Greetings of harmony and resistance for URACCAN

The sister universities, URACCAN and UAIIN (Intercultural Indigenous Autonomous University), officially inaugurated the Specialization in Management and University Leadership in Multicultural Contexts. Dr. Alta Hooker gave the words of welcome and fraternity to the authorities of the IAUIN, to the elders of the Regional Indigenous Council of Cauca (CRIC) and to the students of this postgraduate degree, receiving from them all an immense echo of joy and gratitude.

"It is a great happiness for me to be sharing this afternoon with you. Greet them wholeheartedly," rector Hooker said, after the elders performed a spiritual rite, with traditional indigenous music, invoking the guidance of the ancestors in this new process of learning and recreating knowledge.

In this regard, Dr. Hooker emphasized the relevance of this curriculum to strengthen higher education based on the context of indigenous peoples. According to the rector of URACCAN, it is a great opportunity for "together and together we can build that own education and create the bridge to dialogue with the West, but from our own positions, legitimizing our rights as indigenous and Afro-descendant peoples".

Following the protocol of the inauguration, each of the students, who have significant incidents in their respective territories and for whom this training space will be key, presented itself (through the Zoom platform), emphasizing the strong bonds of brotherhood that exist between the two universities.

About the curriculum

This specialization is supported by the Norwegian International Student and Academic Assistance Fund (SAIH) and will be taught by a team of URACCAN specialists, under the semi-presence modality, over nine modules and culminating in a graduation project, throughout 2021.

The first module (Legal, Contextual and Legal Framework of Higher Education) will be taught by Dr. Alta Hooker he and teacher Tania Rossman. For this purpose, on the URACCAN virtual campus, the teaching material and activities to be developed are already enabled, highlighting spaces of discussion and exchange, application cases and situational analysis.

The rector of URACCAN enthusiastically reported that, as part of the module she will deliver, she invited Dr. Telemaco Talavera, a major promoter of new trends in education worldwide, to give a lecture, in order to "ensure the transversalization of interculturality in education".

Through this important postgraduate degree, URACCAN reaffirms its commitment to the indigenous peoples and ethnic communities of Abya Yala.