School:Universidad de los Andes
Contents
- 1 Overview
- 2 Promoting student innovation and entrepreneurship
- 3 Encouraging faculty innovation and entrepreneurship
- 4 Actively supporting the university technology transfer function
- 5 Facilitating University-Industry Collaboration
- 6 Engaging with regional and local economic development efforts
- 7 We think better when we are together
- 8 Related Links
Overview
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Universidad de los Andes is an autonomous, independent, and innovative institution that fosters pluralism, tolerance, and respect for ideas. It aims for academic excellence while providing rigorous critical and ethical character development, in order to enhance in all students an awareness of their social and citizenship responsibilities, as well as a firm commitment to the society. The university’s student body, in an environment of interdisciplinary and flexible integral character development, becomes the chief agent of the educational process. A highly skilled, knowledgeable, and prestigious faculty facilitates the development of an outstanding academic and professional life project that supports research, contributes to the development of the country, and transcends its geographical boundaries.
Promoting student innovation and entrepreneurship
Innovation has always been deeply embedded at the heart of the Universidaddelos Andes. From the very core of the institution –it’s mission statement– can be seen to play a key role: “the University of the Andes is an autonomous, independent and innovative institution that fosters pluralism, tolerance, and respect for ideas [...]”
Student innovation and entrepreneurship are highly endorsed in certain faculties, both inside and outside of the classroom. The Business and Design Schools are the leaders in the creation and implementation of I&E opportunities in the classroom, with the Industrial Engineering department trailing not far behind. More and more, courses and study programs have been modified in order to further interest and expose students to I&E. These courses teach students the importance of keeping their minds open to everything I&E has to offer and help them harvest finer entrepreneurial skills. Some of these courses have students dedicate the whole semester’s work to developing a project of their choosing, while others expose them to real-life cases and make them think outside the box.
Even though most projects deviate and stay in just dreams, there are participation circles that step in to help student entrepreneurs. These include Empreandes, which helps them ideate a stronger and more innovative core at the beginning of their entrepreneurship, and Centro de emprendimiento, where certified mentors asses them with interactive workshops and business-oriented maker space. Also, when students need guidance through their entrepreneurial process, big-scale entrepreneurship accelerators like Despega Colombia can help propel a student’s own particular idea.
Universidad de Los Andes has a variety of tools and groups that promote students throughout the entire process of innovation and entrepreneurship and continue to support projects when these entrepreneurs become alumni.
Encouraging faculty innovation and entrepreneurship
Faculty innovation and entrepreneurship is encouraged a matter of great relevance at the Universidad de Los Andes. Given its long-established national renown as the pioneer university in terms of R&D, it was just a matter of time before innovation and entrepreneurship ensued as a practice and became key to the faculty production at Los Andes. At the moment, investigative portfolios and academic production from the faculty members is classified in one of 5 big topics that help the nation at a macro level:
- Neuroscience
- Gender studies
- Historic environmental analysis
- Investigations for peace
- Corruption
Additionally, the University also provides teachers –not just students– with practical tools to develop their profiles as entrepreneurs and innovators. For example, many schools facilitate student-teacher contact and courses in order to work on an investigation related to their careers and interests. Another example is Conécta–TE(an entrepreneurship epicenter dedicated to innovation in education and technology), which offers the course “Conecta-TE en Vacaciones”: an institutional initiative that seeks to provide the teachers of the University of Los Andes with spaces to design innovations that can be applied in their classes.
Recently the Civil and Environmental Engineering department decided to allow students that do not desire to finish their major with a formal thesis to join or continue in the research seedbed of their choice. This decision was made after student representatives made evident thenegativeimpact a mandatory thesis had on students that perhaps have different interests than their thesis advisors. Recent surveys have demonstrated that not only has the amount of investigation, therefore entrepreneurship, increased but seniors in both majors have in their job perspectives stay on campus with their projects.
