A New School Year Starts in Santiago de Cuba

A new academic period has kicked off in every school on the island. To the emblematic Santiago de Cuba’s Eastern University this stage will bring new expectations for both students and teachers. The Excelencias Group proposes you to learn some of the changes that are going to take place at the easternmost Alma Mater, which was reviewed by the Sierra Maestra newspaper.

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As part of the improvement process that is being applied to the higher education system in the country, Santiago de Cuba has started to assess the experiences in terms of the integration of higher education centers, which has already been done in such provinces as Mayabeque, Artemisa and the special municipality Isla de la Juventud.

According to Dr. Martha Mesa Valenciano, Rector of the Eastern University (UO is the Spanish acronym), the idea is aimed at increasing the quality of the teaching-educational process, as human, material and financial resources are rationalized.

Except for the branches of Medical Sciences, the process to unify higher education institutions includes all of these centers in the territory: the "Frank País García" Eastern Universities and Pedagogical Sciences, and the "Manuel Fajardo" Physical Culture and Sport Faculty, in order to have one entity, which will be named Eastern University and will be subordinated to the Ministry of Higher Education.

"In Santiago de Cuba, although it’s scheduled to be done in 2015, we have already unleashed this process. In February 2014 we created a work group with representatives from all higher education institutions in an effort to evaluate other experiences in the country and make our proposals on the way the UO will be structured and organized, following the integration of all these study centers", the executive pointed out.

They are also analyzing the documents that narrow down the elements to carry out the higher education integration process in Cuba, such as the 7599 Agreement taken by the Council of Minister and it Executive Committee, received on August 2, Mesa Valenciano said.

She added that they are waiting for the Vice-minister to visit the territory and meet professors and workers of these institutions, so he will explain the process.

September 2014 marks the beginning of the unification of Higher Education Centers in Matanzas, Cienfuegos, Sancti Spíritus, Ciego de Ávila, Camagüey and Guantánamo. September 2015 will include Pinar del Río, Villa Clara, Las Tunas, Granma, Holguín and Santiago de Cuba. Havana’s institutions will come together in September 2016.

The creation of this new university is an effort to raise the quality of Higher Education. The number of direction posts is going to be reduced; there will be more efficiency in terms of the use of classrooms, laboratories and students residences. The relation with the government and provincial organizations and entities will be fostered to increase the relevance of the university in the territory.