This axis responds to the need to broaden the perspective of the Regional Conferences on Higher Education towards the multiple diversities that make up Latin American and Caribbean societies and that demand not only recognition, but also equity measures and policies. One of the challenges of this axis is to analyze the conditions necessary to guarantee inclusive and quality education for all individuals, regardless of their socioeconomic status, gender, health, sexual orientation, religious or cultural reasons, ethnicity, disability, among other factors. 

Based on this analysis, concrete strategies should be proposed to make visible and promote the right to higher education of historically excluded people, with a redoubled attention to the impact of intersectional inequalities. Some proposals revolve around teacher training for inclusion, accessibility strategies such as reasonable accommodation, and access and retention measures for students from vulnerable groups.

The understanding of diversity is broadened to include diverse learning styles and the corresponding pedagogies and methodologies that can best support them. In this sense, the need to de-stigmatize the condition of disability and address it as part of diversity and the human condition is emphasized. 

Considering the persistent gender inequalities in higher education in Latin America and the Caribbean, the topics of the glass ceiling and the scissors effect are addressed and emphasis is placed on a pluralistic understanding of the challenges faced by women and people of different genders and sexualities, such as discrimination and physical and psychological violence. 

The aim is to make visible, promote and guarantee diversity as an invaluable value for universities and as an indispensable component of a relevant and pertinent higher education, capable of fulfilling its mission of educating critical citizens committed to social justice.

Leading the work of this axis are: Juliana Cabeza, Professor at the University of Lanús (Argentina) and member of the Latin American and Caribbean Inter-University Network on Disability and Human Rights; Maribel Enaida Alegre Jara, Professor at the National University of Santa, Peru, and founding member of the Peruvian Academy of Doctors; Myriam Moïse, Associate Professor of English and Gender Studies and Vice-President of International Relations at the Université des Antilles (Guadeloupe and Martinique); and Sandra Goulart, full Professor of Literary Studies at the Faculty of Arts of the Federal University of Minas Gerais and Rector of the same institution.

AXIS 9 DOCUMENTS