Actively supporting the university technology transfer function
The Universidad de Los Andes is currently working on developing a strong Technology Transfer Office. At the moment, the university relies on the Office for Technology and Knowledge Transfer (OTTC, for its initials in Spanish) to carry out the functions of an institution with this reason of being. The OTTC currently encourages the members of the university to create patents, work with outside businesses with which the university holds alliances, and interact with non-profits and other organizations, in order to commercialize the different creations of the university’s student community’s leaders.
Unfortunately, most of the students have not been exposed to its dynamics and even its purpose, mostly because not everyone is interested in using this resource. Therefore, there is a lack of information regarding its existence. It is of great importance for the University to improve the reach and the acceptance of this program within the University environment.
Facilitating University-Industry Collaboration
Many programs at Universidad de Los Andes have established strategic alliances with different key partners in the industry. These alliances have proved to be really effective since they have paved the way for hand-in-hand work between the University and the industry. Students are also encouraged to take part in these projects since taking part of research groups of their pertaining major.
There are also some student-created spaces that serve the same purpose. Despega Colombia, mentioned above, is a perfect example of these partnerships since it’s a hybrid between an entrepreneurship accelerator and incentivates real-life competition. This is a prime example of how students and faculty may start weaving bonds with the industry, recognizing the mutual benefits that ensue from such collaborations.
Engaging with regional and local economic development efforts
Analyzing the contact between the University and both the regional and local communities is key to understanding just how important the institution’s efforts are in kindling economic development. Many social, cultural and political issues are constantly debated by the University’s top academics and the students of the postgraduate programs. These think-tanks have proven an ample spectrum of characteristics. For example, the Industrial Engineering department has the “COPA” lab, oriented to technical problem solving, while the Politics Observatory of the Governmental Issues’ School, dedicated its time to social issues.
Another relevant example is the “Progresa Fenicia” Project. The Fenicia initiative aims to revitalize the community neighboring the campus by responding to the challenge of an urban transformation and engaging students in activities that generate positive externalities on the Fenicia neighborhood inhabitants, such as revamping the local economy while bearing in mind their interests.
We think better when we are together
Being the best is encouraged a matter of great relevance at the Universidad de Los Andes. Nevertheless, its hunger of being the best has cost a massive bad reputation on the society around itself. At the moment, the university has high standards of excellent education but it fails on showing how caring and human it can be with students. Some people reject the idea of being part of the allegedly best university in the country just because of its coldness and relationship with the student body. Just because this university does not show how compromised it is with their students and their own well being, doesn't mean it doesn't care about the students.
What has just been said is affecting the university's name nationally and is stopping great students to enter it. That's why we have decided to "take the bullet" for our university and try to solve this social problem. The solution is pretty simple but had an immense impact if handled in the correct way:
Since we believe the people's voices are the reason why everything happens and how things evolve, we decided to not take for granted everybody's perception towards the university and make a plan of action once we count on what people think. It doesn't matter if they are students or complete outsiders, every constructive criticism counts and will help improve this university's prestige so that we can be excellent academically, but also socially.
With the help of those who cared to answer our different kinds of surveys we did notice a pattern that indicates that the fame of this university is to be cold with students and detached from their struggles, and way too attached and interested in the academical excellence.
Now, what we are interested in creating is a massive impact so that everyone can see how invested La Universidad de Los Andes is regarding their student body well-being and happiness overall. We plan on doing that with the help of different activities that motivate those who feel good inside the campus to share their story and also those who don't feel as satisfied to also share what's going through their head, because at the end of the day, many brains think better than one, and it is very clear that we all think better when we're together.
Related Links
Video 2019: https://youtu.be/USH0UVN6Y64
Landscape Canvas 2019: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1kGXqJSddpzt7Ekm9KFhLRH2Ub06wEQ3B29l7I0kmayU/edit?usp=sharing
Landscape Canvas 2017: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1jTbLhgDSYOie-nRTjLBwzn1n1sGmyh0k7tuRm37xTBc
Landscape Canvas 2018: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1M-1Egon0XX7wE3AKVUNzbUcf-FBq-rwfCHJ58AgqnOI/edit?usp=sharing
Universidad de los Andes Student Priorities: Universidad de los Andes Student Priorities
Student Contributors
Fall 2019
Fall Spring 2019
Fall Spring 2017
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