 crisis would eventually have a ¡°positive outcome¡± for Latin American universities given ¡°many of the different things that have happened¡± during the pandemic, despite the significant disruption caused since March.

Speaking at an online?conference?hosted by Madrid¡¯s IE University and Rome¡¯s LUISS University, Professor Mont¨²far said the pandemic had highlighted, in particular, the misguided approach to regulation and accreditation found in Latin American countries, where rules were often onerous.

¡°The majority of students in Latin America attend public universities which are¡­[for] the majority stagnant, stale, hyper-regulated and controlled¡± by government rules, Professor Mont¨²far told the Reinventing Higher Education event.

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¡°The most important thing and the lesson, I hope, our institutions in Ecuador learn [from the pandemic] is that government and regulators realise that they have to stop hyper-regulating us,¡± he explained, adding that universities have ¡°moved faster than the government in reacting to the pandemic.

¡°That will enable us, both public and private universities, to provide a better university system for Ecuadorians and also students in Latin America,¡± continued Professor Mont¨²far.

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¡°Accreditation has to change,¡± added Professor Mont¨²far, who insisted the ¡°whole government machinery¡± on upholding standards was ¡°based on rules and sanctions¡± to penalise institutions rather than a system that sought to ¡°basically promote and help universities go through the pandemic¡±.

Professor Mont¨²far argued that the world was ¡°halfway¡± through the pandemic, noting that many countries began to introduce social distancing measures in and around Friday 13 March and November had also seen a Friday 13th?¨C an unlucky day, according to superstition.

In these seven months, universities had undergone a ¡°fast-forward¡± in their development ¨C a process that would continue until, at least, the next Friday 13th, which falls in August 2021.

During this period, universities, schools and students in Latin America had become ¡°savvier about technology¡±, while the public had begun to ¡°realise the importance of science¡± much more than before, said Professor Mont¨²far.

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¡°This is a time that Latin America has to wake up to science and research¡­[it] has a lot of solutions when joined with the humanities,¡± he concluded.

jack.grove@timeshighereducation.com