Experts assure company-academia alliance is fundamental to boost the country's competitiveness
SANTO DOMINGO. -The link between companies, government and universities plays a fundamental role in boosting the competitiveness of the Dominican Republic, which is why it is necessary to promote a change in the formation of human capital that responds to the needs of the productive sectors.
The members of the panel “Opportunities for the link between academia, productive sectors, government and society” arrived at this conclusion, which served as a platform for the Instituto Tecnológico de Santo Domingo (INTEC) will present the members of the Advisory Committees of Academic Areas, Careers and Programs that it will have to guarantee the updating and reform of its curricular contents.
The executive vice-president of the Dominican Association of Free Zones (Adozona), José Manuel Torres; the manager of University-Business Innovation of the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology (MESCYT), Samir Mariñez; INTEC's Industrial Engineering career coordinator, Luis Toirac, and Alliance Executive Director, Addys Then, participated in the panel, which was moderated by VICTOR Vóctor-Valenzuela, Vice Chancellor for Research and Linking at INTEC.
During the panel, José Manuel Torres, pondered that human capital education is the greatest challenge that academies have to maintain the validity and relevance of the curricular offers they offer.
"We have to go to another leap, what some call the fourth industrial revolution, but we can not do it if we do not have the human capital and we have to supply it because we have to provide the knowledge to continue growing," Torres said.
In that sense, the MESCYT university-company innovation manager said that the greatest human capital in society is its people, and the training of human resources must be strengthened. "Public policies must be aimed at prioritizing what are the human resources required by the business sector to make that great leap that we want as a country in terms of competitiveness," said Mariñez.
"Apart from training, we must advocate for other instruments to strengthen human resources and this strengthening mechanism is not only given in the classroom, it has to be formed together with the business sector, so we must review the regulations of the internships and strengthen the projects that are done within the companies, "said the official, who said that the Government is already making regulatory reforms through the National Competitiveness Council.
For Luis Toirac, coordinator of the INTEC Industrial Engineering career, the least relevant is the physical space of the academies, because in his opinion it is in the companies and the community where the transformations are made.
Addys Then, executive director of Alianza ONG, called for greater links between universities and community organizations and civil society. He said that the hope of civil society is in the universities and in the human capital that is forming.
When pronouncing the introductory words, the Academic Vice Chancellor of INTEC, José Feliz Marrero, pointed out that since its foundation INTEC has advanced hand in hand with the representatives of industry, the business sector, the Government and civil society in the design, formulation , review and update of their academic plans, as a way to ensure the relevance of the training of their graduates.
He assured that the conformation of the Consultative Committees of the Academic Areas, Careers and Programs of INTEC is a pioneering initiative in the panorama of higher education at the national level. "The Committees will be consultative bodies whose objective is to advise in a timely and continuous manner the reform and updating processes on specific curricular contents, with the purpose of promoting the link between the university and the environment in order to develop dialogue spaces to obtain pertinent information. "
Deputy Minister Rafael González, of the MESCyT, said that the creation of INTEC's advisory committees responds to the objectives of the National Development Strategy, which fosters the establishment of links between the university and the company in order to make the productive and competitive apparatus more competitive. the service sectors.
About the Consultative Committees
Since its founding, and as part of its strategic linkage strategy, INTEC maintains close relationships with leading professionals and representatives of the productive sectors, who contribute to the design and execution of its programs. The INTEC Presidency declared the 2019 as the Year of Linkage for Development and Competitiveness, and presented to the Advisory Committees of Academic Areas, to formalize the traditional alliances of its consultative bodies.
More information about the INTEC Consultative Committees, and their members in: https://www.intec.edu.do/oferta-academica/comites-consultivos